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Glass Houses
A group of employees and their CEO, celebrating the sale of their remarkable emotion-mapping-AI-alogorithm, crash onto a not-quite-deserted tropical island. Luckily, those who survived have found a beautiful, fully stocked private palace, with all the latest technological updates (though one without connection to the outside world). The house, however, has more secrets than anyone might have guessed, and a much darker reason for having been built and left behind.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published August 13, 2024
About the author
Madeline Ashby
56 books505 followersMadeline Ashby is a science fiction writer and strategic foresight consultant living in Toronto. She has been writing fiction since she was about thirteen years old. (Before that, she recited all her stories aloud, with funny voices and everything.) Her fiction has appeared in Nature, Tesseracts, Escape Pod, FLURB, the Shine Anthology, and elsewhere. Her non-fiction has appeared at BoingBoing.net, io9.com, Tor.com, Online Fandom, and WorldChanging. She is a member of the Cecil Street Irregulars, one of Toronto's oldest genre writers' workshops. She holds a M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (her thesis was on anime, fan culture, and cyborg theory) and a M.Des. in strategic foresight & innovation (her project was on the future of border security). Currently, she is represented by Monica Pacheco of Anne McDermid & Associates.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
August 7, 2024
Okay my bookish friends, we have a little tough sci fi thriller to discuss: I both liked and also disliked at the same time which is making things complicated to form a fair verdict.
Firstly the book is far too intelligent that made me feel not capable enough to understand the whole scientific terminology that discussed in pages (that’s why after reading this book, I gave my approval to my husband wear his “I’m with this stupid shirt” that with an arrow pointing someone stands next to him: which is absolutely “me”) The idea of emotion-mapping-AI algorithm turning human emotions into currency is not comprehensible subject for me as a person who has even problems to fully understand the mechanics of crypto currency.
I also had really hard time to connect with Kristen Mara: the eerie heroine who is too intelligent, detached, showing sociopathic tendencies who didn’t give me anything to hold on for empathizing her and her painful, tragic childhood.
But I cannot deny, the plot line with reminiscences of Glass Onion, Lost and And Then There Were None are perfectly executed, describing ten people: a part of innovative tech company who lurched emotion-mapping-AI- algorithm survive from plane crash, finding themselves in a tropical island where a bizarre black box shaped house awaiting them to stay till somebody notices their acceptances. But just like Christie’s famous book each of them starts dying with unknown reasons that might be supernatural identities threatened the islanders or a secret psychopath targets them and this person can be one of them.
Yes the plot line of the book is intriguing which is told by the present time in island and flashbacks putting a light how Kristen, a soul survivor of a fire that has taken her family’s life, sued to the firm that created the malfunctioning fire and won it that put her in the spotlight of media stalkers. Kristen is hired as “chief emotional manager” by eccentric boyish billionaire, CEO Sumter who insists they’re two pieces of pod with similar pasts they end to sue the companies which are responsible to kill both of their parents.
We see blossoming relationship of Kristen with mysterious Antonin who keeps questioning the piling death around Kristen and we learn more about company related suicides that may lead to something more sinister.
When we return back to the present, we start questioning what’s going on in the island, why their automated piloted place did crash, who is the owner of fully-stocked black box shaped mansion on the island where none of the women can open the fridges or any drawers. Is one of them having a very dangerous secret agenda to hunt them one by one or is this another test created by Sumter and Mason?
Well, I’m rounding up 3.5 stars to 4 because of the unique definitions and original inventions in this book even though all those characters are highly irritating that I didn’t care they live or die! But as a fantasy and speculative science fiction this book stands tall from its rivals. The execution and pacing is great. That’s why I raised my grade!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for sharing this smart sci-fi novel’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange of my honest thoughts.
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Firstly the book is far too intelligent that made me feel not capable enough to understand the whole scientific terminology that discussed in pages (that’s why after reading this book, I gave my approval to my husband wear his “I’m with this stupid shirt” that with an arrow pointing someone stands next to him: which is absolutely “me”) The idea of emotion-mapping-AI algorithm turning human emotions into currency is not comprehensible subject for me as a person who has even problems to fully understand the mechanics of crypto currency.
I also had really hard time to connect with Kristen Mara: the eerie heroine who is too intelligent, detached, showing sociopathic tendencies who didn’t give me anything to hold on for empathizing her and her painful, tragic childhood.
But I cannot deny, the plot line with reminiscences of Glass Onion, Lost and And Then There Were None are perfectly executed, describing ten people: a part of innovative tech company who lurched emotion-mapping-AI- algorithm survive from plane crash, finding themselves in a tropical island where a bizarre black box shaped house awaiting them to stay till somebody notices their acceptances. But just like Christie’s famous book each of them starts dying with unknown reasons that might be supernatural identities threatened the islanders or a secret psychopath targets them and this person can be one of them.
Yes the plot line of the book is intriguing which is told by the present time in island and flashbacks putting a light how Kristen, a soul survivor of a fire that has taken her family’s life, sued to the firm that created the malfunctioning fire and won it that put her in the spotlight of media stalkers. Kristen is hired as “chief emotional manager” by eccentric boyish billionaire, CEO Sumter who insists they’re two pieces of pod with similar pasts they end to sue the companies which are responsible to kill both of their parents.
We see blossoming relationship of Kristen with mysterious Antonin who keeps questioning the piling death around Kristen and we learn more about company related suicides that may lead to something more sinister.
When we return back to the present, we start questioning what’s going on in the island, why their automated piloted place did crash, who is the owner of fully-stocked black box shaped mansion on the island where none of the women can open the fridges or any drawers. Is one of them having a very dangerous secret agenda to hunt them one by one or is this another test created by Sumter and Mason?
Well, I’m rounding up 3.5 stars to 4 because of the unique definitions and original inventions in this book even though all those characters are highly irritating that I didn’t care they live or die! But as a fantasy and speculative science fiction this book stands tall from its rivals. The execution and pacing is great. That’s why I raised my grade!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for sharing this smart sci-fi novel’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange of my honest thoughts.
Follow me on medium.com to read my articles about books, movies, streaming series, astrology:
medium blog
September 2, 2024
What a deliciously dark book! From the offset, Glass Houses won me over with its near-future speculative twists. With two compelling timelines and a creepy, creepy setting, I was pulled deeply into this thought-provoking premise. But it was the Black Mirror vibe that was married cleverly with And Then There Were None that won me over hook, line, and sinker. After all, there’s nothing I love more than a well-written locked room murder mystery novel.
The characters were a mix of those I loved to hate and a protagonist who had me cheering her on from the sidelines. While some were decidedly more flat than others, they each furthered the plot so as to keep me thoroughly intrigued. But the twists were what kept my fingers firmly flying. Perhaps thanks to the finely layered storyline, I didn’t anticipate nary a one. And I don’t know about you, but I simply love when a dawning realization makes you utterly giddy.
There was one piece that didn’t quite work for me, though. Heavily peppered with dense tech speak which went well over my head, I found myself sometimes having to parse sentences in an effort to follow what was being said. Was it important? Or could I skim a description? Ultimately, it took longer to read as I seriously had to slow down in order to try and comprehend.
Nevertheless, I had a blast reading this intoxicating look at a future I pray we never encounter. From its scathing look at what it sometimes means to be a woman in tech to the potential downsides of everything from AI to crypto, there was no end to the well-founded critiques. At the same time, this was every bit of a riveting thriller. With a soaring pace and a hard-hitting, palpable fear, I was fully invested from the first page until the last. And while it might’ve been more sci-fi than I was expecting, it just didn’t matter as I gobbled it up in just a matter of hours. So come one, come all… You need to read this book. Dark and twisted, it was simply sublime. Rating of 4.5 stars.
SYNOPSIS:
A group of employees and their CEO, celebrating the sale of their remarkable emotion-mapping-AI-algorithm, crash onto a not-quite-deserted tropical island.
Luckily, those who survived have found a beautiful, fully-stocked private palace, with all the latest technological updates (though one without connection to the outside world). The house, however, has more secrets than anyone might have guessed, and a much darker reason for having been built and left behind.
Kristen, the hyper-competent "chief emotional manager" (a position created by her eccentric, boyish billionaire boss, Sumter) is trying to keep her colleagues stable throughout this new challenge, but staying sane seems to be as much of a challenge as staying alive.
Being a woman in tech has always meant having to be smarter than anyone expects—and Kristen's knack for out-of-the-box problem-solving and quick thinking has gotten her to the top of her field. But will a killer instinct be enough to survive the island?
Thank you to Madeline Ashby and story Publishing for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: August 13, 2024
Trigger warning: plane crash, misogyny, sexual harassment, mention of: house fire, suicide
The characters were a mix of those I loved to hate and a protagonist who had me cheering her on from the sidelines. While some were decidedly more flat than others, they each furthered the plot so as to keep me thoroughly intrigued. But the twists were what kept my fingers firmly flying. Perhaps thanks to the finely layered storyline, I didn’t anticipate nary a one. And I don’t know about you, but I simply love when a dawning realization makes you utterly giddy.
There was one piece that didn’t quite work for me, though. Heavily peppered with dense tech speak which went well over my head, I found myself sometimes having to parse sentences in an effort to follow what was being said. Was it important? Or could I skim a description? Ultimately, it took longer to read as I seriously had to slow down in order to try and comprehend.
Nevertheless, I had a blast reading this intoxicating look at a future I pray we never encounter. From its scathing look at what it sometimes means to be a woman in tech to the potential downsides of everything from AI to crypto, there was no end to the well-founded critiques. At the same time, this was every bit of a riveting thriller. With a soaring pace and a hard-hitting, palpable fear, I was fully invested from the first page until the last. And while it might’ve been more sci-fi than I was expecting, it just didn’t matter as I gobbled it up in just a matter of hours. So come one, come all… You need to read this book. Dark and twisted, it was simply sublime. Rating of 4.5 stars.
SYNOPSIS:
A group of employees and their CEO, celebrating the sale of their remarkable emotion-mapping-AI-algorithm, crash onto a not-quite-deserted tropical island.
Luckily, those who survived have found a beautiful, fully-stocked private palace, with all the latest technological updates (though one without connection to the outside world). The house, however, has more secrets than anyone might have guessed, and a much darker reason for having been built and left behind.
Kristen, the hyper-competent "chief emotional manager" (a position created by her eccentric, boyish billionaire boss, Sumter) is trying to keep her colleagues stable throughout this new challenge, but staying sane seems to be as much of a challenge as staying alive.
Being a woman in tech has always meant having to be smarter than anyone expects—and Kristen's knack for out-of-the-box problem-solving and quick thinking has gotten her to the top of her field. But will a killer instinct be enough to survive the island?
Thank you to Madeline Ashby and story Publishing for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: August 13, 2024
Trigger warning: plane crash, misogyny, sexual harassment, mention of: house fire, suicide
August 1, 2024
You basically had me at "a plane holding tech employees and their CEO crashes on a deserted island."
Boy howdy! I was hoping for a nasty Yellowjackets vibe, with characters turning on one another as the food runs out, and the dirty little secrets are finally revealed.
And, it started out that way. There was the lingering question of was the plane crash really an accident or some sort of bizarre team-building exercise? (Not to sound like click-bait, but you won't believe the answer.)
The author does generate a good build up of suspense, but everything kind of fell apart at the end. I had mondo trouble caring about ANY of the characters as I never got to know them before they started getting knocked off.
Probably the most fun I had was picturing this jerk as CEO Sumter.
Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for the ARC.
Boy howdy! I was hoping for a nasty Yellowjackets vibe, with characters turning on one another as the food runs out, and the dirty little secrets are finally revealed.
And, it started out that way. There was the lingering question of was the plane crash really an accident or some sort of bizarre team-building exercise? (Not to sound like click-bait, but you won't believe the answer.)
The author does generate a good build up of suspense, but everything kind of fell apart at the end. I had mondo trouble caring about ANY of the characters as I never got to know them before they started getting knocked off.
Probably the most fun I had was picturing this jerk as CEO Sumter.
Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for the ARC.
Read
August 11, 2024The execution did not match my anticipation. How weird is it that I also read a book called House of Glass this month?
This book is very different. A dystopian future that I would not like to live in. An app called Wuv has been developed to capture your emotions in real time and share them with everyone. The vision is to avoid the need for therapy and other time-consuming constructs (like voting) in our current world.
Kristen Howard is at times a sympathetic heroine. Her boss Sumter is the stereotypical evil genius masquerading as a tech bro. The plane crash on a deserted island is devastating and confusing for the team on board. And what is the deal with that huge black monolith in the center of the island? The house made of glass?
For many this will be a compelling page-turner. The tone of the book was quite crass and there were too many references to the use of porn and demeaning references to body parts. This was not a good match for me. If you loved The Handmaid’s Tale and other similar titles and are looking for a distinctive Canadian author -- give this one a try. My mind needs something light and fluffy after this read.
Thank you to Tor and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
This book is very different. A dystopian future that I would not like to live in. An app called Wuv has been developed to capture your emotions in real time and share them with everyone. The vision is to avoid the need for therapy and other time-consuming constructs (like voting) in our current world.
Kristen Howard is at times a sympathetic heroine. Her boss Sumter is the stereotypical evil genius masquerading as a tech bro. The plane crash on a deserted island is devastating and confusing for the team on board. And what is the deal with that huge black monolith in the center of the island? The house made of glass?
For many this will be a compelling page-turner. The tone of the book was quite crass and there were too many references to the use of porn and demeaning references to body parts. This was not a good match for me. If you loved The Handmaid’s Tale and other similar titles and are looking for a distinctive Canadian author -- give this one a try. My mind needs something light and fluffy after this read.
Thank you to Tor and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
September 3, 2024
**2.5-stars rounded up**
I'm not having the best reading luck lately. I'm feeling let down a lot. Am I being punished for something?
I need this trend to turn around soon, because it's seriously putting me in a mood.
I've been putting off reviewing this for a while. I needed to cool my jets a bit before I tore off on some salty rant review, going up one side of this and down the other. That helps no one. So, let's take a deep breath, and get into it.
The synopsis for Glass Houses had me anticipating a gripping, freaky, intense, near-future Mystery-Thriller involving a palatial house on a deserted island.
Instead what I got was a slow-moving character study of messed up people. Sure, a small portion is set on an island, but that certainly didn't feel like the focus.
The very start was giving the first scene from the first season of Lost. I thought to myself, this is exciting, this is intriguing. Then as it began to play out further, I thought, wait a minute is...
I won't fill in that blank, but that happened by page 19, and I was correct. There was another thing later 'revealed' that I knew early on as well. I wasn't trying to figure anything out. I never do that, but these things were just so glaringly obvious, I wonder were they supposed to feel like reveals?
Then in other ways, where I wish it could have been expanded upon, we were kept in the dark. We did get little tidbits of the greater world here and there, but it was never clear enough to understand, or provide a sense of place.
I feel like a nice mixed media element scattered throughout, that could've let us know how the world got to this point would've been fun. I mean obviously it's the near future, but why is everything soooo different?
By the middle, it had really slowed down. We weren't seeing as much of everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off, which I guess could've been entertaining if we didn't have these huge sections from the past taking us right out of that present feeling of chaos.
At the end of the day, NGL, I didn't enjoy this. Some of the concepts involving future tech and AI were interesting, but I hated the way the story was told.
There was too much focus on the backstory of Kristin and not enough on the present setting of the deserted island. I feel like I was sold something that I didn't end up getting.
I wasn't given suspense, nor intrigue, AND was barely given any time on the deserted island that I was promised. I am rounding up to 3-stars to be nice.
With this being said, just because this didn't work for me, does not mean it won't work for you. I wouldn't really go by the synopsis though to judge whether or not you would enjoy it, as personally, I feel it's a bit mismarketed.
I think this would work best for Literary Fiction fans, who enjoy dark stories with light SF-elements. Character-driven Readers may also have success with this.
Thank you to the publisher, Tor, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I'm not sure if I will read from this author again, probably not, but I'm glad I gave this one a shot, even if it wasn't necessarily my cup of tea.
I'm not having the best reading luck lately. I'm feeling let down a lot. Am I being punished for something?
I need this trend to turn around soon, because it's seriously putting me in a mood.
I've been putting off reviewing this for a while. I needed to cool my jets a bit before I tore off on some salty rant review, going up one side of this and down the other. That helps no one. So, let's take a deep breath, and get into it.
The synopsis for Glass Houses had me anticipating a gripping, freaky, intense, near-future Mystery-Thriller involving a palatial house on a deserted island.
Instead what I got was a slow-moving character study of messed up people. Sure, a small portion is set on an island, but that certainly didn't feel like the focus.
The very start was giving the first scene from the first season of Lost. I thought to myself, this is exciting, this is intriguing. Then as it began to play out further, I thought, wait a minute is...
I won't fill in that blank, but that happened by page 19, and I was correct. There was another thing later 'revealed' that I knew early on as well. I wasn't trying to figure anything out. I never do that, but these things were just so glaringly obvious, I wonder were they supposed to feel like reveals?
Then in other ways, where I wish it could have been expanded upon, we were kept in the dark. We did get little tidbits of the greater world here and there, but it was never clear enough to understand, or provide a sense of place.
I feel like a nice mixed media element scattered throughout, that could've let us know how the world got to this point would've been fun. I mean obviously it's the near future, but why is everything soooo different?
By the middle, it had really slowed down. We weren't seeing as much of everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off, which I guess could've been entertaining if we didn't have these huge sections from the past taking us right out of that present feeling of chaos.
At the end of the day, NGL, I didn't enjoy this. Some of the concepts involving future tech and AI were interesting, but I hated the way the story was told.
There was too much focus on the backstory of Kristin and not enough on the present setting of the deserted island. I feel like I was sold something that I didn't end up getting.
I wasn't given suspense, nor intrigue, AND was barely given any time on the deserted island that I was promised. I am rounding up to 3-stars to be nice.
With this being said, just because this didn't work for me, does not mean it won't work for you. I wouldn't really go by the synopsis though to judge whether or not you would enjoy it, as personally, I feel it's a bit mismarketed.
I think this would work best for Literary Fiction fans, who enjoy dark stories with light SF-elements. Character-driven Readers may also have success with this.
Thank you to the publisher, Tor, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I'm not sure if I will read from this author again, probably not, but I'm glad I gave this one a shot, even if it wasn't necessarily my cup of tea.
July 24, 2024
3.5 Stars
I really enjoyed the vN trilogy by this author so I was eager to check out her newest release. This one was more of a sci fi thriller, heavy on the suspense aspects. It was a fun page turner that was easy to fly through. I wish it had been more focused on the sci fi elements because they fell into the background. An enjoyable read, but not as memorable as I would have liked.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from publisher.
I really enjoyed the vN trilogy by this author so I was eager to check out her newest release. This one was more of a sci fi thriller, heavy on the suspense aspects. It was a fun page turner that was easy to fly through. I wish it had been more focused on the sci fi elements because they fell into the background. An enjoyable read, but not as memorable as I would have liked.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from publisher.
Read
March 27, 2024"Glass Houses" by Madeline Ashby is a dark thriller set in the near future, teeming with advanced technology, both real and imagined. As a fan of such books, I was eager to delve into its pages.
The story follows a group of start-up team members led by their eccentric billionaire boss, CEO Sumter. They embark on a trip to celebrate the sale of their emotion-mapping AI algorithm but find themselves stranded on a deserted tropical island after their autonomous airplane crashes. Among the ten survivors are Sumter and his right-hand assistant, Kristen, who holds the position of 'chief emotional officer. On the island, they stumble upon an AI-driven mansion filled with secrets and advanced technology. While grappling with their situation and attempting to enter the house, Kristen does her best to keep tensions low and people safe.
I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery, reminiscent of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None," the "Big Brother" vibes, and the array of fascinating technology depicted in the story. Understanding the tech isn't necessary to enjoy the book; being a sci-fi enthusiast, I had no issue with it. The title aptly captures the essence of the book and "Glass House Effect," and the cleverly imagined dark plot keeps you on the edge of your seat as tension mounts.
The narrative unfolds through dual timelines, before and after the crash, narrated in the third person from Kristen's perspective. We come to know Kristen and several other characters intimately, although the more I learned about her, the less I found her likable. Indeed, most characters are rather unlikable, yet this didn't hinder my enjoyment of the tale or my curiosity about their survival chances.
The book delves into the depths of the human psyche, exploring themes such as PTSD, obsession, gender dynamics in male-dominated industries, the erosion of privacy in the age of social media, and the ramifications of broadcasting one's life to the world. I don't have a smart home system in my home, and after reading this book I won't get one...
My only grievances with the book were the occasional unrealistic behaviors of the survivors, the petty quarrels, and a few awkward descriptions and imagery (such as those concerning bandages) that neither made sense nor added to the story; The book is better off without them. Nevertheless, I found the book enjoyable and rate it 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend it to fans of the genre seeking an original albeit dark read.
* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc. All opinions are my own.
* Review in my blog: https://galibookish.blogspot.com/2024...
The story follows a group of start-up team members led by their eccentric billionaire boss, CEO Sumter. They embark on a trip to celebrate the sale of their emotion-mapping AI algorithm but find themselves stranded on a deserted tropical island after their autonomous airplane crashes. Among the ten survivors are Sumter and his right-hand assistant, Kristen, who holds the position of 'chief emotional officer. On the island, they stumble upon an AI-driven mansion filled with secrets and advanced technology. While grappling with their situation and attempting to enter the house, Kristen does her best to keep tensions low and people safe.
I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery, reminiscent of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None," the "Big Brother" vibes, and the array of fascinating technology depicted in the story. Understanding the tech isn't necessary to enjoy the book; being a sci-fi enthusiast, I had no issue with it. The title aptly captures the essence of the book and "Glass House Effect," and the cleverly imagined dark plot keeps you on the edge of your seat as tension mounts.
The narrative unfolds through dual timelines, before and after the crash, narrated in the third person from Kristen's perspective. We come to know Kristen and several other characters intimately, although the more I learned about her, the less I found her likable. Indeed, most characters are rather unlikable, yet this didn't hinder my enjoyment of the tale or my curiosity about their survival chances.
The book delves into the depths of the human psyche, exploring themes such as PTSD, obsession, gender dynamics in male-dominated industries, the erosion of privacy in the age of social media, and the ramifications of broadcasting one's life to the world. I don't have a smart home system in my home, and after reading this book I won't get one...
My only grievances with the book were the occasional unrealistic behaviors of the survivors, the petty quarrels, and a few awkward descriptions and imagery (such as those concerning bandages) that neither made sense nor added to the story; The book is better off without them. Nevertheless, I found the book enjoyable and rate it 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend it to fans of the genre seeking an original albeit dark read.
* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc. All opinions are my own.
* Review in my blog: https://galibookish.blogspot.com/2024...
June 5, 2024
✨B O O K • F E A T U R E✨
Glass Houses // Releases: August 13, 2024
#ad I received a gifted advance copy of this book - many thanks to @madashby + @tornightfire #partner
I absolutely loved this book. Honestly, I can't decide what I loved more: the book itself or Kristen's character. Both were equally amazing.
This book has made me want to read more science-fiction books like this one. It was such a fun journey, and the tech elements were fascinating. I feel smarter after reading it. Haha. But seriously, the concepts in this book are incredible.
The story centers around a plane with no pilot that should fly itself. Instead, the pilotless plane crashes and a group of coworkers from a tech startup crash-land on an island. They see nothing around them until they find a black, all-glass house, only problem is is that it has no doors. They need to get inside because the house contains everything they need to survive. But why did they crash here in the first place?
As things go wrong, the stranded group starts to turn on each other, unsure of who to trust. Was the crash an accident or a deliberate plan?
The narrative unfolds in dual timelines: the present and the past. The chapters set in the past always provide hints relevant to the present.
I can't wait to read more from this author. Great read.
#glasshouses #TorNightfire #sci-fi #thriller #bookrecommendations #bookstagram #readmorebooks #alwaysreading #bookhoarder #bookstack #readabook #bookworms #bookrecommendation #bookaesthetic #bookshelves #readabook #readmore #suspense #books #bookworm #igbooks #bibliophile #booksbooksbooks
Glass Houses // Releases: August 13, 2024
#ad I received a gifted advance copy of this book - many thanks to @madashby + @tornightfire #partner
I absolutely loved this book. Honestly, I can't decide what I loved more: the book itself or Kristen's character. Both were equally amazing.
This book has made me want to read more science-fiction books like this one. It was such a fun journey, and the tech elements were fascinating. I feel smarter after reading it. Haha. But seriously, the concepts in this book are incredible.
The story centers around a plane with no pilot that should fly itself. Instead, the pilotless plane crashes and a group of coworkers from a tech startup crash-land on an island. They see nothing around them until they find a black, all-glass house, only problem is is that it has no doors. They need to get inside because the house contains everything they need to survive. But why did they crash here in the first place?
As things go wrong, the stranded group starts to turn on each other, unsure of who to trust. Was the crash an accident or a deliberate plan?
The narrative unfolds in dual timelines: the present and the past. The chapters set in the past always provide hints relevant to the present.
I can't wait to read more from this author. Great read.
#glasshouses #TorNightfire #sci-fi #thriller #bookrecommendations #bookstagram #readmorebooks #alwaysreading #bookhoarder #bookstack #readabook #bookworms #bookrecommendation #bookaesthetic #bookshelves #readabook #readmore #suspense #books #bookworm #igbooks #bibliophile #booksbooksbooks
June 16, 2024
2.5 stars. I like the concept here but there's something about Ashby's execution that just doesn't click for me. Everything felt a little vague, slightly out of focus. I could never quite get my bearings.
Let's also correct the record: this is not a whodunnit. Or a picked off one by one book. There's always one very clear explanation, the most obvious answer, and there aren't any real red herrings or list of suspects. The book gives just the slightest attention to most of these characters anyway. Instead it's a book where you're pretty sure you know who is behind what's happening, it's just not clear WHAT is actually happening.
The book is at its best when we're in that WHAT is actually happening mode. But we aren't in it very often. The balance of flashbacks to present was off, mostly in service of final act twists which didn't do much to add to the story. By the end I felt like we had less than we started with, which is never great.
Let's also correct the record: this is not a whodunnit. Or a picked off one by one book. There's always one very clear explanation, the most obvious answer, and there aren't any real red herrings or list of suspects. The book gives just the slightest attention to most of these characters anyway. Instead it's a book where you're pretty sure you know who is behind what's happening, it's just not clear WHAT is actually happening.
The book is at its best when we're in that WHAT is actually happening mode. But we aren't in it very often. The balance of flashbacks to present was off, mostly in service of final act twists which didn't do much to add to the story. By the end I felt like we had less than we started with, which is never great.
March 27, 2024
This phenomenol novel is crreepy, grippy, thrilling and all too scary. I almost can't believe what I read!
I picked it up because of the summary - A group of employees and their CEO, celebrating the sale of their remarkable emotion-mapping-AI-algorithm, crash onto a not-quite-deserted tropical island.
I thought it might be fun, a little thrilling but it was absolutely and incredibly mind-blowingly scary. Kristen is our heroine and her backstory is incredibly interesting and unique. It may be why. Sumter, a very Elon-Musky, billionaire baffoonish man has hired her as his right -hand-woman. They work well together and her skill set allows her to continue to lead the team after a devastating plane crash and massive loss of life.
When they find a hotel, a mansion, or a palace filled with all of the food they need, Kristen knows there has to be more to the story. While she flashes back to her history, and her very limited life outside of the company we begin to get a better picture of who Kristen really is and what she might be able to do in this scenario
If you like Hitchcock, Highsmith, Vacations-gone-wrong or speculative fiction then this is a MAJOR GEM for you. I might just read it again now, but with the light left on.
#tor #madelineashby #glasshouse
I picked it up because of the summary - A group of employees and their CEO, celebrating the sale of their remarkable emotion-mapping-AI-algorithm, crash onto a not-quite-deserted tropical island.
I thought it might be fun, a little thrilling but it was absolutely and incredibly mind-blowingly scary. Kristen is our heroine and her backstory is incredibly interesting and unique. It may be why. Sumter, a very Elon-Musky, billionaire baffoonish man has hired her as his right -hand-woman. They work well together and her skill set allows her to continue to lead the team after a devastating plane crash and massive loss of life.
When they find a hotel, a mansion, or a palace filled with all of the food they need, Kristen knows there has to be more to the story. While she flashes back to her history, and her very limited life outside of the company we begin to get a better picture of who Kristen really is and what she might be able to do in this scenario
If you like Hitchcock, Highsmith, Vacations-gone-wrong or speculative fiction then this is a MAJOR GEM for you. I might just read it again now, but with the light left on.
#tor #madelineashby #glasshouse
March 17, 2024
ARC for review. To be published August 13, 2024.
Wuv (maybe the worst name ever), an AI algorithm for emotions has been sold for big bucks and the team, including billionaire CEO Sumter, is on a trip to celebrate. Unfortunately there is a plane crash into an island. The good news is this island has a fully stocked, deserted mansion, filled with tech updates. The house also has some secrets.
Kristen, the “chief emotional officer” (previously known as HR, and really Sumter’s right hand) is trying to keep everyone going, and that includes keeping everyone alive. And that’s going to take everything she’s got.
Well, first you have to get over the ridiculous premise, and then supposedly smart people keep doing stupid things. But it wasn’t a terrible book and I kept turning the pages.
Wuv (maybe the worst name ever), an AI algorithm for emotions has been sold for big bucks and the team, including billionaire CEO Sumter, is on a trip to celebrate. Unfortunately there is a plane crash into an island. The good news is this island has a fully stocked, deserted mansion, filled with tech updates. The house also has some secrets.
Kristen, the “chief emotional officer” (previously known as HR, and really Sumter’s right hand) is trying to keep everyone going, and that includes keeping everyone alive. And that’s going to take everything she’s got.
Well, first you have to get over the ridiculous premise, and then supposedly smart people keep doing stupid things. But it wasn’t a terrible book and I kept turning the pages.
August 28, 2024
I loved this book so much. It felt like it was written just for me and I just want to read it all over again. Set in the near future, this thriller seamlessly blends elements of science fiction, particularly with its depiction of futuristic technology. The story follows a group of co-workers who mysteriously crash on a seemingly deserted island, with only a hideous glass house in sight. The narrative alternates between the present and flashbacks to the past, both of which are equally gripping.
In the past timeline, we follow our main character, Kristen, as she begins working at a start-up. Kristen is a complex and fascinating character—clever, analytical, and shaped by traumatic experiences. I was particularly drawn to her relationship with Anton, which was portrayed with depth and emotion. The romance was touching and added another layer to the story.
I’m generally not a fan of dual timelines but they were well-executed here, with each timeline enhancing the other. I was fully invested in both the present-day mystery and Kristen's past. The author also weaves in glimpses of a world dominated by technology, where the effects of climate devastation are evident. Overall, I enjoyed every page of this book. It masterfully combines sci-fi, thriller, and romance into a compelling narrative that has depth. Despite the many elements, everything came together seamlessly in the end.
In the past timeline, we follow our main character, Kristen, as she begins working at a start-up. Kristen is a complex and fascinating character—clever, analytical, and shaped by traumatic experiences. I was particularly drawn to her relationship with Anton, which was portrayed with depth and emotion. The romance was touching and added another layer to the story.
I’m generally not a fan of dual timelines but they were well-executed here, with each timeline enhancing the other. I was fully invested in both the present-day mystery and Kristen's past. The author also weaves in glimpses of a world dominated by technology, where the effects of climate devastation are evident. Overall, I enjoyed every page of this book. It masterfully combines sci-fi, thriller, and romance into a compelling narrative that has depth. Despite the many elements, everything came together seamlessly in the end.
August 15, 2024
"Do you think someone could have hacked the plane?"
"What, like our bring here is the result of some sadistic plot to strand us on a desert island, where we slowly die of thirst begging forgiveness for developing the world's first emotional currency?"
Oooh boy, this was an exciting read! This is a near future dystopian sci-fi read with a locked room mystery happening. 10 people, stranded on an island after surviving a plane crash, find the lone house - and it is literally locked up tight. Until it isn't. And slowly, people start to die. One team member even claims the island tried to eat them right before they die. Eventually, the true purpose of the house is made clear, and it's a doozy!
This tale gives you dual timelines with only one POV. Even with all the tech jargon, I still found it easy to understand. While some of the characters aren't exactly lovable, I did find myself rooting for a couple. There is also a romance subplot, told in flashbacks, that also gives you more insight into motives.
"When you trust someone, or even if you just admire them, you don't want to think I'll of them. You want to believe the world works the way you think it works. You want to believe there are rules. Standards... but no one wants women to admit the scandals. They might discover how common, how truly banal the evil moments in their lives are."
"What, like our bring here is the result of some sadistic plot to strand us on a desert island, where we slowly die of thirst begging forgiveness for developing the world's first emotional currency?"
Oooh boy, this was an exciting read! This is a near future dystopian sci-fi read with a locked room mystery happening. 10 people, stranded on an island after surviving a plane crash, find the lone house - and it is literally locked up tight. Until it isn't. And slowly, people start to die. One team member even claims the island tried to eat them right before they die. Eventually, the true purpose of the house is made clear, and it's a doozy!
This tale gives you dual timelines with only one POV. Even with all the tech jargon, I still found it easy to understand. While some of the characters aren't exactly lovable, I did find myself rooting for a couple. There is also a romance subplot, told in flashbacks, that also gives you more insight into motives.
"When you trust someone, or even if you just admire them, you don't want to think I'll of them. You want to believe the world works the way you think it works. You want to believe there are rules. Standards... but no one wants women to admit the scandals. They might discover how common, how truly banal the evil moments in their lives are."
August 8, 2024
I received an eARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was so cringy. The premise was interesting: a plane crash on a deserted-island and a creepy AI-house. I was expecting a super dark take on Smart House. Instead, this book is giving the dollar store knock off brand of the tv show Lost. This book was set in the future or an alternate reality? No real clarity there. The characters were awful. The dialogue was cringy. The book jumped from past to present in a jarring way. I literally did not care about what was happening in the past or the present. This book felt like it was written to check off boxes. Talk about the patriarchy (check), make the world literally not built for women (check), make a reference to something sexual in almost every chapter at least once (check). The first sign this book was not going to be for me occurred at the 6% mark
"Kristen follows his gaze, up and up and up, into the glittering cum-smear arcing high above them that is the Milky Way."
I have literally read monster smut that was less jarring then that sentence in the middle of a horror/thriller. I just want to know why the Milky Way needed to be described like that out of no where in chapter three of the most boring thriller I've ever attempted to read. It felt like this book was much like its characters, trying too hard to seem smart and funny. I finally DNF'd this book at 51%.
This book was so cringy. The premise was interesting: a plane crash on a deserted-island and a creepy AI-house. I was expecting a super dark take on Smart House. Instead, this book is giving the dollar store knock off brand of the tv show Lost. This book was set in the future or an alternate reality? No real clarity there. The characters were awful. The dialogue was cringy. The book jumped from past to present in a jarring way. I literally did not care about what was happening in the past or the present. This book felt like it was written to check off boxes. Talk about the patriarchy (check), make the world literally not built for women (check), make a reference to something sexual in almost every chapter at least once (check). The first sign this book was not going to be for me occurred at the 6% mark
"Kristen follows his gaze, up and up and up, into the glittering cum-smear arcing high above them that is the Milky Way."
I have literally read monster smut that was less jarring then that sentence in the middle of a horror/thriller. I just want to know why the Milky Way needed to be described like that out of no where in chapter three of the most boring thriller I've ever attempted to read. It felt like this book was much like its characters, trying too hard to seem smart and funny. I finally DNF'd this book at 51%.
August 12, 2024
This book threw me for a loop. A mix of lost, scream, and You vibes. I couldn’t put this book down.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2024
Couldn’t put this down. I like the style of telling the story in both the past and the present. Murder mystery set on a remote island after a plane of a tech start up crashes!! Won this in a Goodreads giveaway 🌟
April 18, 2024
This novel is a well-written exploration of what it means and costs to be a woman in tech.
There are a great deal of sci-fi books that market themselves as being for fans of "Black Mirror" but honestly this is one of the few I think are deserving of the comparison.
There is a balance between the spectacular technology and the more mundane, recognizable things about tech corporations.
The protagonist is well written and strikes intrigue that kept me avidly reading.
Overall I would highly recommend to any sci-fi or thriller fans.
There are a great deal of sci-fi books that market themselves as being for fans of "Black Mirror" but honestly this is one of the few I think are deserving of the comparison.
There is a balance between the spectacular technology and the more mundane, recognizable things about tech corporations.
The protagonist is well written and strikes intrigue that kept me avidly reading.
Overall I would highly recommend to any sci-fi or thriller fans.
March 19, 2024
Glass Houses, set in the near future, had all the makings of a great mystery. It started with the crash of an autonomous airplane onto a deserted island and the survivors finding their way into a large glass mansion. There are two timelines, one during the time on the island and one for the time before the flight. However, there was a lot of technology in this book. Most of this tech made little to no sense to me and I have no idea if it is even real. Not understanding any of the tech and the amount of it was a major drawback, but if you can skip over those parts it was an interesting story.
My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.
My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.
August 26, 2024
Thank you to Goodreads and the publisher for my Goodreads win!
The nitty-gritty: A weird take on the locked room mystery, Glass Houses was entertaining and unique despite some flaws.
Glass Houses is one of the weirdest, fucked up stories I’ve read in quite a while. I was a little worried about all the mixed reviews on Goodreads, because I absolutely loved Madeline Ashby’s Company Town, but I’m happy to say this ended up working for me, even though it’s flawed and doesn’t always make sense. Imagine a locked room mystery set-up—ten people survive a plane crash and end up stranded on a deserted island, but there’s a killer in their midst—combined with a high concept story about a tech start up company, and a main character with a strange and tragic backstory, and you get this original and highly bizarre sci-fi tale.
Kristen works for a tech start-up called Wuv, a company that wants to turn emotions into currency. Wuv is the brainchild of Sumter Williams, an eccentric billionaire who hires Kristen as his Chief Emotional Manager (and so beings the weirdness!). After closing an acquisition deal, Sumter takes his employees on a celebratory retreat, but unfortunately something goes wrong and their self-flying plane crashes on a deserted island, killing several of Wuv’s employees. The survivors, including Kristen, Sumter, and eight others, head for the only structure on the island, an ominous black glass building, hoping to find food and water.
Once they figure out a way inside, they do indeed find survival supplies and even hot running water, but something about the house is odd. The kitchen cabinets will only open for the men, and there’s a huge skeleton of a prehistoric turtle hanging in the entryway. Sumter is acting very strange for a man whose plane just crashed, and then people start dying. Is there some kind of malevolent force on the island? Or is one of them the killer? Kristen begins to suspect what might be going on, but can she figure it out before she becomes the next victim?
In alternating chapters, the story flashes back to when Kristen first started to work for Wuv, how she met an enigmatic man named Anton, the recent suicide of a Wuv employee named Sheila, and the events leading up to the acquisition of Wuv. Little by little, Ashby weaves together all these threads and shows how everything is connected. Well, mostly. We do get answers, but it takes most of the book to get there. When I started reading Glass Houses, I thought the focus was going to be on the events taking place in the present—the plane crash and what happens to the survivors on the island. But Ashby spends most of her time in the past, and the locked room mystery on the island is almost a side plot. The real story focuses on Kristen and her childhood trauma—her famous parents died in a house fire when she was a teenager, and she tried to rescue them but got severely burned in the process. She has terrible scars from that ordeal and her mental health isn’t that great either. And while I wanted more of the murder mystery, by the end of the story I understood why Kristen’s backstory was so important.
I will say this about Madeline Ashby, though: she is a super smart woman and an excellent writer. Not only does the story include fascinating futuristic ideas, but she makes everything seem completely plausible. The idea of taking human emotions and using AI to calculate their worth sounds crazy, but somehow she pulled it off and made me believe it could be a “thing.”
As for the characters, they were a pretty unlikable bunch, so readers who don't enjoy unlikable characters will probably struggle with this book. I’ll just say it: Sumter is an sexist jerk, and he sort of reminded me of Elon Musk. He seems to think that Kristen owes him something, like hopping into bed with him for starters. I found him to be repulsive, as he’s a very touchy feely kind of man, and I couldn’t figure out why Kristen wanted to work for him.
Kristen fascinated me, even though she’s a bit on the cold side. She’s badly scarred from trying to save her parents from the fire, and the scars seem to define her personality. She’s also famous in a way. Her parents were famous “streamers” and she grew up on camera, so she has a big social media following. Sumter hired her because of that fame, thinking it would propel Wuv into the spotlight, which it did, in a way.
And then there’s Anton, the mysterious man who Kristen meets by accident (or so she thinks) and starts an affair with. I couldn’t figure out why he was even in the story, but eventually his presence make sense—sort of.
I did love the bloody showdown at the end, although when Sumter’s ultimate goal is revealed, it came across as ridiculous. By the end I was convinced that both Kristen and Sumter were completely nuts, and a twist late in the story confirmed that.
Still, despite its negatives, I can’t help but like this story. Ashby’s themes of sexism in the workplace and how tough it is for women in the tech industry ring true, and although Kristen seems to be the ultimate victim, she ended up surprising me. Not everyone is going to like this book, but readers who are looking for something different might want to check it out.
The nitty-gritty: A weird take on the locked room mystery, Glass Houses was entertaining and unique despite some flaws.
Glass Houses is one of the weirdest, fucked up stories I’ve read in quite a while. I was a little worried about all the mixed reviews on Goodreads, because I absolutely loved Madeline Ashby’s Company Town, but I’m happy to say this ended up working for me, even though it’s flawed and doesn’t always make sense. Imagine a locked room mystery set-up—ten people survive a plane crash and end up stranded on a deserted island, but there’s a killer in their midst—combined with a high concept story about a tech start up company, and a main character with a strange and tragic backstory, and you get this original and highly bizarre sci-fi tale.
Kristen works for a tech start-up called Wuv, a company that wants to turn emotions into currency. Wuv is the brainchild of Sumter Williams, an eccentric billionaire who hires Kristen as his Chief Emotional Manager (and so beings the weirdness!). After closing an acquisition deal, Sumter takes his employees on a celebratory retreat, but unfortunately something goes wrong and their self-flying plane crashes on a deserted island, killing several of Wuv’s employees. The survivors, including Kristen, Sumter, and eight others, head for the only structure on the island, an ominous black glass building, hoping to find food and water.
Once they figure out a way inside, they do indeed find survival supplies and even hot running water, but something about the house is odd. The kitchen cabinets will only open for the men, and there’s a huge skeleton of a prehistoric turtle hanging in the entryway. Sumter is acting very strange for a man whose plane just crashed, and then people start dying. Is there some kind of malevolent force on the island? Or is one of them the killer? Kristen begins to suspect what might be going on, but can she figure it out before she becomes the next victim?
In alternating chapters, the story flashes back to when Kristen first started to work for Wuv, how she met an enigmatic man named Anton, the recent suicide of a Wuv employee named Sheila, and the events leading up to the acquisition of Wuv. Little by little, Ashby weaves together all these threads and shows how everything is connected. Well, mostly. We do get answers, but it takes most of the book to get there. When I started reading Glass Houses, I thought the focus was going to be on the events taking place in the present—the plane crash and what happens to the survivors on the island. But Ashby spends most of her time in the past, and the locked room mystery on the island is almost a side plot. The real story focuses on Kristen and her childhood trauma—her famous parents died in a house fire when she was a teenager, and she tried to rescue them but got severely burned in the process. She has terrible scars from that ordeal and her mental health isn’t that great either. And while I wanted more of the murder mystery, by the end of the story I understood why Kristen’s backstory was so important.
I will say this about Madeline Ashby, though: she is a super smart woman and an excellent writer. Not only does the story include fascinating futuristic ideas, but she makes everything seem completely plausible. The idea of taking human emotions and using AI to calculate their worth sounds crazy, but somehow she pulled it off and made me believe it could be a “thing.”
As for the characters, they were a pretty unlikable bunch, so readers who don't enjoy unlikable characters will probably struggle with this book. I’ll just say it: Sumter is an sexist jerk, and he sort of reminded me of Elon Musk. He seems to think that Kristen owes him something, like hopping into bed with him for starters. I found him to be repulsive, as he’s a very touchy feely kind of man, and I couldn’t figure out why Kristen wanted to work for him.
Kristen fascinated me, even though she’s a bit on the cold side. She’s badly scarred from trying to save her parents from the fire, and the scars seem to define her personality. She’s also famous in a way. Her parents were famous “streamers” and she grew up on camera, so she has a big social media following. Sumter hired her because of that fame, thinking it would propel Wuv into the spotlight, which it did, in a way.
And then there’s Anton, the mysterious man who Kristen meets by accident (or so she thinks) and starts an affair with. I couldn’t figure out why he was even in the story, but eventually his presence make sense—sort of.
I did love the bloody showdown at the end, although when Sumter’s ultimate goal is revealed, it came across as ridiculous. By the end I was convinced that both Kristen and Sumter were completely nuts, and a twist late in the story confirmed that.
Still, despite its negatives, I can’t help but like this story. Ashby’s themes of sexism in the workplace and how tough it is for women in the tech industry ring true, and although Kristen seems to be the ultimate victim, she ended up surprising me. Not everyone is going to like this book, but readers who are looking for something different might want to check it out.
May 8, 2024
ARC by NetGalley and the publisher.
What does a tech CEO do to celebrate a huge new deal, well jet setting of course! However, this celebration is cut short when a tragic plane crash lands the tech team on a nearly deserted island. The survivors stumble upon a large house with all of the latest technological updates. Seeing it as a sign of hope for not only does this home have all the latest tech it is also fully stocked. As the remaining survivors begin to disappear one by one, it appears the sanctuary might be too good to be true. With its true purpose being something much darker and sinister.
Ashby created such a unique thriller that combines horror and science fiction elements in a technological driven world. Glass Houses wastes absolutely no time at all setting the intense pacing and terrifying survival plot with the reader seeing the aftermath of the deadly plane crash that traps everyone on the eerie island. Think the Glass Onion meets Lost with the cast of characters being Silicon Valley tech industry game changers. The plot focuses on Kristin, chief emotional manager to eccentric CEO Sumter as we see present time on the island and flashbacks. The flashbacks are well placed, shedding light on Kristin‘s younger life experiences as well as the tech companies sinister past. I was completely engrossed into this story from the moment they discover the ominous black box of a tech house on the island. This gave the most perfect setting for all the twists and turns that Glass Houses dished out. Overall this was an exciting fast paced thriller that is the perfect summer read. I will definitely be picking up more of Ashby’s work in the future and recommend this to anyone who likes a little bit of tech talk with their thriller reads.
Glass Houses comes out August 13th, 2024.
Thank you NetGalley and Tor Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
What does a tech CEO do to celebrate a huge new deal, well jet setting of course! However, this celebration is cut short when a tragic plane crash lands the tech team on a nearly deserted island. The survivors stumble upon a large house with all of the latest technological updates. Seeing it as a sign of hope for not only does this home have all the latest tech it is also fully stocked. As the remaining survivors begin to disappear one by one, it appears the sanctuary might be too good to be true. With its true purpose being something much darker and sinister.
Ashby created such a unique thriller that combines horror and science fiction elements in a technological driven world. Glass Houses wastes absolutely no time at all setting the intense pacing and terrifying survival plot with the reader seeing the aftermath of the deadly plane crash that traps everyone on the eerie island. Think the Glass Onion meets Lost with the cast of characters being Silicon Valley tech industry game changers. The plot focuses on Kristin, chief emotional manager to eccentric CEO Sumter as we see present time on the island and flashbacks. The flashbacks are well placed, shedding light on Kristin‘s younger life experiences as well as the tech companies sinister past. I was completely engrossed into this story from the moment they discover the ominous black box of a tech house on the island. This gave the most perfect setting for all the twists and turns that Glass Houses dished out. Overall this was an exciting fast paced thriller that is the perfect summer read. I will definitely be picking up more of Ashby’s work in the future and recommend this to anyone who likes a little bit of tech talk with their thriller reads.
Glass Houses comes out August 13th, 2024.
Thank you NetGalley and Tor Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
August 24, 2024
3.5*
I was definitely hooked by Glass Houses from the start, which opens in the immediate aftermath of a plane crash onto a deserted island. That is certainly an intense way to start things, right? And we are thrown right into the action, with main character Kristen finding her dead colleague, and realizing she's injured herself. From that point, it turns into an all-out fight for survival, leading to a very interesting lone house in the middle of the island.
Clearly, secrets are abundant, and it's hard to tell if there is anyone who can be trusted. As the reader shakes out what is happening both in Kristen 's past and present, it becomes clear that nothing is quite as it seems. For me, I loved unfurling all the secrets of both the island and its inhabitants, but the wheels fell off a bit at the end for me. I didn't quite understand a lot of the characters' motivation behind certain decisions, and at the end I just wasn't sure what the point of certain things were. I don't know how to properly explain this without spoilers, so apologies for the vagueness.
That said, it was still quite entertaining! A lot of questionable decisions, intense action, drama, and survival made it easy to fly through the pages. While the payoff wasn't as great as I'd have liked, the journey was still enjoyable, so I can live with it.
Bottom Line: A very readable story that was lacking a bit in bringing it all together, Glass Houses was still more a win than not.
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
I was definitely hooked by Glass Houses from the start, which opens in the immediate aftermath of a plane crash onto a deserted island. That is certainly an intense way to start things, right? And we are thrown right into the action, with main character Kristen finding her dead colleague, and realizing she's injured herself. From that point, it turns into an all-out fight for survival, leading to a very interesting lone house in the middle of the island.
Clearly, secrets are abundant, and it's hard to tell if there is anyone who can be trusted. As the reader shakes out what is happening both in Kristen 's past and present, it becomes clear that nothing is quite as it seems. For me, I loved unfurling all the secrets of both the island and its inhabitants, but the wheels fell off a bit at the end for me. I didn't quite understand a lot of the characters' motivation behind certain decisions, and at the end I just wasn't sure what the point of certain things were. I don't know how to properly explain this without spoilers, so apologies for the vagueness.
That said, it was still quite entertaining! A lot of questionable decisions, intense action, drama, and survival made it easy to fly through the pages. While the payoff wasn't as great as I'd have liked, the journey was still enjoyable, so I can live with it.
Bottom Line: A very readable story that was lacking a bit in bringing it all together, Glass Houses was still more a win than not.
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
July 16, 2024
I loved every bit of this hot, unsettling, twisting and turning near-future scifi thriller. There are so many layers to this story and it had me hooked from the first page to the last.
July 8, 2024
This novel had it all: interesting and creepy characters, a deserted island, mysterious deaths, and multiple plot twists. Even though most of the time I couldn't put the book down, sometimes I found myself losing interest in the plot because of how predictable some of the revelations were, despite the fact that some of them were unexpected. More explanation of the world would have been helpful; the author provided us with so little information that I occasionally got lost and found it difficult to understand how their world functioned.
Of all the characters, I enjoyed Kristen's character the most, but I do wish we would get to see more of her thought process and the way she grew up. I think it would help us understand her character more,
I also wish we would get longer chapters about their lives on the island instead of the long chapters about the BEFORE. At times, I found myself skipping over some parts of the past because they were too long and didn't really offer the insight into Kirsten's life I was looking for.
Overall, I would really recommend this book to fans of mystery. It will have you hooked from the beginning until the end!
I would like to thank NetGaley and Tor Publishing Group for giving me a chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Of all the characters, I enjoyed Kristen's character the most, but I do wish we would get to see more of her thought process and the way she grew up. I think it would help us understand her character more,
I also wish we would get longer chapters about their lives on the island instead of the long chapters about the BEFORE. At times, I found myself skipping over some parts of the past because they were too long and didn't really offer the insight into Kirsten's life I was looking for.
Overall, I would really recommend this book to fans of mystery. It will have you hooked from the beginning until the end!
I would like to thank NetGaley and Tor Publishing Group for giving me a chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.
August 16, 2024
We've been getting a lot more stories with AI and smart devices and I am loving exploring what it means and how it can change our lives.
but be warned, this one has a very slow start. It took me almost 50%, when we learned about the chicken dance and the cabinets, for it to really suck me in. This one also has interesting current day lingo that I enjoyed.
Once the story got going, I really was intrigued by our main character and how this would all play out. The reveal was shocking, not what I had expected at all, and I loved the shock value of all the smart technology that's in here. But the story did get a bit bogged down in the past and less on the present and I wish we'd had just a little more explanation on some of the technology.
All in all, a fascinating read, one that I really did like, once the story hooked me!
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
but be warned, this one has a very slow start. It took me almost 50%, when we learned about the chicken dance and the cabinets, for it to really suck me in. This one also has interesting current day lingo that I enjoyed.
Once the story got going, I really was intrigued by our main character and how this would all play out. The reveal was shocking, not what I had expected at all, and I loved the shock value of all the smart technology that's in here. But the story did get a bit bogged down in the past and less on the present and I wish we'd had just a little more explanation on some of the technology.
All in all, a fascinating read, one that I really did like, once the story hooked me!
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
June 6, 2024
Thank you to the publishers for providing a free ARC for an honest review.
Glass Houses launched itself to the top of my "oh my god I want to read this as soon as possible" list immediately, so I was thrilled to receive and ARC from TOR and, in a startlingly odd turn of events, was not disappointed! It was even close to being a 5-star read for me. I would actually suggest going into this book as blind as possible, because there are elements of it that move between genre boundaries that I feel are most rewarding when they are less expected. Overall, a fairly smart, pointed and fun read!
The best part about Glass Houses is the world building: Ashby creates a kind-of dystopian world that isn't really elaborated on but feels chillingly real and increasingly imminent with every off hand comment and bit of information given to us. Unexpectedly, most of the action occurs away from settings where a lot of this world building would be realized or seen on page, and I both like and am frustrated by this choice. On the one hand, this distance keeps the worldbuilding tantalizing and strong: like a horror movie monster, it's the kind of thing that feels like it may crumble if elaborated or focused upon too extensively. On the other hand, I'd love to see so much more of it. Despite the stranded nature of the main plot, there is a strong thematic and narrative fit between the two that keeps them from feeling disconnected from or incidental to each other.
There is a great deal of biting social commentary in this novel, and it mostly works! Ashby appears to have put a great deal of thought into technology and the political economy and social and political worlds in which it is produced and operates, and it comes across quite well for most of the book - it feels neither preachy nor underbaked. A lot of the observational or thematic points are salient and powerful and manage to not come off as trite or jejune, which a lot of similar types of stories tend to end up being. The social commentary does feel a touch more tired and superficial towards to end, but by that point I was invested enough that it only slightly turned me off.
The plot itself was engaging and a fun ride to be on, even if it's pretty apparent early on where this is all going. There are a couple plot elements that I didn't fully understand or felt were underdeveloped or unnecessary .
Glass Houses launched itself to the top of my "oh my god I want to read this as soon as possible" list immediately, so I was thrilled to receive and ARC from TOR and, in a startlingly odd turn of events, was not disappointed! It was even close to being a 5-star read for me. I would actually suggest going into this book as blind as possible, because there are elements of it that move between genre boundaries that I feel are most rewarding when they are less expected. Overall, a fairly smart, pointed and fun read!
The best part about Glass Houses is the world building: Ashby creates a kind-of dystopian world that isn't really elaborated on but feels chillingly real and increasingly imminent with every off hand comment and bit of information given to us. Unexpectedly, most of the action occurs away from settings where a lot of this world building would be realized or seen on page, and I both like and am frustrated by this choice. On the one hand, this distance keeps the worldbuilding tantalizing and strong: like a horror movie monster, it's the kind of thing that feels like it may crumble if elaborated or focused upon too extensively. On the other hand, I'd love to see so much more of it. Despite the stranded nature of the main plot, there is a strong thematic and narrative fit between the two that keeps them from feeling disconnected from or incidental to each other.
There is a great deal of biting social commentary in this novel, and it mostly works! Ashby appears to have put a great deal of thought into technology and the political economy and social and political worlds in which it is produced and operates, and it comes across quite well for most of the book - it feels neither preachy nor underbaked. A lot of the observational or thematic points are salient and powerful and manage to not come off as trite or jejune, which a lot of similar types of stories tend to end up being. The social commentary does feel a touch more tired and superficial towards to end, but by that point I was invested enough that it only slightly turned me off.
The plot itself was engaging and a fun ride to be on, even if it's pretty apparent early on where this is all going. There are a couple plot elements that I didn't fully understand or felt were underdeveloped or unnecessary .
July 12, 2024
3⭐️ TL;DR Review - interesting idea but the writing style wasn’t my fav and there were too many unanswered questions and plot holes. It’s a quick read and I liked the dark tone.
Long rambling thoughts, spoilers at the bottom after the ❌s!
I had mixed thoughts on this one. I loved the idea and the dark tone on the island, but the writing felt a bit distant and I had a hard time connecting to the story and characters. I had empathy for the MC’s childhood trauma but I she was very cold and kinda sociopathic. The other characters ranged from horrible to not great to forgettable.
There are a lot of similes and metaphors, sometimes several in a paragraph which felt overwhelming. There‘a also a lot of descriptive writing and often felt clunky and disjointed. Examples - ttwo people fighting sounds ‘like jerking off’ (girl what???) or a ‘darkness that falls faster than propofol’ or a hot humid day ‘felt like being kissed by a boy who didn’t know how’. They just didn’t work and often took me out of the story instead of enhancing it.
I loved the dark tone and ominous feel of the island but the atmospheric vibes kept getting interrupted by long flashback chapters which included a romantic aspect that I could have done without (or at least a LOT less) and a ton of tech talk that went over my head. The dystopian world felt interesting but I wanted to know more about it. Having all these flashback chapters it was a missed opportunity - the door was opened to explore the world vs just the remote island of the present, and instead it was a drawn out meh flashback plot with just some vague references about the world building.
I truly cannot explain what the unfortunately named Wuv company actually did. Even after finishing the book I have zero idea what use emotional currency would be and why it was important. I was left with a lot of questions by the end of the book too, not in an open ended story kind of way, but in a but wait what at about xyz kinda way.
❌❌ Spoilers Below ❌❌
Here’s some of the questions I was left with after I finished reading. Obviously these are spoilery, so stop scrolling if you don’t want to know about some of what happens.
?s
-What was the point of her being a serial killer? You can understand why the parents deaths happened by her reasoning but the other men didn’t add anything to the story and made her seem like a sociopath. But then the next scene she would be emotional which doesn’t really add up to a sociopath. It was just very random.
-Why would dude fake his death just to escape to Mars using a tech he didn’t know if it would work. What is the point of that?
-Let’s go even further on the Mars discussion- how were they getting there? Did he have a hidden space ship that I missed? Also, he planned on repopulating using a few frozen embryos- but how? There is no Dr or even a scientist, also only one woman left alive to even try to carry them to term… were we supposed to take this seriously or was this to show the ravings of a mad man? It just made so little sense when you think about it.
-If his plan was to take everyone to Mars, why wait so long with them pretending to find a way to escape? And if he intended to just kill them, why bring their dead bodies to Mars instead of leaving them with the plane wreckage? It just didn’t add up at all by the end.
-If Anton worked for his grandfather, who was the one buying Wuv, and he knew boss planned something for the plane crash, would that mean his grandfather did too? Meaning the whole faking his death thing was pointless? Also all this super tech exists and yet he could still trick them pretending a distant cousin was him? Like DNA testing isn’t more advanced than that?
-Why was the house coded to only work for men? No explanation is given ever other than some ideas Kristen has of what might have been.
-What was the point of the dude masterbating while she gave a tech talk? Did she hallucinate a woman next to him or not? And if so why? After this happens Mason asks if she did it to ruin the company which also makes no sense. Why would that ruin the company? Make it make sense, explain these things if you include them instead of randomly adding them in and never mention it or tie it back to anythjng again.
- Anton comes to rescue her bc her message finally sends to him when she gets access to the house wifi. But if he knew something would happen on the plane, couldn’t he have just simply tracked it, found where it was and planned to come check on her? It was weird that he knew enough to warn her ahead of time but they didn’t think to plan out what to do when she decided to still go along with the company trip.
Long rambling thoughts, spoilers at the bottom after the ❌s!
I had mixed thoughts on this one. I loved the idea and the dark tone on the island, but the writing felt a bit distant and I had a hard time connecting to the story and characters. I had empathy for the MC’s childhood trauma but I she was very cold and kinda sociopathic. The other characters ranged from horrible to not great to forgettable.
There are a lot of similes and metaphors, sometimes several in a paragraph which felt overwhelming. There‘a also a lot of descriptive writing and often felt clunky and disjointed. Examples - ttwo people fighting sounds ‘like jerking off’ (girl what???) or a ‘darkness that falls faster than propofol’ or a hot humid day ‘felt like being kissed by a boy who didn’t know how’. They just didn’t work and often took me out of the story instead of enhancing it.
I loved the dark tone and ominous feel of the island but the atmospheric vibes kept getting interrupted by long flashback chapters which included a romantic aspect that I could have done without (or at least a LOT less) and a ton of tech talk that went over my head. The dystopian world felt interesting but I wanted to know more about it. Having all these flashback chapters it was a missed opportunity - the door was opened to explore the world vs just the remote island of the present, and instead it was a drawn out meh flashback plot with just some vague references about the world building.
I truly cannot explain what the unfortunately named Wuv company actually did. Even after finishing the book I have zero idea what use emotional currency would be and why it was important. I was left with a lot of questions by the end of the book too, not in an open ended story kind of way, but in a but wait what at about xyz kinda way.
❌❌ Spoilers Below ❌❌
Here’s some of the questions I was left with after I finished reading. Obviously these are spoilery, so stop scrolling if you don’t want to know about some of what happens.
?s
-What was the point of her being a serial killer? You can understand why the parents deaths happened by her reasoning but the other men didn’t add anything to the story and made her seem like a sociopath. But then the next scene she would be emotional which doesn’t really add up to a sociopath. It was just very random.
-Why would dude fake his death just to escape to Mars using a tech he didn’t know if it would work. What is the point of that?
-Let’s go even further on the Mars discussion- how were they getting there? Did he have a hidden space ship that I missed? Also, he planned on repopulating using a few frozen embryos- but how? There is no Dr or even a scientist, also only one woman left alive to even try to carry them to term… were we supposed to take this seriously or was this to show the ravings of a mad man? It just made so little sense when you think about it.
-If his plan was to take everyone to Mars, why wait so long with them pretending to find a way to escape? And if he intended to just kill them, why bring their dead bodies to Mars instead of leaving them with the plane wreckage? It just didn’t add up at all by the end.
-If Anton worked for his grandfather, who was the one buying Wuv, and he knew boss planned something for the plane crash, would that mean his grandfather did too? Meaning the whole faking his death thing was pointless? Also all this super tech exists and yet he could still trick them pretending a distant cousin was him? Like DNA testing isn’t more advanced than that?
-Why was the house coded to only work for men? No explanation is given ever other than some ideas Kristen has of what might have been.
-What was the point of the dude masterbating while she gave a tech talk? Did she hallucinate a woman next to him or not? And if so why? After this happens Mason asks if she did it to ruin the company which also makes no sense. Why would that ruin the company? Make it make sense, explain these things if you include them instead of randomly adding them in and never mention it or tie it back to anythjng again.
- Anton comes to rescue her bc her message finally sends to him when she gets access to the house wifi. But if he knew something would happen on the plane, couldn’t he have just simply tracked it, found where it was and planned to come check on her? It was weird that he knew enough to warn her ahead of time but they didn’t think to plan out what to do when she decided to still go along with the company trip.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2024
There was something deeply funny about reading this novel while living in the Silicon Valley. Even though it takes place within Canada (and slightly beyond) it concerns the tech industry in the near future, and so much of it was a reflection of life here today, and an echo of what I hear people around me saying. Some of its critiques are scathing, even if it is fictional, and there's a sense of humor and lightness to it that contrasts nicely with being a thriller, and the fear the characters face.
The pacing is near perfect, which I so rarely see within the genre, and the sci fi elements sprinkled around like tasty little treats for the reader to discover. It's a cross-genre work- mostly said thriller, with those little elements thrown throughout, set in the near enough future that it all feels deeply plausible.
My only real critique is that the very ending- the last 20 or so pages- get a little muddled, the pace turned up to furious where it could have gotten away with merely being speedy. Overall, this will make a nice summer read for many- especially those in the tech cities.
The pacing is near perfect, which I so rarely see within the genre, and the sci fi elements sprinkled around like tasty little treats for the reader to discover. It's a cross-genre work- mostly said thriller, with those little elements thrown throughout, set in the near enough future that it all feels deeply plausible.
My only real critique is that the very ending- the last 20 or so pages- get a little muddled, the pace turned up to furious where it could have gotten away with merely being speedy. Overall, this will make a nice summer read for many- especially those in the tech cities.
August 3, 2024
I am struggling with how to rate this book, which has been described as “black mirror meets knives out”. I think I really liked it, but also I think I really disliked it at the same time.
What I liked:
Kristen - I thought she was a great character, and I enjoyed the story from her PoV.
The mystery - I was genuinely invested in figuring out what the hell was going on and why.
The writing - It was easy to read and I found myself sailing through the story.
What I disliked:
The rest of the characters - Sumter and Mason were just horrible and everyone else was pretty non-descript. I didn’t really care what happened to any of them.
The sci-fi elements - I didn’t really understand so much of the tech, even when it felt like it was so important to the story, and I wish it had been explained a little better.
The ending - it felt a little bit too “wtf” over-the-top for where I thought it was heading. It also felt really rushed. And there were things that I really just didn’t understand.
I am settling on a four star because, overall, I did enjoy the story, even if I didn’t always understand what the hell was going on!
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review
March 18, 2024
Madeline starts her story with a horrible plane crash. Kristen Howard, (Kiki) find herself on the plane and gets off and goes into the ocean to clean herself up from the blood. She sees Craig floating face up and he's been attacked by birds and bottom feeders and is dead. Flashback, Kiki is with her boss, Sumter, and meeting with Elias Qureshi to find someone to give financing to the company Wuv, but she's put off and is sent to a private washroom. At the end of the hall she meets Antonin Kashif Almasi, who is a spy and they end up making love. Now back to the present day, Kiki has found a black home on the Island and found that there was a few people that made it off the plane, I'm leaving a lot out of the story so when you read it you will find much more in it. But what has happened is that her boss was killing people off after the company was bought out. Kiki ends up killing her boss and ends up with Antonin with only Nora Mae as an employee that made it off the Island other than her. I missed a lot of background which is very interesting to the story. Please read it.
April 1, 2024
I received an advance copy through NetGalley.
I'll be honest: I like it when my sci-fi has some horror elements, and when it's focused on technology, I love it when it's so unsettlingly plausible and familiar that it is almost a distraction.
That being said... This book was INCREDIBLE.
The first chapters set a familiar near-future tone that's hard not to recognize... but once you settle in with the pattern of flashback chapters and present tense survival horror, the game truly begins. In a dizzying kaleidoscope of teeth-grittingly nerve wracking scenes between the startup squad who've survived a plane crash on a remote island after a huge success for the company, your journey as a reader becomes increasingly less safe, less obvious, less comfortable. But you won't be able to stop reading. You have suspicions, yes, but no proof. And what's this thing that keeps getting danced around? One reveal happens, and you're stunned. You keep going to the next reveal; a shock to your senses.
You're in it now. And you'll absolutely NEVER guess the truth. At least, not the whole truth.
My god this was disturbing. I absolutely loved it.
I'll be honest: I like it when my sci-fi has some horror elements, and when it's focused on technology, I love it when it's so unsettlingly plausible and familiar that it is almost a distraction.
That being said... This book was INCREDIBLE.
The first chapters set a familiar near-future tone that's hard not to recognize... but once you settle in with the pattern of flashback chapters and present tense survival horror, the game truly begins. In a dizzying kaleidoscope of teeth-grittingly nerve wracking scenes between the startup squad who've survived a plane crash on a remote island after a huge success for the company, your journey as a reader becomes increasingly less safe, less obvious, less comfortable. But you won't be able to stop reading. You have suspicions, yes, but no proof. And what's this thing that keeps getting danced around? One reveal happens, and you're stunned. You keep going to the next reveal; a shock to your senses.
You're in it now. And you'll absolutely NEVER guess the truth. At least, not the whole truth.
My god this was disturbing. I absolutely loved it.
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