As much as I am enjoying the telling of the story, there are a lot of problems with this book. First of all the characters are thinner than a tissue- they exist solely to advance a set of ideas on a track as straight and long as the Trans-Siberian Railroad itself. And the politics are so overpowering that even when I do agree with points in the book it’s just laid on so thick it’s hard to swallow.

Fun, but tedious.