I'm rating this four stars, but honestly, I'm not sure how much of that is because it's deserved by this book, and how much is residual goodwill from The Just City. The first book blew me away with its blend of philosophical debate, character building, and sci-fi insanity. (Robots!) But this one just felt ... I don't know ... ordinary? A very good story when compared to a lot of work out there, but definitely a letdown after the prior book. I love me some angst, the thornier the better, but (view spoiler)[killing off one of the main characters from The Just City within the first couple of pages seemed to carve the heart out of the overall story, and nothing replaced it for me. (In keeping with the Greek myths, should I say it carved out the liver, but unlike Prometheus', it never grew back?) Arete was fine, but she's no Simmea, despite the demigodhood and god powers. Now that I mention it, the god powers of Pytheas' children always seemed a little silly to me. More like superheroes than gods. (hide spoiler)] 
 Of course, my feeling of "ordinary" doesn't apply to that ending. (view spoiler)[I appreciated the author's willingness to go for the unexpected, but it fell kind of flat for me. Maybe it was just wrapped up too neatly and quickly. (hide spoiler)] However, I understand that this is a trilogy and there's more to come. You can always make up ground in the last lap of a race! So, based on the strength of the first book and the promise of the third, I'm happy to rate this four stars. 
 *edited as of 10/10/16 - I usually don't go back and revise ratings, but I gave this four stars specifically based on the strength of book 1 and the promise of book 3. Now that I've read book 3, I'm revising this down to three stars. Still a decent read, and better than a lot of other stuff, but the progression of the series doesn't merit four stars.