Instruct: Classify the given review as either positive or negative.
Query: Pretty good first novel and a good read.

I liked this novel quite a lot but thought the writer lost his track about midway through and the novel could easily have lost 50 pages with good editing. And, I confess, I preferred father to the narrator son. I wanted to know about the origins of that family. It's an easy novel to like because the language is tasty and the subjects fascinating. I can't wait for Kantner's second and third novels which, likely, will be just about perfect.