I feel bad rating this one so low, but I had to really struggle to push through to the end. It sort of lost its focus, I thought, ending up far more interested in the AI/implant/computer tech side of alien communication, when I was really there for the cephalopods. The cephalopods were great. Even the alien hive mind things was done quite well, to the point that the words We're going on an adventure became quite chilling. But then the whole focus of the Artifabian and Avrana Kern's instantiation in Meshner's implant just draggggged. I didn't care. And the more that part of the story became the focus, the less I felt inclined to push on.