Alastair Reynolds is a phenomenal storyteller, I was first enthralled by his "Revalation Space" universe which had great macro and micro details in the storyline and this eventually led to his many other novels and works. Admittedly I was a little skeptical when I started Blue Remembered Earth; it was my opinion that this masters time would be better spent on the massive universes such as the "House of Suns" or back into the "RS" universe, however after reading the first two books in the Akinya series I can honestly say I am sold. Reynolds brings elements from all aspects of his previous works and wraps them into a fantastic tale of the "near" future in "OtSB" Technology from HoS, to RS, and Terminal World, and other tales also make their way into the frame of the story and I love it; from the vacuum towers to cloning. Fantastic. "On the steel breeze" is a unique tale once you get used to the pace, and it made me want to go back and re-read the previous book to get a better scope of the story. I would recommend this to anyone who appreciates Reynolds' work, or anyone who enjoys scifi: Reynolds will continue defining the genre for years to come. I can't wait to see what lies in what for the Akinya family in the next installment of the series.

I've been a fan of Reynolds since his Revelation Space series, but I found this novel to be too much talking and not enough actually happening. A novel about the relationship between man, machine, and non human intelligence is timely, but unfolds way too slowly. And the ending struck me as too much straight out of Close Encounters. If you liked Blue Remembered Earth, give it a try, if you didn't either read or like the first book I doubt you'll like this.