This book was definitely the weakest in the Starfist series so far. Actually it was quite a disappointment as far as I am concerned. My main complaint is that there is really not enough of 34th FIST and a whole lot of political bullshitting instead. A god chunk of the book, especially the first half, is dedicated to talking, political maneuvering and manipulation and such like nonsense and, as a result, it is really boring as far as I am concerned. Even when the 34th FIST gets involved the reading is tainted by the fact that an unbelievable incompetent and stupid general, who has become general by means of political manipulation and not on merit, comes barging in and screws everyone, naturally at the cost of peoples’ lives.The action on those pages that actually involves the well-known characters from the 34th FIST are written to the same high standards as we are used to from David Sherman & Co but there are just too few of those pages for the book to be enjoyable.I’m going to keep this a short review and not drone on about it because I really did not appreciate this book in the Starfist series.