this is one of the most effective sequels I’ve read and does an amazing job of expanding on the ideas introduced in TBP. like many have said before, the first 200 pages are an uphill battle to get through which is a shame because if TDF were ~400 pages it would have been the easiest 5 stars I’ve ever given. but the payoff we experience after the wallfacer project is established and they wake from hibernation? equally satisfying, chilling, and action-packed! my only nitpick: I haven’t read much hard sci-fi, but it seems to me that despite being a genre bursting with progressive ideas and characters even brilliant trilogies like this continue to suffer from underwritten, one-dimensional female characters. nevertheless, I will never think about the Fermi paradox and space exploration in the same way ever again.