I thought this was a good book. To be fair, I haven't read any Peter Hamilton before but I doubt I'll change my rating once I've read The Commonwealth Saga and the Void trilogy etc (we'll see anyway).

The pacing is very good and Hamilton's prose is very readable. Something happens in every single chapter with virtually no slowdown. The characters are vivid (though many readers have found them unlikeable) and I found the near future sci-fi setting (especially the politics involving the future of the European Union) and plot refreshingly interesting and believable. Rejuvenation is the central sci-fi concept but there are a few sf-concept nuggets like the future of the internet.

Another problem some readers have had is the amount of sex that is alluded to (not to mention one or two graphic scenes) and I myself found it got a little extreme once I got around the final third of the book. Though the novelty of sex in a genre where it is usually mysteriously absent (in my experience at least) almost made up for that anyway.

Space Opera this is not but if you can appreciate something character driven in a realistic near future upper-middle class area/sci-fi setting you might get something out of this book.