This novel is a painting of a galaxy less uniform than in the cycle of Iain M. Banks of Culture, but still built with an opposition between colonized backward worlds and a "race" of interstellar Merchant vessels huge and powerful, half man, half machine, traveling cryogenically and do not age fast. There's breath and ideas in this novel, also well constructed as a mosaic of stories that come together in the end. The problems of "piracy" of computerized systems by various more or less immaterial entities who sneak in any communication are compelling, diseases qu'attrapent computer systems when they proliferate without control are less convincing but effective enough in history (sometimes a little gore, as the "mécabave"!). It is a pity that the author (who studied physics), feels obliged to justify some of his inventions by a physico-mystical rubbish ridiculous and annoying. At the end (too long) we can see all the stories come together with the necessary explanations, and there is almost no details that do not find their place in the final scheme. But the rantings about black holes, exotic particles and causal reversals are really boring, it's just a display of scientific jargon that adds nothing to the story. In short, I read it with interest it holds in suspense and there are some pretty good ideas, but I will stop here with the author, I return to Banks who can make more impact with writing well more sober, which has humor, which does not bother us with pseudo explanations of all he invents.
