“ONE NIGHTMARISH PANOPTICON.” – The New York Times
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—including Robin’s earlier self.
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, a simulated pre-accelerated culture where participants are assigned anonymized identities. But what looks like the perfect sanctuary turns into a trap, placing Robin at the mercy of the experimenters—and at the mercy of his own unbalanced psyche…
“The act of creation seems to come easily to Charles Stross…[He] is peerless at dreaming up devices that could conceivably exist in six, sixty, or six hundred years’ time.” –
The New York Times“A NEW WORK OF CREDIBLE AND BOLD SF.” – Science Fiction Weekly
“A world in which new ideas drip from every page.” – Revolution Science Fiction
“Stross’s latest and best (so far) novel…A twisty, engrossing, and very well-done paranoia thriller.” – SF Site
“Where Charles Stross goes today, the rest of science fiction will follow tomorrow.”—Gardner Dozois,
Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine“A new kind of future requires a new breed of guide—someone like Stross.”—Popular Science