A review of this book's sequel got this onto my tbr, so I had some idea what to expect in this SF novel; harder SF than usual, maybe with a tinge of mil-sf.

I was utterly unprepared for what I found.

This isn't just "hard" Science Fiction, this is diamond-grade sf, akin to Alastair Reynolds at his flintiest. Yes, there are "space battles" in this, but these are not space battles as you may have come to know them in the hands of lesser writers. Sure, there are Handwavium Engines powering the gigantic biomech spaceships to a significant portion of the speed of light, but there's nothing faster. A trip of a hundred or so light-years takes 300 years, matter can be transmuted, but not created. Nanomachines exist, but using them has a cost.

Above all of that, however, is that this is simply a spectacular story, one which features all of the above as central issues to the narrative, along with transhumanism, artificial intelligence and, at the centre of it all, humanity's destiny in the stars. This is all pulled together so adroitly, a fine weave of understanding, that it takes the breath away on occasion.

The start of the novel is a little slow, with characters introduced and then discarded until much later. I confess that, had I not come to this from a "palette cleanser", I may have given the rest of this novel a miss. Happily I kept reading, and Nagata rewarded me handsomely.

This book, however, is just the first of, well, currently unknown. The second book in the series, Silver, has already been published, and will certainly feature in my future reading plans. Until I see how this brilliant concept comes to a conclusion, then, I rate this as a four-star book - brilliant and recommended.