This has been one book I have been waiting for so much. I'd not read Walter Jon Williams before reading The Praxis, and that book instantly made me a fan. Book two (The Sundering) only served to convince me I was right after reading book one. So my anticipation was high when this book arrived. Were my hopes in book three well placed? Well, all I can say is WOW!

The civil war that started with the rebellion by the Naxids in the days following the death of the final Shaa (the long-lived rulers of the Empire) is reaching a crucial point – the Naxids staged their most daring manoeuvre – taking control of the capitol world of the Empire. And are now seeking to secure this world. To this end they managed an early result.

Of the many teams left on Zanshaa, all but one were eliminated in the first stages of the take over of the capitol, and so Lady Caroline Sula finds herself and the other two members of her team are the ones remaining. But how can three people affect the progress of the entire occupying force?

In space Lord Gareth Martinez commands part of Chen Force, a squadron of ships fighting against the Naxid fleet. Martinez is a revolutionary in terms of tactics, a genuine innovator in an Empire built on tradition. He believes that it is not possible to defeat an enemy equally drilled in the routines and tactics used by the Empire for millennia - and hence known by theie enemy. Unfortunately for Martinez he is a minor Lord in a very hierarchical social structure, and the military leaders don't share his beliefs, believing that efficiency and rigorous adherence to the established fighting methods and drills will see them victorious.

So in many ways it is fortunate that Martinez's immediate superior, the leader of Chen Force, Michi Chen, shares some of Martinez's views and allows him free hand whenever her superiors are not in the region. And so given freedom to think "outside of the box" the loyalist forces may just have a chance of overcoming the Naxid rebellion.

The first two books in this series were based mainly onboard starships following the main two characters of this series – Martinez and Sula. So it could have been all to easy for the author to continue this and write a third ship-bound book. And this could have made this a case of "same-old, same-old", and turned a great series into a mediocre one but not giving it a good ending.

But in changing the setting for the majority of the first half of the book is an inspired move. Sula's manipulation of the population of Zanshaa, including her interactions with the criminal gangs of the world is wonderful. Her instigation of a resistance movement and the propaganda campaign is the real strength of this book, and also allowed a different type of incidental character to be introduced – adding a refreshing difference from the military types populating the first two volumes.

This book was simply superb, a wonderful conclusion to a great series. The author is skilful, he's definitely an author I will be looking out for in future years - and I may just have to hunt down his earlier books also.

Synopsis
The breathtaking conclusion in the towering epic of intergalactic war, begun in THE PRAXIS and THE SUNDERING.

The universe has fallen into bloody chaos now that the dread empire of the tyrannical Shaa is no more-at the mercy of the merciless insectoid Naxid who, freed from subjugation, now hunger for domination. But the far-flung human descendants of Terra have finally tasted liberty, and their warrior heroes will not submit. Separated by light-years, Lord Gareth Martinez and his one-time comrade and lover, the mysterious guerilla fighter Caroline Sula, each pursue a different road to victory in tomorrow's ultimate battle-for the new order will be far more terrible than the old...unless one last, bold, and desperate stratagem can hold a shattered galaxy together.