Oh gods! What have you done Mr Reynolds? 
 Let me start off by saying that I am a Reynolds fan. I have read a lot of his books and rate him as one of the best hard scifi writers out there. Whilst his characters can be found wanting at times, his huge stories and world building skills are excellent and you are never short of having your head turned inside out with technical details. 
 Then came this book. My theory was, that he wrote this when he was a teenager and it never go published, so now he is famous, he thought he might write it again. Because in all honesty I cannot believe the man who wrote Revelation Space, The Prefect and Chasm City is the same guy who wrote this. 
 Awful characters, unbelievable story and a complete brain fade when it came to the science of the story. I know it was supposed to not be hard sci fi, but the character interaction was incredibly juvenile. Things like two rich sisters, meet in a dark room with a guy who can take them to other worlds, he agrees they are potential bone readers (without any tests) and they agree to go off planet there and then. When in space, they decide they don't like ship clothes and continue to move around the ship, in zero gee in dresses!! Being bone readers is a mystical thing, which Reynolds completely and utterly decides as readers we don't really need to know anything about it. 
 It falls short on all levels and was definitely the biggest disappointment for me this year. Imagine if Enid Blyton had wrote Famous Five go into space, then you'd have an idea of the nice and fluffy writing style.