Had a caffeine headache* by the time I finished Glasshouse, by Charles Stross this morning. True to form, mind-blowing conceptual science fiction, mediocre but acceptable characterization. I'll take it. Memory loss, culture shock, gender shock, and the character's historical immersion shock mirrors the reader's future shock nicely. Some great extrapolation, and the book reads and winds up a lot more human than accelerando, though it's set in a similar universe. Goes to some of the same places as the later Hyperion books, but with less hubris and more hard-nosedness**.
And now I will enjoy the rest of my week off, free from it's grip. Luckily it was short, unlike Anathem.
*from lack, not excess. A cup of joe cleared it up half an hour later.
**Oh man the more I reflect on the Hyperion cycle the more I dislike it, it has some great concepts, but falls into the worst "here are my player characters" trap ever. Which I wouldn't mind as much if the aim were less epic... bah!
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