One of the problems with the Honorverse series is figuring out where a book fits in. Is this part of the mainline Honorverse (with only a brief glimpse of Honor herself) or a new subseries, or ...

At any rate, this book picks up with the new Talbot Cluster, where the most recently discovered wormhole from Manticore leads. Even as Manticore is stretched thin fighting off the new war with Haven, the systems of the Talbot Cluster have applied to become part of the new Empire of Manticore, rather than be absorbed by the Solarian League ...

... if their petty internal power-holders on each world can agree to a constitution that will be approved by Manticore while still letting them stay in charge ...

... if internal dissenters don't start a guerrilla warfare / terrorism movement to resist assimilation ...

... if the Solarians don't get their nose bent out of shape by Manticore screwing around in their backyard ...

... if the Evil Genetic Slavers of Manpower Inc. (and the deeper conspiracy behind them) don't put paid to their old Manticoran enemies getting a foothold much closer to their homeworld of Mesa ...

And into that, comes the HMS Hexapuma, a heavy cruiser commanded by a heroic captain possibly still traumatized by a previous wartime incident, and crewed by a variety of people we've seen before, but also some brand new midshipmen, fresh from the Academy at Saganami Island.

It's all plenty of fun, and soap opera, and space opera, and drama, and pathos, and politics, and stereotypes, and looming menace. In some ways it's a fine leaping on point for new readers, but it still suffers from far-too-convenient division of the world between Good Guys and Bad Guys, and conflicts that resolve themselves through the Bad Guys being evil and mean and stupid, and the Good Guys being good and noble and smart.

But, dagnabbit, it's still a fun read.