When Robin wakes up in a clinic with most of his memories missing, it doesn't take him long to discover that someone is trying to kill him. It's the twenty-seventh century, when interstellar travel is by teleport gate and conflicts are fought by network worms that censor refugees' personalities and target historians. The civil war is over and Robin has been demobilized, but someone wants him out of the picture because of something his earlier self knew. On the run from a ruthless pursuer and searching for a place to hide, he volunteers to participate in a unique experimental polity, the Glasshouse. Constructed to simulate a pre-accelerated culture, participants are assigned anonymized identities: it looks like the ideal hiding place for a posthuman on the run. But in this escape-proof environment Robin will undergo an even more radical change, placing him at the mercy of the experimenters, and of his own unbalanced psyche . . .
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Review
The sheer brio of invention and intellectual energy propel the reader towards a satisfying climax (GUARDIAN )
Stross's best book yet. Pick it up and discover it for yourself' (SFX (5 stars) )
A genuinely unmissable page-turner . . . A genuine triumph of a tale that you can never quite tie down ((Five stars) STARBURST )
Stross's enthralling blend of action, extrapolation and analysis delivers surprise after surprise'' KIRKUS REVIEWS 'Stross is an author who anyone interested in SF should read and relish' SFX 'Darkly funny and crackling with high-bandwidth ideas' PAUL Mc --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Stross's best book yet. Pick it up and discover it for yourself' (SFX (5 stars) )
A genuinely unmissable page-turner . . . A genuine triumph of a tale that you can never quite tie down ((Five stars) STARBURST )
Stross's enthralling blend of action, extrapolation and analysis delivers surprise after surprise'' KIRKUS REVIEWS 'Stross is an author who anyone interested in SF should read and relish' SFX 'Darkly funny and crackling with high-bandwidth ideas' PAUL Mc --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
GLASSHOUSE is a far-future helter-skelter ride through an experimental archaeology project gone horribly wrong.
--This text refers to the
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First Sentence
A dark-skinned human with four arms walks toward me across the floor of the club, clad only in a belt strung with human skulls. Read the first page
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A dark-skinned human with four arms walks toward me across the floor of the club, clad only in a belt strung with human skulls. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an excellent book. Yes you get the clever posthuman stuff, identity, politics, society and everything but the story here is just great. Characters to care about don't hurt and an insight into how future historians might view 1950 to 2000 really makes you think and provides a few laughs too. This is the author's best book to date and that's saying something.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Rod Williams
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It is the 27th century and Robin is recovering from a voluntary memory removal procedure. Human society is now multi-stellar with space-habitats, planets and vast ships connected by T-gates (which are basically wormholes). A-gates on the other hand, can break down one's body and reassemble it, sometimes somewhat differently; rejuvenate and repair; assemble any artefact or object whose pattern is in storage, or backup one's entire body just in case one is killed.
Humanity is recovering from a war in which a tailored virus called Curious Yellow rewrites one's memories and loyalties - and therefore public history - and through its spread the Human Polity broke apart into quarantined republics which sought to guard its borders against Curious Yellow.
Robin, on the advice of his therapist, decides to sign up for an experimental project whereby he will be locked into a sealed environment, along with many other people, for a minimum of three years. He is keen to do this as, for one thing, someone is trying to kill him.
However, when he emerges from an A-gate backup he finds himself in the induction room of the project and also discovers that his body is now female.
The project is ostensibly a sociological one. The participants have to live in a stereotypical society of the Nineteen Fifties. They are divided up into groups and each group is awarded points based on whether the individuals are conforming to the social mores of the time.
However, things begin to get sinister and Robin (who is now known as Reeve) starts getting messages from her old self in her dreams, telling her that she has been placed there undercover to find out exactly what is going on in the project.
Stross seems to like his feisty female characters.... Read more ›
Humanity is recovering from a war in which a tailored virus called Curious Yellow rewrites one's memories and loyalties - and therefore public history - and through its spread the Human Polity broke apart into quarantined republics which sought to guard its borders against Curious Yellow.
Robin, on the advice of his therapist, decides to sign up for an experimental project whereby he will be locked into a sealed environment, along with many other people, for a minimum of three years. He is keen to do this as, for one thing, someone is trying to kill him.
However, when he emerges from an A-gate backup he finds himself in the induction room of the project and also discovers that his body is now female.
The project is ostensibly a sociological one. The participants have to live in a stereotypical society of the Nineteen Fifties. They are divided up into groups and each group is awarded points based on whether the individuals are conforming to the social mores of the time.
However, things begin to get sinister and Robin (who is now known as Reeve) starts getting messages from her old self in her dreams, telling her that she has been placed there undercover to find out exactly what is going on in the project.
Stross seems to like his feisty female characters.... Read more ›
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By N. Lockwood
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed Singularity Sky and its sequel, and admired Accelerando for its brave attempt to describe the transition of humanity through the technological singularity, but I really feel that this is Stross's finest book so far.
I say this not only because of his excellent and original depiction of a far-future society, but also because of the rich storyline and characters, which will be enjoyed even by those who do not consider themselves hard sci-fi junkies.
The plot could be described as a futuristic retelling of The Stepford Wives, rewritten as a contemporary science fiction novel instead of a 70's schlock horror story.
I say this not only because of his excellent and original depiction of a far-future society, but also because of the rich storyline and characters, which will be enjoyed even by those who do not consider themselves hard sci-fi junkies.
The plot could be described as a futuristic retelling of The Stepford Wives, rewritten as a contemporary science fiction novel instead of a 70's schlock horror story.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Christopher Halo
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
It is the 27th century. Urth is now legend, all have fled it, fleeing not only from a series of holocausts, but from their own horrific memories. Some will go as far as having a mind wipe...so that they might sleep again at night. Some will have no choice...
The result: billions living in artificial environments, undergoing psycho-therapy. It is a time of highly advanced technologies, where death is not always the end...alas...
The Glasshouse was once a prison. Robin, not knowing this, willing signs up to a programme that aimed to recreate life in the 20th century onwards. They are forced to take wives, attend church, etc--all in bodies, even sexes, not of their own, and with no memory of ever signing up. It soon becomes apparent that they are there for the long haul, with no way out, and the will to escape being gradually destroyed in cruelly psychological ways.
Wow. It has been said that reading Charles Stross' work is like being trapped in an ideas factory without a helmet. This is certainly true!
The first twenty or so pages were a bit slow and laden with too much technical information, but, the pace soon picked up, and the premise was certainly very interesting. I rarely read a book this though-provoking.
As well as the simple tale of the struggle of human life and, basically, a kidnapping where psychology is used against it's test subjects to create a realistic 'dark ages' environment (20th century onwards!) this book is also a potent comment on a vast array of subjects. In Glasshouse, Charles Stross talks of the severe danger we face from information loss, the dangers of immortality, and even advanced technology--somehow managing to make all this crucial to the story and page-turning!... Read more ›
The result: billions living in artificial environments, undergoing psycho-therapy. It is a time of highly advanced technologies, where death is not always the end...alas...
The Glasshouse was once a prison. Robin, not knowing this, willing signs up to a programme that aimed to recreate life in the 20th century onwards. They are forced to take wives, attend church, etc--all in bodies, even sexes, not of their own, and with no memory of ever signing up. It soon becomes apparent that they are there for the long haul, with no way out, and the will to escape being gradually destroyed in cruelly psychological ways.
Wow. It has been said that reading Charles Stross' work is like being trapped in an ideas factory without a helmet. This is certainly true!
The first twenty or so pages were a bit slow and laden with too much technical information, but, the pace soon picked up, and the premise was certainly very interesting. I rarely read a book this though-provoking.
As well as the simple tale of the struggle of human life and, basically, a kidnapping where psychology is used against it's test subjects to create a realistic 'dark ages' environment (20th century onwards!) this book is also a potent comment on a vast array of subjects. In Glasshouse, Charles Stross talks of the severe danger we face from information loss, the dangers of immortality, and even advanced technology--somehow managing to make all this crucial to the story and page-turning!... Read more ›
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By S. J. Horgan
Format:Paperback
Charles Stross is just about the best SF author writing today for ideas, originality and for sheer cracking storylines. Glasshouse looks at humanity as it may be centuries from now, with a window on war and politics that illustrates the old saying, in the story at least, that 'the past is another polity'. You are grabbed by a strong plotline and by characters that are not only finely-drawn but are redrawn by the malleability of memory and body that is brought by advanced technology. There is also a love story in there and an emotional edge that gives the climax real bite. Sell valuable possessions if that is what it takes to get a copy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Glasshouse Cold Brilliance
Scary look at a future which is more similar to contemporary political machinations than is entirely comfortable. Read more
Published 7 months ago by back2backreader
4.0 out of 5 stars
...Yesterday's high crime leads to todays medical treatment...
It is the 27th century and humans are now simulations of themselves and virtually indestructible as long as you remember that a back-up self is advisable. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Eileen Shaw
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everything scifi should be
Of all the Charles Stross novels this is my favourite.
It does more than just give you a great alternate universe with great ideas (although it does this in spades)
It... Read more
It does more than just give you a great alternate universe with great ideas (although it does this in spades)
It... Read more
Published on 25 Sep 2010 by Jack Webster
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
Glasshouse continues very loosely the world that Accelerando started (both books are written as stand alone books but share some of the same concepts) and is written the classic... Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2009 by Jalepe
4.0 out of 5 stars
People as data
we're used to having firewalls and anti-virus software for our PCs to protect us when we're sending emails etc. Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2008 by Tony P
2.0 out of 5 stars
Poor show from a decent author
I should preface this by saying that I usually rate this author. Not one of my favourites, but generally a good read and worth buying more of. However... Read more
Published on 10 April 2008 by Clavain
1.0 out of 5 stars
I want my time back!
I want the time I wasted on this book, back! The story starts pretty good, but then halfway through we end up in a simulated world resembling the 1950's. Read more
Published on 11 Oct 2007 by Jan-Henrik Haukeland
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great Concept, Badly Delivered
Like other reviewers this is my first book of this author. I cannot really comment on writing style as if you look at William Gibson's Neuromancer epic, it could have been written... Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2007 by Ad Leaton
5.0 out of 5 stars
His best so far
Much better plotted than Singularity Sky and his other recent novels. Very readable and engaging.
Published on 20 Jun 2007 by able baker
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