When the Sparrow Falls

Let's start with the likes - the worldbuilding is great. I can see how the Caspian Republic could come to be, warts and all. All the ethical questions that the New Humanists have are things that we'll likely have to wrestle with in years to came.

The protagonist's everyman qualities are established nicely, and the plot is (for most of the book) dynamic and moving forward at a fast pace - the bulk of the book happens inside two days where everything happens.

However, in the second half, it becomes quite uneven, with multiple-chapter flashbacks, and stories within stories. Also, I have a distinct feeling that everything after South's imprisonment should have been an epilogue. Feels like a first novel from a writer that I'd like to read more from.