Unlike many of the Kindle Unlimited items I've read lately, this was enjoyable. A humorous, soft-scifi story with just a bit of action. It's very much a "first book" in a series in that it doesn't resolve anything. It's all build-up and setting the stage for later, ending on a note of suspense. That's not to say it has a cliffhanger ending because nobody is actually in the midst of falling to their death, but no thread of the story ... action, romantic, social, whatever ... is resolved. That's good; I think cliffhanger endings are signs of author laziness and/or insecurity.

There are some good characters with which to work in later volumes. Some are a bit caricature-like, notably Kiva, but you can roll your eyes and enjoy them, nonetheless.

Somebody else mentioned H. Beam Piper and, yeah, I can sorta see that. ( )

You can always count on John Scalzi to write a fantastic science fiction story. Interesting and fully-fleshed out characters, unique story, great world building, fun plot. And if you like audiobooks, this one is narrated by Wil Wheaton, so yay! ( )

Had Scalzi not been contractually obligated to turn this book over, I would have preferred for him to wait and release it in combination with the sequel. This felt altogether too short (but quite enjoyable apart from that). ( )

Another excellent tale from John saying yet another unique universe. Humans have spread out through space, but only because of something known as The Flow. The Interdependency requires it to survive, but it's changing. I loved it and can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series. ( )

I described this to the Worcester Public Library as _Foundation "Lite"_. A good, quick read. Memorable characters. There's both a science plot, many human political plots, and human personal plots, all nicely interacting. There is a human empire spread across planets and space stations connected by The Flow, which enables space travel (which nicely, still takes time! It's not instantaneous), but it's shifting and changing, and not everyone knows this. The motivations, calculations, and machinations drive the plot. The ending is such that it's obvious that this is the start of a series (trilogy). ( )