One good thing that can never be denied about Alastair Reynolds is that he presents accurate and detailed information about his new creation at the start. Abigail Gentian a long, long time ago perished into several piece and several male and female clones came into being as a result of it. The pieces scattered throughout the universe wandering here and there, getting information about the rest of the species and why they need all that is not known.
All we know is that the human race was the prime source of attraction for them as the witnessed the empire emerging on the scenes and then replaced by new ones. The reunion is still there between those fragments but after a span of millions of years. Whenever the fragments meet they tell about their journey to their next generation or it is perhaps a way to transfer the information that they have gathered.
Information that is revealed or transferred this time really raise the signs of worry for the Gentian as they have found someone who possesses an element of hate of them and he is coming for them. John Lee the narrator of the novel is the same whose voice decorated Revelation Space and Chasm City and now this one is also a job well done.
Not only the narrator uses different tones but also there is a gesture in the voice of every character which proves that the narrator has done his homework accurately. Not only this, the approaching war scenes are in a really sensational mode and though no haste is shown but we can guess that the things aped up after that.
