What a strange book. It's like two or three totally unrelated books mashed together. I felt like I was having a nice classic sci-fi read, then all of a sudden it's wild and insane speculation about KKK-redux fundamentalists, and then back into normal sci-fi, only to be replaced by what was ultimately a pretty puerile fantasy novel. Really not sure how to feel about it. Could have been a lot better.
:D it sticks in your head though... between Seveneves using Matrix-style decentralised communication as an (amazing) plot device, and Fall suddenly pursuing subject reputation feeds as a (completely dead end) plot device, it does make you wonder about living in a simulation.
(And yes, the fantasy quest was a bit surprising, to say the least.)