Robin has hot monkey-love with skull-clad Kay. Then they both sign up for an experimental historical-roleplaying project, which has the stated objective of recreating one of the historic Dark Ages, c.1950-2040 AD. You won't be surprised to hear that (cue ominous music) things are not as they seem. A twisty, engrossing and very well-done paranoia-thriller ensues.

It's the 27th century. People have moved to space, in habitats around brown-dwarf stars, linked by instantaneous T-gate wormholes. Their health, wealth and daily sundries are supplied by A-gates, nanotech assemblers that can store, edit and recreate most anything, including the posthumans. But the security on the gate network, well, wasn't very secure...

I had a whole lot of fun reading Glasshouse, which is a spicy blend of bleeding-edge SF extrapolation, cool, complex characters, an amazing number of plot-twists, and wonderful storytelling. This is a mature work, with the author in full control of his tools. The book has the feel of Robert A. Heinlein at his best: a matter-of-fact recounting of daily life in a far-future world that has taken some very strange turns....

And some familiar ones, like that ole deviant-replicant problem: "Killing myself always makes me feel like shit..."¹

Stross's energy and imagination never flag, and the book comes to a satisfying (if a bit formulaic) conclusion. Look for it on next year's award-ballots. Highly recommended.