Review: If it's been awhile since you read the series, I would refresh yourself before going into this one.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 18, 2013
This is a character driven series.  You remember the characters, but not so much the plot lines and story...and this book doesn't  give you a lot of the back story. Which is good thing if you just finished previous book, but a bad thing if you haven't.It has been a couple of months since I read the preceding book in the series and completely forgot what it was about.  After reading this book, I still don't remember what it's about, lol.Who was the ConFed again?  What was the back story on Crusher and Lucky?  How did Jason get where he was (I sorta remember this one.)  Where did the ship Diligent come from and what agreement did Jason have with them??  I don't remember any of this, and wasn't reminded of it in this book either.However, I do remember the characters.And it's still fun.  The humor is still adolescent, but funny. The romance wouldn't compete with any romance novel out there, I don't care.  Jason is still the headstrong idiot who lucks out more than he probably should.  The action is still solid.  And the story line within the book is consistent...even tho I don't remember how it tied into the other books in the series.The Synth Jason met in the first book (Deetz,) now comes back to give him trouble...and has a batch of new allies, weapons and friends.  He's going after Jason and the Ship Jason took from him...and is willing to take the fight to Earth.Even at the end of the book, you're still not sure what Deetz's real motivation was, but you get a hint that there's something else going on that will be uncovered in the next books (Lucky knows something I think.)  There's a secret yet to be uncovered.  It doesn't leave you hanging, like so many other books are doing lately...but, it does let you know there's more to come.Now,  you can nitpick a lot in these types of books if you wanted to.  I mean, it's not Dickens or Hemingway.  But, I just don't want to.  I had fun.So, even without remembering much of the overall story arc...I still enjoyed the book.  Mostly, because of the characters.  And that's what is driving this series, the characters.  They are a lot of fun.I would advise re-reading some of the previous book if its been awhile.Recommended.SF