shifts pulling a rickshaw. Ed saves her life, and the two of them embark on an affair. Reception The Scottish author Iain Banks, writing for The Guardian, gave it a rave review, calling it "a novel of full-spectrum literary dominance... of – and about – the highest order." Regina Schroeder in review for Booklist described the novel as "sometimes space opera, sometimes a kind of noir fiction, Harrison’s novel is a cleverly assembled contemplation of how choices make lives and of opening quantum mechanical doors on bizarre potential futures." Publishers Weekly said that "this is space opera for the intelligentsia, as Harrison...tweaks aspects of astrophysics, fantasy and humanism to hum right along with the blinking holograms in a welcome and long overdue return." Kirkus Reviews said this novel was a "profoundly thoughtful, complex, fascinating, and sometimes bewildering mosaic. Does it all add up? Well, objectively speaking, not altogether--and perhaps that's the point." References and allusions The novel is replete with references to Harrison's many interests - mountaineering, rock music, etc. In many ways, this is fitting for a novel that is, in part, about human beings and their endless capacity for re-use and re-invention. Song lyrics, references to old TV shows and numerous other allusions are dropped into the narrative at various points. There are at least two allusions to the world of mountaineering in the book: the cruiser named Touching the Void and the remark by Chianese that "You don't get the tick unless you come back". There are also several references to The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, most notably the borrowed line about the vacuum of space "smelling of lemons". One character is named Otto Rank, presumably after the psychoanalyst. Seria Mau Genlicher's name is almost certainly a reference to Sarah Michelle Gellar, and at one point Kearney's partner Brian Tate reflects on watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Several of the chapters are also named after rock songs or albums. Agents of Fortune is an album by Blue Öyster Cult, and "Tumbling Dice" is named after the Rolling Stones song. In addition, the street gang who are assigned to find Ed Chianese in New Venusport are called The Skeleton Keys of the Rain, after a Bob Dylan lyric. The Shadow Operators, ghosts of old code who congregate in human ships, are apt to quote old song lyrics, including Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going