Imaginative at times, but mostly plays out like a game of cat and mouse that eventually has no bearing whatsoever on the overarching plot of the story.

There are many cool ideas buried in here (A planet found bearing signs of artificial life, for example!), but 98% of the story revolves around the politics of a few family members. I didn't exactly find this riveting, or even particularly entertaining.

I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that Alastair Reynolds has managed to produce a novel with an extremely claustrophobic feel to it. Most of his novels take place over the span of hundreds (Or thousands) of years and across many light-years of space. In Blue Remembered Earth, just traveling to Mars is portrayed as an act requiring a great deal of time (No Lighthuggers in this!) and money.

I can't help but wonder if "claustrophobic" is exactly the emotion he wants us to feel when reading this novel. Considering that the two planned sequels are about humans expanding into space, I suppose that there really couldn't be a better setup than this.

If this is the case, then he has succeeded admirably!