I've been chipping away at this book for quite a while. I have finally finished it. I thought that it was interesting but I don't live in the correct time to appreciate what others are saying about it. The book was still good, although some of the language and the world building were... eh I guess. Again, this is the polar opposite of what everyone else says about the book. So take that with a grain of salt. 
 So...the fact that I've read the book in this day and age and not a long time ago really took away from my possible enjoyment. The technology is, obviously, dated and so that is very distracting. However the Sumerian portions of the book were interesting and I'd never heard of them before. 
 The characters in the book were OK I suppose, but they weren't anything to call Home about. I will say that that doesn't really go for the antagonist of the book whose name I don't remember at this point. I just thought he was a jackass but I guess that's the point. 
 I'm actually just beating around the bush here. I didn't really like the book. At all at all. I guess it's just not my cup of tea. And I really like futuristic novels...