With multiple interconnected storylines taking place in very different worlds, it took me a while to figure out what was going on, but once I did it was truly fascinating. It has elements of a LeCarre spy story, a soulless dystopian future, a utopian pastoral society, and one pivotal character: a brilliant, iconoclastic scientist capable of literally changing the world. The ending of this book made perfect sense but I still didn't see it coming.