Enjoyed the world building and way the author connected all the pieces together. I’ve read a lot of different science fiction books and I believe this is worth the time. Very interesting story but also a lot of good science.

Average. Some mildly interesting concepts, but no more than other hard SF novels. It didn’t become interesting at all until about page 600. Riddled with terrible and predictable dialogue. I had to bail out at the halfway mark.

The author is exceptionally creative and scientifically founded, an astrophysicist… no wonder. Worth reading for SciFi buffs, but a difficult real. Where was his editor? Looooong paragraphs, and jumping around too much between story lines/characters. Story segments not often clearly marked, sometimes 3 in two pages. This could be cleaned up, easily, to make a smoother ride. Here’s a book where 3-4 times an illustration would have been nice. The character development was superb in some cases and lacking in others. The romance was a nice touch, a little more of that would have made it more real. The cities and galaxy are sad and gray, which is also too bad, but true to the current social trend for apocryphal world views … which is not to my liking, or view of the Universe. Goodness does seem to win in the end … which is good. 3 1/2 stars.

Very good. Much better than expected.

This is a 'hard science' space opera/thriller. The characters are developed to an awesome scale. It’s a small cast of characters whose actions will likely set off a reaction chain, and there is a powerful air of inevitability to this whole situation, but you still want them to win. Beautiful literature that made me look up at the night sky with a new sense of awe. One of the best books I have ever read — well done Mr. Reynolds!