I put this book on hold at the library after Cory Doctorow recommended it on his blog. It became available at the same time as two other Doctorow-recommended books that I’m now trying to rush through before other holds take them away from me.

This is a book about the great excesses of tech bros and the many tiny excesses of the people using their tech in slightly off ways. It’s about misogyny, both subtle and severe, and (in the background) how scary climate change, American politics, and the Internet of Things are. It is good! It is also dark and weird!

For most of the story, the darkness and weirdness were so unnerving that I couldn’t fully enjoy the good parts, and then the climax got super dark and super weird in a way that won me over because I like a story that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t back down. It’s still unnerving, and I don’t know that I like any of the characters, but I can’t give it anything less than full marks. Wow, what a story.

• Glass Houses
• Madeline Ashby
• Cory Doctorow
• tech bros
• Big Tech
• misogyny
• sexism
• Internet of Things
• climate change