I'd give a 3.5/5 to indicate just above average, realistically. Anderson knew his story. It is deep and wide and covers so much ground. Based almost exclusively in the realm of interstellar politics, it rarely strays from that topic. Family politics, class politics, global politics, neighboring planet politics, corporate politics, galactic politics, even regular old earth politics, it's got 'em all!

Despite this, it told a fair story for most of the book, though when things finally started to get interesting, it wrapped up. No loose ends as far as I'm aware, though many of the potential ones were tied up in a montage-style post-credits scene.