2014 re-read. Review forthconing ( )

There is not much good to be said about this one. It does bring a superficial and boring closure to the central storylines. On the way we get one brief space battle and the chance to see a fair number of shockingly inept bad guys get their comeuppance. I kept expecting some credible threat to emerge, one that would require our protagonist to ally with the barely sketched aliens, but I guess you have to prove masochistic enough to pick up book 4 to get to that part of the series. ( )