Review: More setup than climax.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 28, 2012
This one almost rises to the level of 4 stars.  The series has been very good up to this point, with brief interludes where David gets to spend time with his friends and adopted family being broken by David showing once again that he is the greatest military leader of his generation.Unfortunately, Commodore leaves the interludes out and jumps directly into conflicts.  Worse, the author shows a fascination with complex human motivations and politics as David and his sidekick Nestor spend several pages discussing how accurate the mideval treatise "The Prince" is when it comes to homan politics and rulership.This is mostly in the first third of the book which is dry and doesn't really grow any of the characters.  Once again the action looks to be a breath of air and change.  However, for once I didn't like the way the conflict unfolded.  It seemed like too much effort was being put into making the fight turn out a certain way, and I didn't get into the story as easily as the earlier books in this series.The ending also felt a bit incomplete, and includes a note that the final book in this saga is due out on Dec 1, 2012.  In the end this book appeared to be mainly there to set up the final conflict.  I think that probably had the most effect on my feelings toward the story.  The lack of closure at the ending left me disappointed with this book, but not the overall saga.  Definitely start from Ship's Boy, but this series is worth reading.