A space elevator - as an idea, a maybe-semi-realistic, but very much science fiction concept - is something I've been vaguely aware of for a very long time. I haven't actually read a book utilising that idea before - now this may be because I'm relatively unfamiliar with "hard" science fiction (or anything approaching that), but in any case, I loved the premise/concept, and the way it was used in this book.I wasn't overly keen on the first part of the book, really. The characters were flat and the writing seemed to rely too heavily on clichés. Fortunately the plot intrigued me early on, so I never got any desire to stop reading, and either the writing improved or I just grew accustomed to it, but about halfway through I was actually really curious about where things were headed. The plot was relatively straightforward as such, but having several points of view and a few subthreads running through it kept it interesting, and there were a few twists thrown in that I hadn't quite expected.
All in all, I ended up enjoying The Darwin Elevator a great deal. I'd probably rate it 3.5 stars if half stars existed, but in spite of its issues (and there were those - as said above, characterisation never shined although a few of the main characters got at least some fleshing out later on; there were also aspects about the life down below in Darwin that didn't make a lot of sense, such as why the handful of Immunes weren't higher up in the food chain), I did enjoy it enough to nudge it up to four. And I'm pretty sure I want to read the next book as well.
* ARC of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley. Thanks!