In this series, the Ward/Dilmore books are always more of a chore to get through than the Mack books are. I don't know if it's just that Mack is a more talented writer, or it's the fact that he works alone, or if it's completely due to the way Ward and Dilmore split up the characters. In any case, there are entire chapters of this book which can be skimmed, if not skipped--anything involving Jetanien and Nimbus III is worthless and shouldn't be bothered with; most of the stuff involving the U.S.S. Defiant is likewise irrelevant to the story (it's just a bone to people who know "The Tholian Web" and that ship's convoluted history with the mirror universe), and much of Diego Reyes' time spent on the Omari-Ekon is likewise skippable.

In fact, I wonder if the editorial cha-cha at Pocket is part of the problem. This book has tons of fat that needed to be trimmed. The introduction itself is needlessly wordy, spending a page or two to describe in excruciating detail the layout and environs of a cabin house, details which are irrelevant to plot and far, far exceed the dictates of atmosphere. It just becomes irritating, to the point where one mentally screams, "GET ON WITH IT!"

And so it is probably for the best that this is the penultimate book in the series; the storylines have been fairly played-out since about book 3 or 4.

This isn't to say there aren't a few interesting or exciting things that happen, but on the whole this book isn't worth the time it takes to read it. I'll probably pick up and read the last one, just for closure, but this is a very disappointing entry from a pair who have managed little but disappointing entries. ( )