There's a reason why this is nominated for a Nebula. It's inventive, and surprises you with every chapter. It also assumes the reader is intelligent enough to understand what's happening without a lot of exposition (none of that "as you know, our current situation was caused by this event" crap). Lee isn't trying to fool you - she thinks you're smart enough to keep up with here.

I can't wait to see if this wins, and what the second book brings...