I've read and enjoyed Nye's work before, but I wasn't prepared for how enthralling I found this book.

The story as a whole is very enjoyable, and there are a number of areas where I was just really impressed with Nye's technical accomplishment. Time and again, plot points and solutions were seeded many chapters in advance, and so smoothly that I didn't immediately go "oh, that's going to crop up later on" - in fact, I'm not sure I predicted any of these, but as soon as they fell into place, they were inevitable. There's a prologue that didn't feel pointless and self-indulgent, as so many do.

The galactic empire painted here was familiar from many sci-fi stories, but still felt new and lively to me. There are enough aliens and factions to give some depth, but not so many as to overwhelm the reader. The side-characters felt convincingly real, despite the limited page-time each received, while the major characters came across strongly and enjoyably to me. I've always appreciated Nye's ability to write female characters, and it's particularly nice in sci-fi where it seems sadly rare. The Councillor was brave, resourceful, dogged and overall just a thoroughly good character, complete with little details to add personality, without even the slightest trace of trying to be a badass. And there's some deep scientific plot ideas behind it all which I, at least, have never previously seen.

And our protagonist. Oh, Thomas.

Because so much of the book is told in first person, having a compelling protagonist is really important here. Nye has pulled off something I personally consider astounding: writing a protagonist who feels genuinely like a spoiled, over-privileged aristocratic twerp in need of several sharp lessons, and distressingly clueless about normal life, but who I nevertheless found very likeable right from the outset. That is a very difficult thing to do. I've read other stories that attempted a similar trick; generally writers seem to try and balance personal failings against narrative accomplishments, which doesn't usually work for me. Heroics and feats of intellect are impressive, but they don't make a character likeable if they're still arrogant, insensitive, excessively violent, or indeed clueless wastes of space.

Nye manages a fine balance between Thomas' faults and virtues, his cluelessness and his good intentions, his ignorance and his determination to learn. That desire to get it right, and a certain humility that underlies his antics, are crucial. Thomas comes across as just competent enough to survive the scrapes he gets himself into, neither an action hero nor a time-waster in constant need of saving. He's supposed to be kind, likeable and charming, and I really felt that that charm seeped out of the page, so that even his foibles felt endearingly human rather than irritating.

I found both sides of the story enthralling, and the setting and characters captivating. The writing stayed tidily out of my way, slipping style between calm narration and Thomas' gushing anecdotes so quietly that I didn't really notice it until now.

The only reason I'm not buying and reading the rest of the series right now is that I'm not allowed to buy any more books. Definitely my book of the year so far, and we're six months in. ( )

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