It's a decent Charles Stross book. There are bits that don't make sense, but the overall theme is strong, and the character is likable. I frankly wished that the book hadn't tried to put them in a future pastiche of present day society, with magic "point scoring" and everything -- the economic motives here don't mix with the society, their sampling technique is very skewed, and it's just goddamn dumb given that you have personality altering software already baked in as back story.

Also, Stross has no subtlety about his attempt to look at gender roles in the 20th century, which utterly doesn't work -- the underlying assumptions, root stereotypes and basis of power is completely different and can't be replicated by a scoring system and fancy clothes. It's just dumb. Octavia Butler, this book is not.

But as a thought experiment, it's better than average.