Mixed feelings on this one. Starts off well, with intruiging characters, multiple overlapping storylines and a decent sense of humor, but sort of falls flat about 2/3 of the way in, as many of the characters fail to develop or live up to their original promise. The ending feels way too tidy, a bit of positive melancholy, where everyone achieves success through failure. The main storyline here, that of the "dissident", is quite engaging, at least for the first 250 pages or so, before the book's promise starts to unravel. Not a wholly bad read, but will likely disappoint by the end.