JACK GLASS PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Adam C. Roberts | 384 pages | 09 May 2013 | Orion Publishing Co | 9780575127647 | English | London, United Kingdom Jack GLASS Obituary - Marietta, Georgia | Apr 06, nostalgebraist rated it liked it Shelves: sf , space-opera. It shares a number of qualities with those two books: division into several interlinked but tonally dissimilar sections, cold and not conventionally likable characters who nonetheless grow on the reader, flashy science fiction concepts that don't dominate the story the way one might expect them to, incessant reminders of extreme economic inequality, strange pacing with lurches and changes of focus, etc. I would rank it above Swiftly but below By Light Alone, for the simple reason that it lacks By Light Alone's artistry of characterization, prose and satire. After finishing BLA, I felt like I had just read the perfect science fiction novel to recommend to people who were wary of the genre -- a novel that did all the ordinary things right and did them in a skillfully utilized science fictional context. Jack Glass is not in the same category. It eschews many of the "ordinary things" we expect of non-genre novels and replaces them with plot -- lots and lots of intricate, clever plot. Jack Glass is made up of three linked murder mysteries, each of which simultaneously qualifies as each of three distinct classic types of murder mystery "prison story," "locked-room mystery," and "whodunit" , and the overarching plot deftly wends its way through all of this genre structure. Oh, and in every case we already know who the murderer is, and yet Roberts sets thing up so that we're surprised when we learn how he did it, and why. And the afore-known murderer -- the titular Jack Glass -- is also one of the main characters of the overarching plot. It's all very clever and put together with evident delight, and it's fun to watch the whole machine work. And since this is Roberts the writing is good -- or it's better, anyway, than you'd tend to expect from such a plot-heavy book. But that's as far as it goes: better than you'd expect. Not just-plain-good in the way BLA was just-plain-good. Not Roberts' best, but a lot of fun. Jul 01, TheBookSmugglers rated it really liked it. Jack Glass is an impossible book. Jack Glass is ostensibly a blend of Golden Age Science Fiction and Golden Age Crime — to which point this is a homage or subversion is up for discussion. Set in the far future — humanity has travelled extensively in the Solar System and spread out as far as it can go. Those who are really lucky end up working for the Clans and Corporations who run everything. The story is divided in three interlinked parts: a prison story, a whodunit and a locked-room mystery. Jack Glass is the murderer: we know this from the get go. In the meantime: FTL! Faster Than Light travel — an impossibility according to the Law of Physics. Something that is both the epitome of Hope imagine being able to travel even further afield, away from this horrendous reality and start anew! Their survival depends on them working together to make the asteroid habitable which is both about their survival and the point of their sentence: they are given the necessary tools to extend the one room they dumped in an advanced substance locks them in and allows them some air , create new chambers, grow food after they dig and find ice. At the end of these 11 years, they go free, the corporation that dropped them there resells the now inhabitable asteroid, everybody wins. If they can make those 11 years, that is. Because humans being humans, as soon as they are left there, a power hierarchy is established between the 7 individuals. The other is a legless man in a universe where most inhabitable places are gravity-free, why would anyone even need legs? Needless to say: the prison story is also a locked-room mystery and to some extent a whodunit. We know something really bad is going to happen and we know that Jack Glass will do it because we have been told so. It is a case of sitting down and abiding time to see how exactly things will play out. This first part is perfectly horrible and suffocating in its unstopping violence. Was so good! The obvious claustrophobic environment expertly replicated in the writing itself. But Jac needs to get away before the people who put him there realise who he really is. In the end Jack does what Jack does best the greatest criminal of all time, the biggest murderer the world has ever seen and manages the impossible. They are the future of Clan Argent, genetically engineered to be master problem- solvers. Not that she has had any chance to actually be sympathetic so far as her privilege is so deeply ingrained. The sisters are surrounded by their bodyguards, their servants and their tutor Iago all of whom receive hormone injections that hinder their sense of individuality and amplify their love for their employers. Which is why when one the servants is mauled to death in a locked-room no less no suspicion is raised about the safety of the two sisters. Instead, this becomes the perfect opportunity for Dia to apply her knowledge to a Real Murder. It is painfully obvious to surmise who Jack Glass is in this scenario. But then again the WHO has never been the point. Things are not as simple as they look and the WHYdunit of this case is quite possibly the most important thing about Jack Glass. Whodunit, Locked-Room, Prison Escape yes, this too. The second part is all three at once as well. But here is where things reach their climax, overall character arcs are revealed and motivations shift one more time. And how many times have they been proved not to be? This is where homage meets subversion, I believe. The author is clearly knowledgeable about the genres he is writing. The elements of Science Fiction are just super cool even if they require a LOT of suspension of disbelief the impossibility of certain things, the outlandish conclusion to part one. That said, to take this book at face value is doing it a huge disservice, I think. But this is also where things become not only less fun but also potentially problematic once you really think things through. Jack Glass and to some extent the narrative would like you to believe he is one of those HE is not, of course. Dia is. We ourselves are locked in the story with a bunch of characters that are so violently and abhorrent bad they are almost caricatures. At the same time, Jack Glass continuously brings up the idea that there is an elemental importance and uniqueness of each human life — interestingly though he makes that point by exactly reinforcing the idea of valueless he is trying to dismantle. Given the evident advanced technology, I am pretty sure it would be more logical to use that than prisoners to excavate asteroids little by little. That this is not done sounds like a contradiction to me. Similarly, certain ideas are info-dumped and hammered through and things are explained point-blank to Dia, a character who is supposed to be the cleverest person ever. Granted that this could be an attempt to question genetically engineered cleverness. Why are people so far out in the future still doing the same shitty things , still being shitty to each other and also still talking about Shakespeare and quoting Sherlock Holmes? Are we not going to progress any more than that? The tone of each different part changes and it is amazing how they suit the point-view narrator. BUT does this even make sense from a writing perspective given it is ONE character who is narrating it to us? She is an awesome character and to me, the book is all about her. She is geeky and lover her own importance as an individualistic, privileged member of an important Clan to start with. But as her arc progresses this viewpoint changes into growth and understanding of her importance as an individual who is also a part of a larger universe, literally. My own interpretation is thus: Jack Glass is not the main character of this story although he is the main character of this novel only because the person doctorwatsonning it is clearly biased. This is the biggest gotcha of Jack Glass. It is as perfect as an ending can be because it perfectly suits the different strands of the novel and is extremely cynical as well as hopeful which is kind of weird, I admit. It is super fun and inventive but has a supremely boring foundation because it is so pessimistic. But the ending is so hopeful! It is both a huge triumph and a big failure! At the same time! Dec 14, Tudor Ciocarlie rated it it was amazing Shelves: hugo-numbers , my-best-of , z-adam-roberts. Another great novel by Adam Roberts, Jack Glass is a very exciting-to-read blend between "Golden Age science fiction and Golden Age detective fiction". Roberts doesn't try to make these genres something they are not, but he shows us what extraordinary things were done with this kind of fiction in the past, that Golden Age SF can still kick a punch or two and reminds us why we fell in love with SF.