Told you about it recently. Revelation Space.
Listed as Hard Sci-Fi.. which it IS, amazingly so, actually... but so diminished under the main theme of 'politics' that it's nearly subliminal.
I don't think I have EVER finished a novel in which I have taken this long to get half-way thru... this will be my new record, if I achieve it. I'm what? Two weeks in and only half way thru? Not a good sign.
To give you an idea of how procrastinating I have been with this novel... I read another novel during the time I started this one. entirely, the whole other novel.