This is what a science-fiction novel should be.

First of all: the book has Big Ideas. The biggest one is the idea of individual incorporation. Every human being is a corporation, and people and businesses can buy and sell stock in other people and other businesses. The authors do a great job of explaining what this system might look like along with truly creative and insightful socio-economic exploration of the consequences. That idea alone would have been enough for a novel, but they cram several other ideas in as well like the potential dangers of virtual realities to society. As with the incorporation idea the execution lives up to the originality of the concept.

Secondly: the book is morally and philosophically complex. It's all the rage to have an obnoxious anti-hero and call that moral ambiguity, but this book honestly had me unsure of which character I agreed with throughout all 470 pages. The pros and cons of the central protagonist and antagonist's goals are balanced and believable, and despite being eye-ball deep in libertarian/free-market philosophy the authors avoid turning the story into a polemic for their real-world political views.

And lastly: it's a great story. There's understandably a bit of heavy exposition, but from the court-room dramas to the assassinations to the world-changing catastrophes this book kept me hooked from start to finish.

Dani and Eytan Kollins remind me a lot of John Scalzi. Like Scalzi you can easily tell that the Kollins's are self-consciously continuing in the tradition of the greatest writers in the genre. (Dani Kollins lists Heinlein and LeGuin as favorites on his Goodreads profile.) They tackle serious themes with fresh insight, and deliver a great read in the process. For me that's exactly what sci-fi is all about.

The only reason I held back one star (keep in mind I rate harsher than most Goodreads folks) is that the novel was a little tilted towards the cerebral and didn't deliver quite enough emotional punch. Based on the last few pages, however, I think the sequel The Unincorporated War is going to be even better.