“As a sci-fi futuristic painting, it was excellent. One of the best and most detailed imaginings of what social software, virtual overlays, user interactivity, and networking will be like in the future. As a techno-thriller, it was mediocre. I definitely recommend it for any futurists looking to understand one way the internet might evolve in 20 years. I loved that aspect of it.”
“Ultimately, this seemed to be two novels edited together into one - one, a lyrical, contemplative character study about poet Robert Gu and the second a tech thriller about an attempted world-wide coup. The two simply didn't work well together, but I give Vinge kudos for making the effort. It also felt annoyingly long, at least by 100 pages. ”
