Well, you're not wrong. There's a lot of ham-fisted romance everywhere and I think it appeals not just to women.

Then again, real-life people are constantly looking for sex and romance in their real lives, so perhaps it's not that unrealistic.

I bought one of these for a friend years ago before JKR's downward spiral, and he really liked it. Shame she's decided to self-destruct.

This post is the snake's eyebrows!

Thanks for this thoughtful critique. I found it decent but not great. I agree with you that it was very light on the "science" element of science fiction, and only superficially probed the more compelling questions that you mention.

I disagree about the characters, though. I found the protagonist's relationship with the older couple to be nuanced and interesting. This was an area where the author was very effective.

Ultimately, it really only landed (har har) as a character study of the protagonist and his relationships with his friends and God. I don't particularly go in for the God stuff, so it wasn't what I had hoped for, and the narrative structure is so bundled up in that element that it didn't add much for me.

But, still good enough to recommend.