I tried to read Rainbow's End, and just couldn't get past the first chapter. I thought maybe a different book by the same author might work. So I read this one. It wasn't bad. But it wasn't great, either. I think it was hard for me to get through because I was completely disinterested in some of the story lines. The story is told from several characters points of view, and I felt particularly endeared to none of them. I wasn't interested in any of the three cultures that were presented, either.