Well, this is a kinda weird little post-cyberpunk novel, with strong hints of post-Singularity about it. Lots of stuff in it about authoritarian regimes bordering on totalitarian, powered by extrapolations of surveillance tech and AI that's maybe actual AGI (there isn't really anyone who interacts with it who isn't being completely puppeteered by it, it's mostly negative space in the novel, it's hard to say how super/intelligent it really is). The characters aren't exactly interchangeable, but they're all (with maybe two exceptions) really downtrodden by the social-governmental systems they're operating under--the AI-driven "rationalization" of governments does not seem to have gone as well as the governments claim. The prose is solid, though not overly witty, though extensive humor probably wouldn't fit all that well, here. I never really had problems suspending my disbelief. Very worth reading, though the subtextual messages are probably at least as important as the story.
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