Glasshouse
by Charles Stross
List Price:
Our Price: $3.85
You Save: $4.14 (52%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Charles StrossEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-06-26
ISBN: 0441015085
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Ace
Book Reviews of Glasshouse
Book Review: "In the Village"
Summary: 4 Stars
Charles Stross's extremely clever, if extremely loopy, "Glasshouse" imagines a far future of travel by teleportation (through assembler gates--wait for it), body alterations, physical backups, and a worm that reprograms people's memories.
The hero is (a male) named Robin who's just gone through memory erasure (perhaps voluntarily). In order to avoid what he believes are assassins pursuing him, he volunteers for an experiment in which people live as they did during the "dark ages." Although the dark ages in question are the 20th and 21st centuries.
Stross has a clever idea: the records from the earlier part of the period, when paper and ink was still the primary method of data storage, will have proved more durable than electronic storage, in which data has been lost due to the constant procession of different, competing storage devices. Anyhow, the world Robin (now a female named Reeve) finds (her)self in has late-20th/early 21st-century tech (mobile phones, microwaves), but a social structure from the period of 50 years before, with men going to work and women staying home.
Robin/Reeve, however, quickly discovers that the danger to (her)self lies precisely within the parameters of the experiment, and not with assassins without. Of course, she tries to do something about this, and the thrills start.
The book's a kick, with wild speculations, hat-tips to Franz Kafka, Alice Sheldon, Paul A. Linebarger, the old "The Prisoner" tv miniseries, and the computer worm that's featured so prominently in the book is named Curious Yellow. But maybe Mr. Stross isn't quite as clever as he thinks he is; sometimes the breathless first-person present-tense narration by Robin/Reeve devolves into cute or technobabble. And the ending feels rushed. But it will sustain your interest over the course of its 333 cramped pages packed with too-small print. (You'll need to visit your opthalmologist when you finally put the book aside.) Some publishers have been improving the look and feel of their small-size paperbacks. This publisher has not joined the party.
Literature & Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Literature & Fiction Books
Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott
Scribner; Published: 1986-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Killing Groundby JACK HIGGINS
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD; Published: 2007; Hardcover; Book
Saving Fish from Drowningby Amy Tan
4th Estate; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Life Expectancyby Dean Koontz
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Constant Princessby Philippa Gregory
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005; Hardcover; Book
Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harper; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Saharaby Clive Cussler
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2005-03-21; Paperback; Book
Perelandra (Cosmic Trilogy)by C. S. Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.79
Price in other shops:
The Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towersby J. R. R. Tolkien
Harper Collins Publishers; Published: 2001; Paperback; Book
Red Marsby Kim Stanley Robinson
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Wirelessby Charles Stross
Ace; Published: 2010-06-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.95
Price in other shops:
Saturn's Childrenby Charles Stross
Ace; Published: 2009-06-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.70
Price in other shops:
The Mountby Carol Emshwiller
Small Beer Press; Published: 2002-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops:
The Jennifer Morgueby Charles Stross
Ace; Published: 2009-12-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Iron Sunrise (Singularity)by Charles Stross
Ace; Published: 2005-06-28; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
The Atrocity Archivesby Charles Stross
Ace; Published: 2008-12-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.67
Price in other shops:
Singularity Skyby Charles Stross
Ace; Published: 2004-06-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.39
Price in other shops:
Rule 34by Charles Stross
Ace Hardcover; Published: 2011-07-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.89
Price in other shops:
Accelerando (Singularity)by Charles Stross
Ace; Published: 2006-06-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.78
Price in other shops:
Halting State (Ace Science Fiction)by Charles Stross
Ace; Published: 2008-06-24; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: