[2][3] The setting is "Ecosphere 2," a very close analogy of the real-life ecological experiment Biosphere II, which is a 3.14 acre glass-enclosed biodome in Oracle Junction, Arizona.

Jason Heller for NPR applauded the novel as a success and commended the author's attention to detail, writing, "Boyle navigates his well-worn territory with sensitivity and finesse".

[4] Michael Berry of the San Francisco Chronicle similarly wrote, "What works best in the book is the detail with which Boyle portrays the nitty-gritty of life inside an enclosed environment".

"[6] The Washington Post critic Ron Charles panned the novel as being very "dull" with "numbingly petty" characters and "no relief from their flat voices, their obvious confessions, their poisonous jealousy".

"[8] Henry Hitchings of the Financial Times described it as being occasionally "a striking portrait of vanity and weakness" but concluded, "Despite all Boyle's efforts to make the novel seem a spiritually charged experience and a religious allegory, it feels like an upmarket soap opera.