Big and cool but it never really coalesced as science fiction. Theres tons of stuff in here that would have made a decent novel all by itself - usually thats a good thing, but in this instance its all just brushed up against too lightly and then we move on to the next thing so that nothing really feels significant. The rise of a united Africa as a dominant political power, the notion of the authoritarian utopia of the Surveillance World vs. the anarchic DZ, the Evolvarium, the Panspermian Ideology, the animal rearing in space ethics, etc, etc...It makes the solar system of the mid-22nd century seem diverse and complex, but story-wise, kind of unfocused.