She Treads Softly: The Glass Box

Saturday, December 30, 2023

The Glass Box

The Glass Box by J. Michael Straczynski
1/9/24; 350 pages
Blackstone Publishing

The Glass Box by J. Michael Straczynski is a very highly recommended science fiction dystopian that feels closer to the future than you'd like to believe is possible in America.

Riley Diaz is arrested for protesting a new law that encroaches on our rights and is subsequently incarcerated under that same new defense act which limits the freedom of assembly. She is given the choice of prison or admittance in one of the new Department of Homeland Security American Renewal Centers (ARCs) for mandatory reeducation. The program is located in a psychiatric facility and Riley soon learns that it is not going to be as easy as she thought to escape from the facility. It also becomes clear that the ARC program is more insidious than people were led to believe and includes forced therapy, involuntary medication, solitary confinement, restricted rations, and more punishments. Riley takes a stand, endures the punishments, and refuses to submit to the manipulation.

The writing is outstanding in this fast-paced, compelling science fiction novel which is riveting from beginning to end. It is ultimately about the choices you make and the courage and determination required to stand firm on your principles while refusing to back down even when under duress. It also skirts close to reality and could portend a near future dystopian world.

Riley is wonderfully realized and realistic character. Her ability to think for herself and stand up for herself in an unjust system, even to her own detriment, is an admirable quality in a protagonist. It also makes her character likeable and trustworthy. She doesn't buckle under peer pressure or administrative sanctions. The relationship she forges with the patient known only as Frankenstein is a touching and important element in the novel.

The Glass Box is an excellent choice for readers who enjoy dystopian science fiction with a timely narrative and memorable characters.

Disclosure: My complimentary review copy was courtesy of Blackstone Publishing via NetGalley.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.