This a space opera, pure and simple, but not like any other space opera you have read.
It continues the journey of the starship Tyche snd it’s assorted crew members — the Captain, the Helm, the Engineer, the Deck Hand/Enforcer, and the Esper.
Spoiler here if you haven’t read the previous Tyche adventures. The Captain, Nate, and the Esper, Grace, have ended up as Emperor and Empress of the Empire, graduating from Captain and only an esper of what could courteously be called a privateer to being ferried around the galaxy by a ship of the line with all the comforts due an emperor and his consort.
Life for the Emperor, who prefers to be called Nate, and the rest of the Tyche crew keeps coming back to defending humanity against the Ezeroc, roach like aliens who have the ability to control humans they come in contact with through psi.
Of course, this is an adventure of the Tyche and her crew so they are not pitted solely against giant mind-controlling roaches, they also have to contend with terrorists who don’t want and empire and emperor to exist. Fortunately, they have Kohl, the enforcer who is now a member of the emperor’s guard, the Black, who has to be reminded not to kill everything he perceives as a threat because some aren’t.
The action is intense, frequent, and make it fun to read this tale. The danger is never far from them but they are resilient enough and entertaining enough to make this a real page turner. Somehow, the crew of the Tyche manages to survive collectively and individually everything the universe, the Ezeroc, and the terrorists throw at them.
You will find yourself turning pagers faster and faster the closer you get to the end of this volume then when you finish, you will be looking forward to the next one in the series to see how the Tyche and her crew get through the next set of scrapes, near disasters, and mischief.