The prologue is golden, although the next few chapters slow down a bit. Some of the early characterization and dialogue felt a little forced to me, although there is some interesting play with the notions of [b:artificial intelligence|27543|Artificial Intelligence A Modern Approach (2nd Edition)|Stuart J. Russell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167881696s/27543.jpg|1362] here, as well as using a human political structure that appears mostly to consist of indentured servants.

It is clearly the beginning to a series, and I ended the book eager to see where the series would go from here.