Glasshouse
Stross is not a writer who lacks confidence or ideas and in this novel it leads him to deal with post-singularity identity while simultaneously taking aim at prescribed gender roles within society.
It opens in the far future with a man who has elected to have his memory wiped. He begins a relationship with a woman when, suddenly, he finds himself in danger from a past he does not remember. To escape the danger he enters an utterly secure experiment studying 20th century gender roles. In the study he awakes to find himself in the body of a woman and expected to conform to a role he cannot begin to understand.
This book has a cracking couple of opening chapters then it hits a lull that it took me a force of will to overcome.
However once it gets past the lull, it cracks along at a stunning pace until it hits a satisfying denouement.
This is one for fans of top-notch modern science fiction. It’s less than subtle at times, so it may annoy someone expecting better writing. It’s jammed full of ideas though and will entertain sci-fans properly