Can you count the letter e in:
As a result, some events are repeated, because some events are places where the three stories, and their characters, intersect. Sometimes he’s able to tell them in a way that provides new events and new insights. Sometimes he isn’t. I would argue you could skip those redone scenes, but skim them so that you know you haven’t missed anything important. There is, fortunately, very little of that in this book, as if they were making efforts to avoid it.
I’m not sure Weber wouldn’t have been better off telling all three storylines at once; or perhaps, merging the Honor and Saganami Island storylines and leaving Cachat and Zilwicki their own space (because he co-writes this storyline with Eric Flint.) But I can see why he didn’t. The story is really just too damn big for that. Not even Baen would publish it that way! So it’s the limitations of the genre that dictates the form.
That said, I absolutely love the Torch/Cachat and Zilwicki stories in this sub-series! I don’t think you can go wrong with the marriage of Weber and Eric Flint! Flint injects humour and humanity that I feel that Weber, despite the fact that I am a fan, sometimes lacks. Cachat and Zilwicki stories are buddy-cop tales (or, in this case, a buddy-spy one) in the tradition of Lethal Weapon. 
We are introduced to a host of secondary characters in this novel as well. They are important to the present and future storyline, so I don’t object. Besides, they’re fun and interesting, and you can tell that either Flint, or Weber, or both, were invested in their futures. If you like intense third-personal focus on one or two characters, you may find this burdensome, and based on the mixed reviews, I’d say many readers did. I did not. Instead, I got invested in these secondary characters, almost as much as I did the Dynamic Duo who drive this series, and enjoyed reading their novelettes interwoven among the grander tale.
My verdict? Not his greatest work, because I have given five-star reviews in this series, but certainly outstanding nonetheless, especially if you’re an enthusiastic space opera fan. If you decided to skim through or skip over books in the Honorverse, don’t pass over this one!

user
In that passage, there are two hundred and twenty-six occurrences of the letter "e."
assistant