Wow! What an amazing world Paolini wrote. Deep and rich and vibrant and full of people with their own personalities. This is a deep dive into the psyche and healing during a newly sprung war. The characters wrestled with their own moral dilemmas, their own pains, and the interconnectedness of their lives that allowed them to support each other.

Aliens, space battles, the vastness of space, run away military, and smugglers. Hits all the scifi buttons and delivers on them!

The audio book runs about 31 hours for the book itself (it also includes appendices and some author commentary, bringing it to 33). Jennifer Hale did a phenomenal job of bringing the characters to life.