Mostly fascinating look at what happens to a society - to an entire population - when reproduction fails. As every human on Earth ages, with no more to come, the social and political changes that come alongside this quiet extinction are explored. And under the peaceful surface, there are some truly horrifying compromises.

The vast strength of this book lies in the characterisation of the main character. Theo is painfully and accurately drawn, with a level of honesty and self-knowledge that refuses to skim over the flaws in his character. And he is flawed, terribly so, and the book ends with the implication that he has the capacity to become just as bad as the dictator he replaces. If only this scalpel view of character had been applied to Julian, who - with one exception, that being her perception of her own infidelity - is shot through with soft lighting and lowered expectations. She and Luke are really monstrously selfish, risking as they do the regeneration of the species for their own selfish comfort, but James never quite grapples with their flaws in the same way as she does with Theo. That's the one thing that knocks this otherwise excellent book down from five stars for me - the unevenness of the observation, and the apparent decision by the author to award free passes to some characters but not others.