It depicts a massive interstellar colonization effort, involving hundreds of immense generation ships known as "holoships" carrying millions of humans to extrasolar planets.

The holoships are propelled to relativistic velocities by engines based on exotic "Chibesa physics", but are in danger of overshooting their target planets due to a lack of fuel for deceleration.

[2] SciFiEmpire.net also gave the novel a positive review, praising Reynolds' ability to "combine previously divergent storylines into one epic conclusion".

[3] Alex Good of the Toronto Star praised the book, saying that "few SF writers merge rousing adventure with advanced futuristic technology as skilfully as Alastair Reynolds".

[4] Paul Kincaid of SFSite.com wrote that although "[On the Steel Breeze] is far from being the best novel Reynolds has written...[it] displays many of his real strengths as a writer of large-scale science fiction...and there is more than enough intrigue to ensure we come back for the next volume.