I always enjoy a culture novel and this was no exception. It's the last in the series and actually my second to last to read, I only have the short story collection left now. In my rankings of culture novels though this one I put a little lower than most, it's hard to explain precisely why but it felt a little more generic than the others. I struggled to be too invested in the individuals in this when I look at others and it all felt very familiar, the general structure was a bit close to others in the series for my liking. I also felt there wasn't a lot of jeopardy here either, it always felt like whatever happens it won't be too bad.

That said, there're some big positives here, parts of the culture universe are explored much deeper than have been before, such as subliming, which was super interesting, the look at another civilization about the same technology level as the culture was cool, and the writing itself was lovely to read and funny throughout.