Storyline: 2/5 
 Characters: 2/5 
 Writing Style: 2/5 
 World: 4/5 
 This was a mostly satisfactory conclusion to the Spin series. 
 What I didn't like: I have rarely confronted characters and narration that so thoroughly sapped the wonder and discovery from big encounters and grand revelations. Our characters get glimpses into eons of new and interesting information, and there is no emotional or physical reaction. Wilson doesn't describe how they feel, navigate their affectivity, or probe their inner monologues. The big, the unimaginable happens, and it hardly merits a note for anyone involved. As a reader, I had to abstract out of the book and appreciate the world as an external viewer rather than as a character and participant in the tale. Thus the world can still be enjoyed, but only at a step removed. 
 More of what I didn't like: Near future science fiction has its own obstacles. The one that challenged Wilson here was the need to make our near future interesting. Given that the events of Spin and Axis have occurred, you wouldn't think that was too difficult. But Wilson managed to fill the book with a deluge of the quotidian. There was no appreciation of it, no criticism of it, not even an awareness that he was doing it, I think. Wilson dutifully chronicles the adventures of our protagonists, typing out the obligatory descriptive scenes. Those descriptions were mostly devoid of content, style, or objective; they were filler. Make me proud of my (near future) society, make me ashamed, make me see it in a new light, or help me to understand the significance of it. For not having much to say about it, Wilson sure spent a lot of his wordcount on it. 
 What I did like: The plot. It brought the series to a close. The story ran the risk of being overly formulaic, repeating what had been done with Spin and Axis, but the slow, action-adventure was entertaining enough and the staggered storylines really did a great job breaking up the monotony. 
 What I really liked: One chapter. Approximately thirty pages. In Spin, that chapter was near the very beginning. In Axis, it came a little later. When it comes here, you'll know it. You'll sense the huge change in writing style and complete change in direction and tone. You'll remember that you are reading science fiction and not the latest crime thriller. You get dosed with wonder until you are sated. You'll see how everything else written in the story pales in comparison to that chapter. You'll remember that this is the reason you read science fiction. Without that chapter, the series was going to be listed with those that had a really neat part in the first book. Beyond that, it was not particularly memorable and unlikely to make it on a top 250 list. With that chapter...well it still doesn't make it on that top 250 list, but I did end the series thinking that I'd give Wilson another shot with another of his books.