Outstanding continuation of my favourite sci-fi series so far. Worrying yet impressiy how a book 30 years old seems so very prescient today.
Fantastic imagination especially for the tech, AI, and religious aspects. For a sci-fi book I learned a lot about a Victorian poet!
A damning yet realistic view of politics, with powerful environmental overtones and, I venture, a spiritual message about human development and exploration that is reminiscent of the great Carl Sagan.
Some brilliant writing again, the passage containing the "ultimate Dachau of the soul" will certainly stay with me!
A gripping narrative replaces the story within a story structure of the first book, and we play in the universe as opposed to build it - both fantastic fun even if you feel that it is a little easier from a literary perspective.
Similarly, by the end of the book (and via several hairpin twists) we are solving the mysteries as opposed to creating them, I really enjoyed the outcomes, I could see why not everyone would.