It's one in a set of 3 novels, by him, grouped together as "subjective cosmology". But they're not linked in any way besides this categorisation of theme.
It pushes far beyond hand waving philosophy, weaving in some solid technical references, as it explores concepts of: continuity of identity, simulation of consciousness, extreme transhumanist mind modification, subjective reality, artificial life within deterministic systems, computability, parasitic computation and "dust theory". Many ideas I consider important to at least be vaguely aware of.
His characters are adequately believable and his writing style reasonably sophisticated. Although my attention/motivation struggles a little, these days, with this kind of classic novel structure: alternating chapters between several characters, telling a story largely in parallel.
