I very much wanted to like this book, as the science is intriguing, and I’ve always found that Slonczewski uses fiction well to explore cutting-edge theories. This time, however, I found the variety of perspectives too confusing to track, and the characters entirely alien. The constant shifting from nano to central figures and out again, and the different timescales didn’t quite mesh for me. Much of this is probably due to my limitations, but I found this was too heavily weighted towards science and away from fiction to keep my attention. I may well try this again once it’s published, and I could change my mind. The intersection between art and science, nano-life and “human”, and questions of sentience and rights are worth exploring further.

I found the voice in this one so grating I couldn't get into it and had to DNF. The blurb/premise sounds amazing, but unfortunately the writing style makes it absolutely not for me.