To cut to the chase, I didn't care for this book much at all. I've never read a sci-fi book so heavy on science, by which I mean he spent a LOT of time explaining various scientific principles. There were LONG passages where various ideas and theories are discussed, explained, etc, so much so that, for me, it killed the flow of the story. I like science, and I like novels. For me, this was NOT a good mix. Tell me what's going on, not why. I don't care, in the context of a novel, about Relativity, quantum theory, etc. Just tell about that darn space ships! :P

Another issue I had with this book, which may or may not carry as much weight with others, was that if the author needed a bad guy, it was probably some crazy Christian. I get that people don't accept Christianity as I do. Though I think the'yre wrong, obviously, I'm not going beat them with a buckler and force them to convert. By the same token, I'd rather not spend countless hours reading what I had hoped to be a fun sci-fi novel, only to see it make baseless caricatures of my faith. Call me petty if you will, but that part of the story was impossible for me to ignore.

I finished the book, but I don't think I'll be reading any more in the series.