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hollowspine 's review for:
Glass Houses
by Madeline Ashby
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A tech centered desert island mystery, that is light on the mystery and heavy on the critique of surveillance technology. How does 'smart' tech designed by men and companies without user testing from all sorts of people work for everyone? Or not work? These are questions that are hopefully being asked more and more of tech developers, though it really doesn't feel like it. It is already well known that AI fed biased information will feed back biased information. This novel takes it a step further and asks what happens when these biased smart tech devices are used maliciously rather than carelessly.
I found most of the characters unlikeable, which in this book is fine, since they're all dropping like flies anyway. Unfortunately I found the the 'tech bro' characters very believable, especially the ways they performed at diversity and inclusion practices, while at the same time revealing their racist and misogynistic beliefs without ever seeming to realize that they were doing so. The fragility of their egos if their integrity was questioned was definitely taken from real life examples.
I found most of the characters unlikeable, which in this book is fine, since they're all dropping like flies anyway. Unfortunately I found the the 'tech bro' characters very believable, especially the ways they performed at diversity and inclusion practices, while at the same time revealing their racist and misogynistic beliefs without ever seeming to realize that they were doing so. The fragility of their egos if their integrity was questioned was definitely taken from real life examples.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment