Started off very pulpy (OK, I suppose it was fairly
consistently pulpy), and spent rather too long saying just how massively clever
and wonderful the hero was without her actually doing anything. Eventually she
does actually do something so we can make up our own minds.
Characters are pretty much WYSIWYG. Identity is
totally based on rank: there is nothing else, and this is probably the
biggest weakness (but it might translate well to film).
The book is massively right wing: the baddies are
the bleeding heart liberals, the goodies the hardheaded conservatives. Also
very colonial: the patronising attitude towards the aboriginal population is
dreadfully (and unapologetically) un-PC; they’re docile scenery who can’t handle
liquor/drugs (addictive personalities, and they go psycho). The decently set up
climax includes a pretty high body count on both sides (more for the baddies of
course), stating a theme that great nations should be prepared to pay
casualties.
The setting works OK, based around perhaps the mid British empire days, where there’s a mix of earning and buying commissions (or pulling family strings), of commons and Lords style government. Weber also nips off for inspired flights of psuedo-science about hyperspace travel and other such flapdoodle. The plot’s coherent.