Physicists in fiction are generally depicted as autistic action heroes, with mighty, infallible intellects. Dr. Beard, the protagonist of ""Solar", is anything but and a breath of fresh air. He's self-centered, incapable of love, insecure and vain, and he walks the fine line between pity and brilliance.

"Solar" is, at its core, a satire on climate change. McEwan's theme seems to be that if humanity is to be saved from the effects of climate change, it will not be through selfless heroism, but through a form of lucky confluence of greed and self-interest. This trope is fascinating and thought-provoking, and to watch Michael Beard stumble through it is at times hilarious, at times cringe-inducing.

The science feels spot-on. This may be the work of scientific fiction with some of the best verisimilitude out there. It's neither too complicated nor condescending, and yet it reads like a physicist itself wrote it. The politics, pettiness and backstabbing of the scientific world are deployed for great comical effect.

Some people have argued that this novel is SF. I'd warn against going into it with this mindset. Yes, there's some speculative science involved in the core themes of the novel, but the story makes no qualms about engaging the reader in a thought experiment about the future. The science is there for verisimilitude, and it works well at that. What matters is that we believe that some sort of new energy has been dreamed up by the unlikely genius of Dr. Beard, and then enjoy the ride.