I had high expectations because of the quote on the cover - "Has many claims to being the best science fiction novel so far." Pretty high praise. What I didn't know is that the quote is about 60 years old, and quite a few science fiction novels have been written since then. 
 It's a good novel, in a dystopian world where everything is ultra-commercialized and capitalism has its tentacles all over your face. It's interesting and fairly exciting, but there isn't enough to draw me back in for the other books in the series. I feel like this book stands well enough on its own.