I should say in advance that I love this series. So no matter how this books turned out, I was at least going to like it. Barring a black hole where everyone dies that is. That being said, I still loved it. The beginning was dragging and confusing. The first seven chapters had seven different narrators, one of which wouldn't come up again so there was really no point. Weber spent way too much time giving us all the back story of the last few books, even stuff we could have done without. Once he got in gear is where the book got good. The action, the comradery, and the new insights into his world were just fantastic. I don't know if this is an ending or if we'll just have to wait another five years for the next book, but I'm happy either way.