I haven't read a science fiction book in years. I was hiking the Pinhoti trail in Alabama, seventy-something miles in five days, and had finished the book I brought with me. At the shelter on Mt. Cheaha I found this book, which someone had left, probably leaving it after reading it as too heavy to carry. So I picked it up, happy to have something to read.
Bear in mind that I have been reading literary novels almost exclusively for the past few years. I try to write literary novels. So it took quite a few pages before I got over the shock of being immersed in such a different style of writing. I have to say that I enjoyed the book, not on the same level that I enjoy something by Geraldine Brooks or Margaret Atwood, but still, it was fun to read.
It's written in an omniscient viewpoint in very short scenes. Every character has some characteristic that sets him or her apart from the other characters - otherwise, how would the reader be able to tell them apart? It's fast paced and relies heavily on plot. There is nothing in the least bit subtle about the characters. Most of their actions do not ring true to me, and I think that is because there are so many of them and they are so categorized. As you read you think: this is the one that loves power, this is the one that craves adventure, this is the one that wants to be reunited with his wife, this is the one that is afraid of women, and so forth and so on.
The science? Who knows if it is feasible or not - I don't. It seems to be a sequel, or at least some of the characters are continued from a previous book, and there is plenty of space left at the end for another book to follow this one.
So yes, I enjoyed reading it, but I would not have picked it up except under those extraordinary circumstances, and I will not buy another one or make a habit of reading them. It seems incomplete and awkward compared to the novels I usually read.
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