Where the first book set up the world of Chung Kuo nicely, and set a decent pace for the events that took place, this book just drags. I can't describe my level of annoyance and disgust when, for example, getting to the 7/8ths point of the book, I saw story threads for Ben Shepherd just getting started. Personally, while I like the concept of the world of Chung Kuo, I feel that a goodly portion could have been trimmed back. There are a lot of characters to deal with, and a large, involved story line, and in the right hands, something this large could be quite astounding (George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice is one such example), but I'm not convinced David Wingrove has reached such a level yet. Will I continue on to read the third book in the series? I'm not sure, though I don't know if it's because this book is so interminably long, or if it's because my interests are shifting towards different subject matter at the moment.