I can’t help but feel that this is a previously rejected novel by Reynolds that’s now been exhumed by his publishers in search of a few extra quid.
It’s a half-baked space opera in the Iain M. Banks vein, ranging over the galaxy and across millions of years. It even has some Banksian foreshadowing, hinting at dark and mysterious secrets to come. But nothing comes of this, and there are plenty of other plot strands that are simply left dangling.
The scene setting is amateur, the plot is ludicrous, and the characters are two-dimensional.
Not recommended.