Alastair Reynolds works on a big canvas, a canvas that spans galaxies. The work he presents needs such a canvas since the story he has to weave would be poorly served by anything less. The book attempts to provide a window into a story with larger than life characters, time lines that span billions of years, audacious science that is both remarkable and plausible. In general, Mr. Reynolds book is able to pull of the daunting task with only a few rough edges.

The story follows the members of a group of clones known as the Gentian Line. All members of the 'Line' are the result of large scale cloning technology and are copies of an individual known as Abigail Gentian. Galactic exploration is in its infancy and Abigail's plan is to send her clones into the farthest reaches of the galaxy to gather knowledge and wisdom. Abigail is not the only individual with this goal, and a multitude of other Lines have also set forth into the stars with similar missions.

While on route to one of their regular reunions, used to exchange learning from their most recent travels, the Gentian Line is ambushed and nearly wiped out of existence. The few survivors begin the struggle to uncover the mystery of who has done this and why. Two members of the Line, Campion and Purslane -- who are engaged in an elicit romance, have survived the attack and join with the other survivors to puzzle out what is going on.

At this point the story takes on the character of a well written mystery novel. There are different twists and turns as the truth is slowly reveled to the players. There are blind alleys, misdirection and red herrings aplenty to keep the reader guessing as to what the real motivation for the attack on Abigail's "shatterlings" is all about. In the end, all is revealed and the romance between Campion and Purslane comes to a satisfying conclusion.

I can easily recommend this book. I think Reynolds is on the threshold of taking up the banner of "great science fiction" author. His works remind me of the early efforts of the 50's Masters, and I hope he continues to develop his skills and finish climbing to the top of the heap of SciFi writers.