Shares a universe with the other books of the series, could stand alone. Describes life in an occupied land (world), and is somewhat better than the previous book. Still suffers from clunky descriptions and poor passages at times.

In its favor are stronger characters, especially Fiben. He and others are fully 3D, a welcome change from the previous book. Some of the clever technology used for tracking or attacking are also neat. Chief among the downsides are the pace - this book is slow. Took me a month and a half to finish it, as I would put it down and feel little compulsion to pick it up again.

Reviewing the series, the wide web of characters and plots is pretty interesting, and probably took a book to keep track of. Turns out one was published - [b:Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe|101888|Contacting Aliens An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe (The Uplift Saga)|David Brin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386923847s/101888.jpg|98229]. Three following books make up a new series, the Uplift Storm trilogy. I plan to catch up with some other books first, but will likely tackle at least the first of that series soon.