Orks in Space! This is the fourth book in the Council Wars series, which began with the aptly future-tense There Will Be Dragons. It is a Baen book. It is by John Ringo. This is almost all you need to know.

Herzer Herrick makes his usual dashing appearance. Edmund has only bit-parts. Some of the microgravity physics seems a little bit off… but given the nano-built orcs and Dark Elves, it seems ridiculous to complain. There’s a lot of fun adventure, though less than in the earlier books. More time is spent on character development of Herzer and Megan. The integration of their personal lives with the great war is executed with more grace and capability than previously shown.

This book is noticeably shorter than its brothers, and more of its bulk is spent on tables of organization embedded in the text. Much like the Posleen War series, I’m starting to worry around book four—but Ringo’s learned a lot since his excellent start, so I hope he’ll surpass Hell’s Faire and Cally’s War with the Council Wars.

Books read this year: 26