A cheer for modern space exploration wrapped up in four lovely characters and four imaginative - and, at times, unbearable - alien worlds. Interstellar if it were more concerned with the virtues of science than the personal. That isn't to say Chambers loses sight of her characters in service of her message but there are times when it is clear she is speaking through our main character, Ariadne. This is not a bad thing, since this book is not about its plot, or even its characters, but about its spirit. It made me go donate to crowdfunded Copenhagen Suborbitals project so I guess it's doing something right.

Extra shout out to how the science comes across more documentary than technobabble, and how it is one of the few books I've read that puts its money where its mouth is when its characters claim to care more about the will of the people than their own ambitions.