The Book of All Skies, by Greg Egan

[extrapenguin]

A short book, 280 pages or so, and comparatively light imo. I usually like Egan's stuff, but the exploration of the world was a bit light, as was the whole conspiracy to keep the halves of the horseshoe apart. It could've done with either Del and Imogen jumping over the gap to a set of worlds with less of a continuity of history, or with more sense of mystery about why the passage was closed + why they were being hidden, or just of picking one section and writing that more in-depth. As it is, Del and Imogen get stranded and then drift forth on the kindness of strangers, not really facing any significant obstacles, and it all feels kind of pat, especially the ending. Egan's written better stuff, including semi-recently.