I thought it would be nice to actually have a spoiler-heavy thread on a book of the month for a change, as I usually avoid those in the videos or social media forums. As I mentioned, this is my favorite book by the Author and in a loose tie as my favorite book.
I'll leave it to others to discuss specific points they liked or disliked beyond a few notes, but I'm guessing those who have seen a lot of the episodes and read it also notice a lot of ideas borrowed from it, like the wormhole-sun flamethrowers they used to destroy the planet Gentian Line had gathered on, or discussing how much larger brains can be smarter but slower, as we see with the Spirit of the Air and the folks in the Dyson Sphere. It's also the first book that really got me thinking about divergence in copied minds, something Dennis Taylor's Bobiverse books also give a deep look at.
I'm kinda curious what everyone's favorite scene in the book is, there's quite a few that describe awesome and immense constructions, or mind-shaking concepts, for me I'd say it was the ruined structures on the planet they re-grouped on, lying around like fossils for millions of years as civilization rose around and in them.
Some downsides too, the 'game' sidestory was interesting but not integrated well into the main story, and it's probably the 'softest' of his novels, no bad science but lots more 'Clarketech', though I thought it appropriate given how far ahead in time it's set.
Also as a note, he just had a new novel out, "Shadow Captain", sequel to "Revenger", just finished that, miss John Lee narrating but it made sense to use a female narrator for a book that follows a single POV the entire time, and she did a great job, though it switches in this one, first book the POV is the one sister, second is the other, I'm curious who it will be for the third. Not sure why but it seems to get labeled a YA book a lot. Good books too!