Scan barcode
stelepami's review against another edition
4.0
Blew through this one! Solid 3.75 stars for me.
The more I read Charles Stross, the more respect I gain for him. I read the Laundry series for a laugh and some fun techie escapism. I found a bit more here, although I haven't got the energy to engage with it on the deeper levels yet. Some awesome stuff about gender-fluidity and mono or poly relationships as valid choices, but it wasn't the entire focus of the book, which was super cool. The plot kept me turning pages.
The more I read Charles Stross, the more respect I gain for him. I read the Laundry series for a laugh and some fun techie escapism. I found a bit more here, although I haven't got the energy to engage with it on the deeper levels yet. Some awesome stuff about gender-fluidity and mono or poly relationships as valid choices, but it wasn't the entire focus of the book, which was super cool. The plot kept me turning pages.
eag's review
1.0
Like Neuromancer, but with a protagonist who's really into his feelings. Also, not awesome. I didn't make it far. Maybe five chapters, maybe less. Meh.
lisarue's review
4.0
Glasshouse is really solid. The vision of life in a future where you can copy your consciousness into another body, and what people take for granted in that life, is half the genius. The other half is the spy story woven in through bubbled-up memories and quickening action toward the end, making it hard to put down.
angelakay's review
4.0
I am extremely picky about sci-fi, because a) I don't read enough of it to be "in" on a lot of the common language, so the made-up stuff often comes across as convoluted and confusing, and b) there is a lot lot LOT of terrible sci-fi out there that is terribly written & with no plot or believable characters to speak of. It took me a couple of chapters to get into "Glasshouse" (most of which covered the requisite "here's where / when we are & how stuff works"), but once the main story got going, it was interesting, creative (which I think is hard in sci-fi), full of dynamic & believable characters, and actually really funny at times. (I don't think it spoils anything to say that one of the main plot points early in the book is far-future people agreeing to be part of a sociology experiment where they're put into "ancient"--late 20th century--bodies & live "as the ancients" for a few years so that researchers can see how social interactions & relationships worked. Before the serious stuff goes down, this made for much hilarity without seeming like a gag.) A bit of a thriller & definitely keeps you interested in what happens next, but without getting so deathly serious that you feel like you need a nap afterward. Perfect if you want a bit of fun, engaging, interesting, well-written, not-too-creepy-&-weird sci-fi without a serious commitment.
sophiace's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
There’s a super interesting plot but too much technical language for my taste. You can skip a lot of it and still know what’s happening. It’s really confusing at parts with unreliable narrator and all but you should stick with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Sexual violence
lizshayne's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book (which, I admit, I only picked up because one of Stross's other books, "Rule 34" is in the same universe and I like reading things more or less in order). The far-in-the-future world he imagines is incredibly well realized and does, I think, an amazing job of taking people into account. His scifi was very fun, his characters were great and his story was fast-paced and exciting.
On a slightly different level, there were two things that stood out, to me, as being very well done. The first was that Stross did a very good job of imagining a world where what you look like influences, but does not dictate who you are. Characters are not defined by their masculinity or femininity and Stross really doesn't give in to the temptation to change charactorial voice when sex changes - a choice which makes for a better story.
And, on that note, Stross also manages to fit a razor-sharp and terrifying critique of 20th and 21st century attitudes into the middle of a sic-fi thriller without making it heavy handed. I am definitely impressed with that.
Given that the last two books I read that were set in a future left me very disappointed, this was definitely the kind of book I needed to enjoy science fiction again.
On a slightly different level, there were two things that stood out, to me, as being very well done. The first was that Stross did a very good job of imagining a world where what you look like influences, but does not dictate who you are. Characters are not defined by their masculinity or femininity and Stross really doesn't give in to the temptation to change charactorial voice when sex changes - a choice which makes for a better story.
And, on that note, Stross also manages to fit a razor-sharp and terrifying critique of 20th and 21st century attitudes into the middle of a sic-fi thriller without making it heavy handed. I am definitely impressed with that.
Given that the last two books I read that were set in a future left me very disappointed, this was definitely the kind of book I needed to enjoy science fiction again.
charleshb's review against another edition
4.0
Slowish start, but picked up nicely half way through. Thoroughly enjoyable and quite original.
kimbekaw's review against another edition
4.0
Great story and plot. Imaginative future universe. Author did a great job of pulling the wool over my eyes a few times, completely confusing me, and then subtly making things make sense again!
However, I felt like I needed a glossary to explain all of the science fiction technological concepts. Fortunately, truly understanding those concepts wasn't necessary to appreciate and enjoy the story; I am just the type of person who wants to understand everything she is reading.
However, I felt like I needed a glossary to explain all of the science fiction technological concepts. Fortunately, truly understanding those concepts wasn't necessary to appreciate and enjoy the story; I am just the type of person who wants to understand everything she is reading.
paultamborino's review against another edition
3.0
More like 3 1/2 stars, definitely a weird fun book with some great parts, but basically light hearted convoluted entertainment.
smcleish's review against another edition
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in November 2007.
Glasshouse (named from British army slang for a military prison) is basically a spy novel set in the future. The central character, Robin, starts the book recovering from memory surgery, a standard voluntary brainwashing technique which is part of psychiatric treatment: but he doesn't remember why he had memories removed, nor why the process was quite so drastic as it turned out to be. Then he is recruited for an experiment, in which he will live in a recreated environment from "the Dark Ages" (roughly, today) ostensibly to derive information and understanding lacking from the historical record (essentially because the knowledge required to understand our proprietary computer file formats has been lost). This sort of experiment has been done already: a famous attempt to get several families to live in a reconstructed Iron Age village in the late seventies was the earliest reality TV series I remember watching. When Robin wakes up in the experimental domain, he is no longer a man, but has been turned into a housewife in an environment distinctly reminiscent of the film Pleasantville. The undertones are even more sinister, as this isn't just a sitcom reflecting the attitudes of the fifties, but an experiment with a hidden purpose. This is made clear to Robin (or Reeve, as she is now known) when she realises that all the participants have been made fertile - this is normally a deliberate choice in their culture - and the aim appears to be to create a generation who know no other life than the experiment.
Using science fiction to satirise the attitudes of the present is hardly cutting edge science fiction. Even the use of time travel, re-enactment or simulation is common: it forms a major part of the film Star Trek IV, as well featuring in Pleasantville already mentioned. Other science fiction joins Stross in describing our age as psychotic or crazy (notably [a:Robert A. Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg]'s Future History stories). Stross is at the edge end of this tendency in the genre, certainly more so than anything mentioned, but his writing here also contains much humour. (This is generally his writing style: dark but knowing.) The principal way in which Stross differs from many of the others who have satirised the present day in this way is that his future setting is very different from our own, even though the way in which it could have come about (apart from the unexplained cornucopia technology) is fairly believable as are continuing parallels with our own time (such as the detail that the cornucopia machines are subject to hacking and the equivalents of computer viruses) and people who are still recognisably human. To compare with Heinlein again, in his earlier works his future society is hardly distinguishable from that which he describes as crazy. Glasshouse also has a really good ending, after Reeve starts receiving messages that Robin had implanted deep into his subconscious before the memory surgery.
Glasshouse is publicised as a sequel to [b:Accelerando|17863|Accelerando|Charles Stross|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309198110s/17863.jpg|930555], but this doesn't seem quite right to me. While dreaming of similar themes, much of the envisaged future here is different from that at the end of the earlier novel. It doesn't manage to be quite as interesting as Accelerando, which I feel is Stross' strongest work so far; nor is it as entertaining as the Merchant Princes series. However, it is still both interesting and enjoyable, and well worth reading.
Glasshouse (named from British army slang for a military prison) is basically a spy novel set in the future. The central character, Robin, starts the book recovering from memory surgery, a standard voluntary brainwashing technique which is part of psychiatric treatment: but he doesn't remember why he had memories removed, nor why the process was quite so drastic as it turned out to be. Then he is recruited for an experiment, in which he will live in a recreated environment from "the Dark Ages" (roughly, today) ostensibly to derive information and understanding lacking from the historical record (essentially because the knowledge required to understand our proprietary computer file formats has been lost). This sort of experiment has been done already: a famous attempt to get several families to live in a reconstructed Iron Age village in the late seventies was the earliest reality TV series I remember watching. When Robin wakes up in the experimental domain, he is no longer a man, but has been turned into a housewife in an environment distinctly reminiscent of the film Pleasantville. The undertones are even more sinister, as this isn't just a sitcom reflecting the attitudes of the fifties, but an experiment with a hidden purpose. This is made clear to Robin (or Reeve, as she is now known) when she realises that all the participants have been made fertile - this is normally a deliberate choice in their culture - and the aim appears to be to create a generation who know no other life than the experiment.
Using science fiction to satirise the attitudes of the present is hardly cutting edge science fiction. Even the use of time travel, re-enactment or simulation is common: it forms a major part of the film Star Trek IV, as well featuring in Pleasantville already mentioned. Other science fiction joins Stross in describing our age as psychotic or crazy (notably [a:Robert A. Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg]'s Future History stories). Stross is at the edge end of this tendency in the genre, certainly more so than anything mentioned, but his writing here also contains much humour. (This is generally his writing style: dark but knowing.) The principal way in which Stross differs from many of the others who have satirised the present day in this way is that his future setting is very different from our own, even though the way in which it could have come about (apart from the unexplained cornucopia technology) is fairly believable as are continuing parallels with our own time (such as the detail that the cornucopia machines are subject to hacking and the equivalents of computer viruses) and people who are still recognisably human. To compare with Heinlein again, in his earlier works his future society is hardly distinguishable from that which he describes as crazy. Glasshouse also has a really good ending, after Reeve starts receiving messages that Robin had implanted deep into his subconscious before the memory surgery.
Glasshouse is publicised as a sequel to [b:Accelerando|17863|Accelerando|Charles Stross|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309198110s/17863.jpg|930555], but this doesn't seem quite right to me. While dreaming of similar themes, much of the envisaged future here is different from that at the end of the earlier novel. It doesn't manage to be quite as interesting as Accelerando, which I feel is Stross' strongest work so far; nor is it as entertaining as the Merchant Princes series. However, it is still both interesting and enjoyable, and well worth reading.