Reynolds reverts to form in many respects with this tale of the distant future where humans plunder dangerous abandoned facilities for forgotten technologies and artefacts using solar wind powered spacecraft.

Gothic horror, morally questionable characters and body modification all make a come-back. Mysteries galore never went away, of course; most of them are explained and the inevitable revelation of deeper ones at the end is all present and correct. The story itself becomes gripping much faster than is usual with Reynolds, where one can normally expect the first third to travel along with very little momentum. In this case a dramatic and unexpected event kicks things into high gear pretty early on and the pace never really lets up from there. Unfortunately some of the revelations are telegraphed although others are total surprises.

One fine aspect of the novel is that the situation humanity finds itself in is not explicated by huge wodges of exposition but instead revealed slowly through the course of events - and where events don't illuminate, things remain obscure. A huge part of the fun here is figuring things out from the clues. Not everything is crystal clear by the end, which leaves scope for further work in the setting - something I'd be happy to see even if a direct sequel is, on past form, unlikely.