Sometimes you want characters, who are human, well-rounded, have weaknesses and make mistakes. And sometimes you want Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr, who's more awesome than Batman.

The Confederation novels are essentially a pulp mil-scifi space opera. They have a big plot that interests me not in the slightest, but they have a protagonist I cannot help but love. Weird superpowerful aliens blah blah, I'm just here for Godzilla ... err, I mean Gunny Kerr. If the book was nothing except her taking on impossible odds, I'd be perfectly happy and would probably have given it four stars. But the big plot, while sort of clever, is to me just not as interesting as the low-level heroics.