|comment=Just finished reading this...and I loved it! For lovers of space opera there is absolutely no problem of pacing. If you’re looking for action-packed, then no this isn’t the one for you, but in terms of a slow-burn, alternate pasts meshing with alternate futures, solidly science-based speculation this is Sci-fi at its absolute best – with the emphasis on the Sci. I won’t even pretend to have understood half of the theory that went into this, but Baxter gives his sources for those who can. SFX in their endorsement use the word ‘grandeur’ and that is well-earned. Visualise the long slow understanding. Because understanding is long and slow. And then you get it. I’d have given it the full 5*