As much as I adored* Wreck of the River of Stars,* I think we’re in agreement on January Dancer. As a slower reader, I ran out of motivation a quarter-way through. It started out really fun, with wonderful imagination and mysterious artifacts, but there was a steep learning curve (a map to become familiar with, many names, many stories, a far-future universe to grasp) and Flynn’s great, dense language – but not enough payoff to push through. This saddens me, because I didn’t love Eifelheim either, and so maybe Wreck is where I should leave him.
It did, however, remind me to read Jack McDevitt’s alien artifact books, though, because this is the part I really liked. I just don’t have any interest in Flynn’s galactic political machinations.