Strange. KSR is my ride or die. And while I'd easily say that I loved this book I don't know if it's a particularly good one. "Objectively." It's pretty clear that it's a novel he wrote much earlier in his career. But there are seeds. The exhaustive description of landscapes, etc. It's also a book much more heavy in plot that most of his work. A book with a much smaller narrative than in most of his "mature" work. The characters can be counted on one hand.. I'm not sure that it's better, for it.

There is a pretty classical narrative arc, which his later books don't have. But the resolution seems anti-climactic and happens too soon.

My copy has a blurb by Ursula K LeGuin, and I can see why she liked it so much. There is a focus on what can be exquisite in discrete gestures. And meaning drawn from the accumulation of them. Not so much sociological science fiction, but, maybe humanistic. There's more to say, obviously. But these are just first impressions.