RogerBW's Blog

2016 military SF, eleventh of this ongoing series. Another neutral star cluster, where one arm of the enemy Alliance seems to be fomenting a rebellion against another. So Leary is sent in to be a mercenary…

For me the best part of this was at the beginning, where Leary talks with an old friend at his wedding, and reacts to a specific suggestion in a specific way. (No spoilers.) It's a small moment but it's so utterly in keeping with his character that I found it perfect.

Not that the rest of the book is bad, but it's largely business as usual. Adele finds herself running an Alliance listening-post when its nominal chief is incapacitated. There are high-level covert politics and some consideration of the willingness to regard people as assets to be expended in service of the real goal.

The trouble with doing things that others said were impossible… Daniel thought. Is that people keep coming up with other impossible things. Eventually they're likely to be right.

There are shenanigans involving Daniel's wedding and honeymoon, but this isn't really Drake's strength, and clearly he knows it as this section doesn't last long. Otherwise, well, if you've read this far you know what the series delivers, and this book gives you more of it.