Excellent, compelling concepts and brilliantly imaginative. I rank it lower only because a change in the voice of the narrative is jarring and feels comprised of exclusively exposition at a certain point, with very abrupt 'oh and this was going on this whole time' explanations that contextually gloss over reactions to the plot. That said, I admit that in reading a translation it is impossible to say whether that is in the way this section of the book is  translated, or if the omniscient exposition instead of character-focused narrative is in the original text in this way.  Still, an exciting, dark and brilliant examination of what awaiting the result of contact would do to humanity.