Glasshouse

Not, perhaps, one of Stross' best novels, although its perfectly enjoyable. It starts out rather slowly, but builds up as it develops (indeed, the ending is, if anything, rather rushed). Some interesting ideas, of late 20th century western civilisation viewed through the eyes of a very different culture in the far future, as well as questions of identity, given the viewpoint character's near total amnesia about his past life. But, on the whole, it fell a little short of some of the best of Stross' work... perhaps there's just too much background to set up in terms of the viewpoint culture and its history.