I had this book on the shelf for a year or two, always meaning to get to it. The name and cover art were intriguing, and I've very much enjoyed other books by Vernor Vinge. This is not his best work, but it is his first full length novel, so I was interested to see how I liked it. The characters and world/culture he created were pretty interesting. It reads more like 3 separate but linked novellas rather than one novel. Tatja is certainly an interesting character, but I rather liked the story line about the Tarulle barge more than I liked anything that came after.