Excellent novel that left me tearful, but perhaps not for the traditional reasons. There are certain sci-fi ideas that always kick my ass, and one of them are stories about how the stars open up. I certainly got very emotional by the end of this novel, and that might have been a little more surprising, had someone asked me how the novel was shaping up by the half-way mark. It had become a scavenger hunt with interesting elements, and that's fine and fun, but I hadn't expected the huge consequences that had come out of it. I should have guessed, having read a number of his other novels, but I didn't. I thought it was a gloriously relaxed, but not necessarily dull, novel. Of course, I now need to know what happens in the second one of the series. 
 In case anyone is curious, yes, all of the novels are tied together, but not necessarily very close. The effort one puts into reading them, not to mention the author writing them, really pays off with your devotion. I love getting to know his universe.