Spoilers There wasn’t a compelling reason for any of the characters to make the decisions they did. In some 40k stories the reader gets a view of a unique setting in a vast universe at the trade off of there not being a major impact on the galaxy or key event in the overall story. This book starts to flesh out something different then devolves into an uninteresting mess. With the previous books exposing the reader to the terrifying horrors of the ruinous powers it is impossible to care about a single grieving queen throwing a tantrum at the cost of her people’s lives only for the world to be subjugated anyways. It was about half way through that I noticed the only characters left standing painted in a positive light were women while the male protagonists were either dead, crippled or made out to be incompetent and selfish. There is no real climax or tipping point. Everything felt inevitable and plaid out shortly after the introduction. I loved the series up to this point.

There was a point in the book where I couldn’t put it down. I read a full further 100 pages. That hasn’t happened in a while. I thought events would play out differently- they richly did not. We’ll done Nick. I love the background on the Kamidarians. Each side was presented with flaws, did unpleasant actions, but remained relatable. Even the Red Corsairs- first one of their leaders that I liked and that wasn’t a cartoon type character.

See title. Pathetic pandering.