This was a book, that I would never have picked up, if it had not been gifted to me. I am however very happy that I did read it. I read it as part of this year's Hugo reading. 
 It took the book about 100 pages to really get it's tenticlas around me and capture me. It is a very strange book, both plot driven and not at all. It is a book filled with weird characters and where you do not know who to trust -not really. The style is also very different. It is constantly referring to philosophisers of the 18th century Europe - but it does it well and while assuming that the reader can and do follow, with out assuming that you know them all by heart before hand. It is very much a book that play with our current social politics. That takes them to an extreme but apparent utopia and takes a hard look at that. It is very much a book about politics - both the game of politics and the political issues. It is also a book about found family and about religion. 
 I was sucked into the book to the degree that it felt like it was read aloud to me in my head. I had the feeling of it being told to me. 
 Right now I am not sure how much I liked the book, if it is a four or five star book - but it was definatly a book that made me think - and I will need some pallet cleansing short stories before I read my next novel. And I do plan to read the next book in the series - because this was quite a journey and I want to know where it ends. What it all means.