The Causal Angel brings together everything from The Quantum Thief and The Fractal Prince, coalescing Rajaniemi’s ideas and writing style into a satisfying finale. It has all the good and none of the bad from its predecessors, pummeling the reader with action, amazing science, beloved characters, and, finally, a great ending. Hannu Rajaniemi concludes his epic trilogy of science, chaos, confusion, technology, and thievery with one final, universe-bending heist.

Instead of a simple novel, Rajaniemi once again gives us strands of a story that almost culminate into a cohesive whole, yet forces us to piece together the stray theories and connect the pale blue dots for ourselves. In many ways this entire series is a string of short tales isolated from one another by the gulf of science, connected only by names of characters we think we know. In the first two volumes this becomes confusing yet enticing; in this final entry Rajaniemi masters the style and gives us a glorious hodgepodge of anything and everything we might ever desire in a space opera.

Rajaniemi’s writing is not for everyone, and these stories are directed toward hardened fans of science-fiction. Still, I recommend anyone interested in science-fiction, fantasy, eastern styles of fiction, motifs, memes, hard science, heist stories, AI, galactic civilizations, the nature of time, cloning, simulation theory…Ahem, sorry. Just go read the books.