When a book starts off with the main character dying, you know you're going to be in for a bumpy ride. What faces the reader is nothing compared to the perils that Echelon Agent Ryan Lian faces, beginning with falling off a mountain (he had help) to his death, resurrection with the help of experimental nanotech, and periodic deaths along the way as he tries to save civilization from self destructing. By the second or third death, it's kind of lost its sting, but you never quite forget that his resurrection is at the convince of the author and plot...and cats only have so many lives.

(Source: Del Rey)