A mixed bag. A third of the way through, I was ready for 2 stars, and reading only because I remembered the preview as being pretty good; it was reading like the worst parts of Doctorow crossed with cutting-floor scraps from Stross's _Accelerando_ (general advice: if you haven't read _Accelerando_ yet, I strongly strongly recommend it over _Rapture of the Nerds_).

After suffering through the crap of the first half, I *finally* get to the real story (recommendation: C-f to "It's the Singularity!" if you want to save yourself the grief). This is pretty fun and decent, although the judge scenario is far from new.