I really liked the idea of this book. I love intelligent science fiction. 
 However, the first 1/3 of the book was rather dull, at least for someone who has some sci-fi background and knew from the start what was going on while the protagonist was still trying to figure it out. 
 Thankfully, it does get better once the "action" sets in. Sometimes I didn't find the plot very convincing (I'm not talking about the science, but the "human aspect"), or maybe it just seemed oversimplified to me.