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kidclamp's review against another edition
5.0
It's been a while since I read the kind of Sci-fi where the world is so different that I am disoriented for the first few pages, and I started this book with little hope that it would improve. I was wrong. Once I got into the story Stross drew me into his world and I couldn't put the book down. Robin awakes from a devastating memory wipe that he did to himself, and before he can adjust to his loss of past he signs up for an experiment designed to recreate life before 'the acceleration.' Trapped in a game, forced to live as a pseudo 1950's housewife, Robin quickly realizes that something isn't right and when his memories begin to leak back in, he realizes it is his job to fix it.
The characters are fantastic and believable even through shifts in their personalities and bodies, and the world Stross creates is harsh and gripping. Despite the climax being a bit short and wishing it had been fleshed out more, the book was great and I can't wait to read more by Stross.
The characters are fantastic and believable even through shifts in their personalities and bodies, and the world Stross creates is harsh and gripping. Despite the climax being a bit short and wishing it had been fleshed out more, the book was great and I can't wait to read more by Stross.
b_loy's review
5.0
Stross does an excellent job looking at present day society from a 3rd person perspective. It makes for a great commentary on who we are, why some people do the things they do, and makes for some good humor (like when the women are trying to figure out what a "husband" is).
After a while I started to wonder where the science fiction was. Usually people are using futuristic gadgets and futuristic things all the time in a science fiction book. It was in the beginning, then only in the main character's dreams and memories for most of the rest of the book.
After a while I started to wonder where the science fiction was. Usually people are using futuristic gadgets and futuristic things all the time in a science fiction book. It was in the beginning, then only in the main character's dreams and memories for most of the rest of the book.
ulna's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
hasseltkoffie's review against another edition
5.0
Very cool, very unique, very intriguing and exceptionally good.
pamwinkler's review against another edition
After Robin goes into the Glasshouse, there's a scene and it gave me a great deal of anxiety.
alexture's review against another edition
Really not in the mood for hard sci-fi right now
readingtasha's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
nleiby's review against another edition
4.0
A unified interstellar system is fragmented by a civil war sparked by a mind-altering virus (Curious Yellow- great name) that censors memories, propagating by installing itself on every individual that passes through teleportation gates. We don't learn why the virus was made, but its selective memory alterations and special targeting of historians suggest it's trying to erase knowledge about past dictatorships to set up a new one.
The dark ages (~1950-2300CE) happened because information storage fragmented into many proprietary standards and encryption schemes, and over time access to the information was lost. At the same time, the unified systems of the future allowed Curious Yellow to spread easily.
Curious Yellow is beaten back in flashbacks by human insurgents installed in parallel instances of bio-tank physical entities, capturing and replacing infected teleportation gates one by one at great cost of life (combatant and innocent). Post-war, the Glasshouse is set up as an isolated habitation, cut off from outside tech and communication, for rehabilitation, voluntary memory alteration, and recuperation of war vets. The Glasshouse is taken over by surviving pawns or would-be co-opters of remnants of Curious Yellow for their own purpose. They set up an experimental re-enactment of Dark Ages (present day) life as a facade for propagating their updated versions of Curious Yellow.
Our protagonist is a war vet turned intelligence agent who has been inserted into the experimental habitation to figure out what's going on, but only after extensive memory redaction to avoid detection. There is some fun looking at how a post-scarcity, post-human society would view late 20th century life (they incubate their young internally?!), and what records might exist to re-create our current era after an information collapse (heavily skewed towards dead tree records that might survive longer than optical or even magnetic disks).
Some of the character motivations are sketched in at best. There seem to be some plot holes (why not just intercept the interstellar transiting habitation before it makes landfall, even if you don't know its true goals and intentions?). But as a speculative fiction vehicle for fun concepts, it's pretty enjoyable.
Round up from 3.5 to 4 stars.
The dark ages (~1950-2300CE) happened because information storage fragmented into many proprietary standards and encryption schemes, and over time access to the information was lost. At the same time, the unified systems of the future allowed Curious Yellow to spread easily.
Curious Yellow is beaten back in flashbacks by human insurgents installed in parallel instances of bio-tank physical entities, capturing and replacing infected teleportation gates one by one at great cost of life (combatant and innocent). Post-war, the Glasshouse is set up as an isolated habitation, cut off from outside tech and communication, for rehabilitation, voluntary memory alteration, and recuperation of war vets. The Glasshouse is taken over by surviving pawns or would-be co-opters of remnants of Curious Yellow for their own purpose. They set up an experimental re-enactment of Dark Ages (present day) life as a facade for propagating their updated versions of Curious Yellow.
Our protagonist is a war vet turned intelligence agent who has been inserted into the experimental habitation to figure out what's going on, but only after extensive memory redaction to avoid detection. There is some fun looking at how a post-scarcity, post-human society would view late 20th century life (they incubate their young internally?!), and what records might exist to re-create our current era after an information collapse (heavily skewed towards dead tree records that might survive longer than optical or even magnetic disks).
Some of the character motivations are sketched in at best. There seem to be some plot holes (why not just intercept the interstellar transiting habitation before it makes landfall, even if you don't know its true goals and intentions?). But as a speculative fiction vehicle for fun concepts, it's pretty enjoyable.
Round up from 3.5 to 4 stars.
qwerty88's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
jacalata's review against another edition
4.0
I very much enjoyed this book, with some nice unexpected turns. The central experiment setup was fascinating, especially given my current fascination with incentives/gamification, but most of the rest of the plot felt a little familiar. It was well written though - overall it seemed kind of like Heinlein's Friday, but better. Also with a really cool experimental setup :)