The action is very slow to start, with the first 300 pages or so having introductions and events, but not a strong, coherent narrative. Instead there is world building at its most exquisitely detailed, carefully etching out the nature of the Ler and life on earth since they were genetically engineered from humans. They were intended to be a sort of uber-man, but instead are merely... different, as reflected in their very different social structure and value systems, resulting in voluntary isolation from the humans with whom they uneasily share the planet.

I had a tough time wading through a lot of this. There's so much of it and much of it feels like detail just for the sake of detail, such as an obsessive gamemaster might indulge in when setting up an RPG (role playing game) world. The impression was increased by the dispassionate bureaucrat's reporting style (complete with copious footnotes) with which much of it is presented, rather than shown through storytelling. Things are very much told, and often told repetitively, rather than shown. For all the detail that was given, it didn't include things that would have been helpful. The simple explanation of the Ler Braid structure that I desperately needed from the start doesn't appear until the beginning of the second book. Keep going, though, because there are interesting nuggets of ideas in there, while a lot of it is also worthwhile background for the more traditional narrative that does follow.

Ler-human cultural clashes come to a crescendo that sends the story out from Earth in books 2 and 3. There's still the same constant examination of what it means to be a person as generations post-Earth develop and change as individuals and populations and in their interactions with each other. People adapt and adapt. Or do they? And how much are they merely following the path that someone else has set for them?

A very richly layered and textured read with lots of genuinely interesting food for thought, that may obscure the story at first but is better blended as the tale continues to make for a thought-provoking, entertaining read.