F&SF reviewer Robert. K. J. Killheffer described the novel as a "competent but not particularly original [take] on familiar sf scenarios," distinguished from the routine by Sagan's "sympathetic treatment of religious faith.""Books", F&SF, April 2005, pp.34-35 Jon Courtenay Grimwood, writing for The Guardian wrote that the book is "better written and even more tightly plotted" than Idlewild. Publishers Weekly wrote that Sagan's "sharp observations" and "rich imagination" both entertain and "lay a strong groundwork for volume three".
