Disappearing Act

I made it about 100 pages in, then lost patience. The story began well enough, then got bogged down in planetary politics and industrial intrigue. Too many people are introduced, but the reader is given no reason to care about them. I probably would have enjoyed reading about the “replaced” character far more than the protagonist. Too bad–I adored Riva from [book:Mathemagics], and would love to read more in that universe, but otherwise it seems that Ball's work just isn't for me.