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Apr. 22nd, 2007 12:24 amFinished reading Glasshouse by Charles Stross last night, which is one of the nominees for the Best Novel Hugo this year. Not that I'm voting this year[1], but I do like to try to read the nominees if I can.
This is, I think, by far the most solid of Stross's books (or at least, of the ones I've read). I still liked Atrocity Archives the best, but Glasshouse is the first time where he's pulled together a novel as a single, cohesive, unified whole -- up until now, you've been able to see the seams where he's patched novels together out of shorter works/ideas. I've argued before that Stross has incredible potential that he's not yet managed to live up to, but I think this one is really darned close.
Because it had less of the episodic quality of his previous novels, Glasshouse was also much harder to put down -- I finished it around 3:30am, which if you know me and know how much I like my sleep that should tell you something.
I'm still not convinced he's not a little wobbly on characters. ( massive spoilers behind the cut )
That said, this book was really solid, flowed well, and definitely earns its Hugo nomination. When I've read the other four books (I started Vinge's Rainbow's End this afternoon), I'll weigh in again.
Of course, what I really need to do is get back to *writing*, but sometimes you just gotta read (-:
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[1] Gods, I wish I was going to Japan. Anyone going to Worldcon want to bring me along as an assistant? I used to speak Japanese... I can brush up again! It's only been 15 years. I can carry things[2] for you!
[2] small things under 20 lbs, doh!
This is, I think, by far the most solid of Stross's books (or at least, of the ones I've read). I still liked Atrocity Archives the best, but Glasshouse is the first time where he's pulled together a novel as a single, cohesive, unified whole -- up until now, you've been able to see the seams where he's patched novels together out of shorter works/ideas. I've argued before that Stross has incredible potential that he's not yet managed to live up to, but I think this one is really darned close.
Because it had less of the episodic quality of his previous novels, Glasshouse was also much harder to put down -- I finished it around 3:30am, which if you know me and know how much I like my sleep that should tell you something.
I'm still not convinced he's not a little wobbly on characters. ( massive spoilers behind the cut )
That said, this book was really solid, flowed well, and definitely earns its Hugo nomination. When I've read the other four books (I started Vinge's Rainbow's End this afternoon), I'll weigh in again.
Of course, what I really need to do is get back to *writing*, but sometimes you just gotta read (-:
--
[1] Gods, I wish I was going to Japan. Anyone going to Worldcon want to bring me along as an assistant? I used to speak Japanese... I can brush up again! It's only been 15 years. I can carry things[2] for you!
[2] small things under 20 lbs, doh!
