...An entertaining and suspenseful novel that nevertheless pulls itself in two directions at once: on the one hand, it wants to explore the same serious questions about the politics of academic science that Benford's classic Timescape explored; on the other, it wants to be a suspense thriller in the vein of Artifact or Benford's ''Sterling Blake'' novels... It succeeds better at the former...

...Much of the book's foreground is occupied by more mundane events: paper grading, committee meetings (avoidance of, mainly), encounters with chairs and deans, coping with fame, choosing which outfit to wear to the singles mixer.

Cosm is a good, solid science fiction novel. No-one is better at depicting scientists at work than Benford, and he brings all of his skills to portraying the conflict which goes on over ownership of the Cosm, the infighting, politics, and disagreements, as well as the intellectual and emotional excitement of being involved with such important work.

Through the two lovers, Danvers looks at why you would agree to be digitized, the price inherent in that decision, and the stagnation that comes from an unchanging world.

One has to look at Danvers's novel, then, not as a half-baked attempt to describe the actual terms of life in a ciruit city, but as a romantic adventure using the devices of contemporary SF as its vehicle. And by the standards of romance, with its secret identities, mysterious figures from the past, heartbreaking self-revelations, colorful secondary characters, and elaborate schemes, Danvers has produced a suspenseful and entertaining book.