Now this was a fun ride! Varley's tribute to Heinlein's Young Adult work. That being said this was far more adult than you would expect. Whilst it was upbeat and gung ho, it was certainly realistic with moments of absolute pathos. A rollicking read that took me back to the kind of thing I devoured by the ton in my long, lost youth and would go out of my way to find. This was a very modern book though, centred in a very plausible near future. The piece of handwavium that was necessary to make the plot work was handled gracefully but the book was about the characters, not the 'tech'. A delight.