Very well written. Interesting variation on some old hard sci-fi tropes. The alien "invader" is plausibly alien and the abilities of the sensitives mainly credible when the nature of the xenosphere and the alien invasion is revealed. Not happy about the half hearted zombie episodes - it's getting to the point where zombie tropes really irritate me. I'm glad they were only incidental and restricted to the beginning of the book. I wonder if they were added in to gain additional readership from zombie fans - editorial/marketing decision? The time shifts in the narrative make it a slightly difficult read and I'm not sure that most of the shifts add anything much except a fleeting (and mainly failed) attempt at making the story appear more substantial and meaningful than it really is. Actually may evidence a loss of confidence in the narrative drive of what may have started out as a series of short stories (just a guess). It's really good enough without jumbling time. The characters are believable, well sketched and interestingly varied. Motivations emerge unforced from the characters and their plot arcs. Occasional use of ineffable mysterious (and beautiful/attractive/saintlike) characters but that's okay in this genre, I think, and generally handled in an interesting way. Least convincing are the old metaverse/cyber interludes where characters have their own devised avatars travelling (and battling) through some partially shared mental construct of a world. A little bit show more formulaic - recycling symbolic landscapes and action from Matrix, Gibson, Stephenson, Lessing etc. etc. I just don't believe that mental interactions (and fights) would take place in that manner in slightly woozy dream style landscapes. All sorts of good things to look forward to and explore in the future books in the series. Geo-politics, African culture, anarchism, secret government organisations, inter-alien rivalries, ooh and some weird quantum effects! show less