I've been getting about 2-6 free ebooks per day after having signed up for some free ebook notification emails of various types. Now, I can't read that many books in a day, unfortunately, so when my reading time comes around, I have to pick and choose from the ones I've selected. I've started only downloading free books in the two genres I enjoy most: those loosely defined as science-fiction/horror/thriller/zombie/dystopian, and books on entrepreneurship. (This book obviously falls into the former category.) I give the fiction books a chapter or so to catch me, and if they don't, they're gone--there are many others to start instead.So, I was pleasantly surprised to be drawn fully into this book within the first couple pages. By the second chapter, I was NOT putting it down. It was a read-straight-through marathon of clever turns of phrase, fascinating plot, mind-expanding concepts, and plenty of dystopia. I love the concepts; the pacing was ideal -- not too quick, not drawn out at all, despite the author's afterword fretting about perhaps containing too much exposition; and the "what's going to happen next??" anticipation remained keen.I had never read this author before, and I will absolutely be buying and enjoying everything else I can get my hands on from him. These are the books that make me so glad that authors take the brave marketing risk of putting books out there for free. When it works, it works just like this. I'm caught like a Fly in a Flytrap. Minus the accidental, mindless killing.P.S. for the author: What a wonderful idea to include a suggested order to read the list of your other titles! I have never seen that before in any of the hundreds upon hundreds of novels I've read, and will absolutely stick to the list in order. Off to go purchase and enjoy The Stone Man...