@BranwenOShea it’s a very long read (like all his novels — usually 800-1000 pages). Tried the Audible book and the narrator is excellent (though I wasn’t such a fan of his female voice interpretations; his accents, however, were excellent to my ear).

Neal’s specialty is writing about the sociological implications of technological change — be it long ago history or far future. He develops expertise in whatever technology he writes about and, while fantastical, never fantasy.