At the time this book was written, it was intended to be the 3rd book of a trilogy. Humans attempt to colonize a newly-discovered planet. What could go wrong?

The book’s focus is not on the struggle to adapt to a new world; instead, its focus is on the effort to colonize a planet that multiple alien worlds may wish to have for themselves. But compared to the first two books, this book contained less soldierly-fighting and more inter-galactic intrigue (which I preferred). Indeed, I especially liked this book’s basic storyline. The plot made the phrase “do you know who your enemies really are?” come to mind. And, like the first two books in this series, the main characters were presented with intelligence and compassion.

One oddity to the storytelling: The planet contained intelligent and organized beings, but they only appeared briefly within the story and then were never mentioned again. So they were just an interesting distraction that did not contribute to the basic storyline.

Bottom line: Good plot; good characters; satisfying ending. Certainly better than your average sci-fi.