The problem with any really advanced intelligence, it seemed, was that just by existing it tended to erode the autonomy of all the selves around it.1
This sequel was as fun as its predecessor, and it wraps things up nicely. It does require suspending disbelief about a bunch of stuff that doesn’t make sense—including the trope of otherwise super-advanced civilizations not knowing how to engage in even basic communication with differing civilizations—but I don’t care, I like it.
I was not a fan of the audio narration. The narrator gives the characters a variety of different accents and some of them don’t come out very well. Also, for a while one character’s main role is to interject loud sneering after any other character says anything; that probably would have been annoying even in text format, and having it piped straight into your ears feels a bit like being followed around by a surly teenager demanding attention.