BOb - that review is brilliant!
(Was I the only one who sort-of imagined Napoleon and Copernicus as being vageuly C3PO and R2D2- eqsue? With a bit of Helix from Freefall thrown in:
)
I enjoyed reading it though - enough to read the two sequels. It was light, fun reading; even if it wasn't desperately original.
However, there are things I want to know more about - the translator and the quarx mostly (I haven't finished book 3 yet, so I may yet get my desire)