This review is based on the eARC (electronic Advance Reader Copy).

I'm a bit split about this book, on one side I did enjoy it, on the other side, there were a few things that I didn't like.

The good parts: Finally another Honorverse Book, and finally one that focuses on a conflict that has been build up and prepared in the last books - where those left me unsatisfied, at the end of this one I was satisfied with how the book ended, and with what it left open and what not. Along the way, there were some nice Space-Battles, and the overall story of the book was enjoyable too.

However, the book itself felt stretched - too many characters, too much attempts to enhance the atmosphere by telling microstories that ultimately had no meaning for the main story, and then, what got me really annoyed, an endless list where the reader is lead up to a meeting, describing the arrival of one or more of the characters, describing the circumstances of the meeting, maybe doing some warm-up conversation and then it cuts off to "everyone was satisfied with what was decided", or a description on that someone comes up with a plan and starts giving the orders for that plan, just to cut off there, and then spend time showing how the plan that we don't know plays out.
Now, that's ok once or twice to make a bit of mystery, but for me, this was used way too often in this book, up to the point where I got annoyed with it.
You don't have to set up a stage if you don't show a play on that stage.

All in all the story wouldn't really have lost much if the book would have had 150 pages less, cutting out a bit of the stretch, and that's what made me enjoy it less than some of the earlier books of this series.

If I could I'd give this 3 1/2 Stars, but as it is, and looking at how i rated the previous books, this has to settle with 3.