I greatly enjoyed this book. Wonderful imagination, especially the steam-punk like semi-organic habitats, which were very enjoyable. Especially in the second half it was a real page-turner. The plot was nicely complex and were some interesting underlying themes. I wasn't so sure about the pioneer-mentality, anti-government ideas, given the current political climate, but that was at least topical. What was pleasantly more progressive was that unlike many sci-fi books, there wasn't just one male hero's character developed, but more of a diversity of different sorts of people.

All the stuff about sulphuric acid was very reminiscent of my very first job. I worked in a lab and did a lot of work 'digesting' plant material with a concoction of concentrated sulphuric and other acids in order to determine its nutrient competition. The acid indeed burned like crazy and despite protective clothing, my normal clothes had lots of holes and I had no fingerprints left (much envied by some petty criminals I knew!).

There was just one disappointment. It had a dreadful ending. I don't mean that not everything turned out Hollywood-rosy, that's only good, but there were so many loose ends and unresolved issues. It just finished abruptly with various sub-plots and even quite major plot lines just cut off in mid flow. Unsatisfying.

Acknowledgement: This review was possible because of a free pre-publication copy made available from NetGalley in return for an honest review. I would also like to particularly thank the publisher who very promptly solved a technical issue.