Valiant (Lost Fleet Series #4) Book

Portions of this installment really, really seemed to drag (quite an accomplishment for a book that doesn't even crack 300 pages). Rione has become an almost unbearably obnoxious character to me at this point, and the first half of the book is basically her being an irritating wench about her relationship with Geary (a relationship she's done nothing but swear up and down means nothing to her emotionally). As a female reader I find it equal parts annoying and mildly offensive that the female characters in this series are so one-dimensional (basically their entire function is to throw themselves at the male hero - one a characature of the tricksy, scheming power-broad and the other your dutiful, rock-steady, hero-worshipping doorstop to whom the hero can do no wrong).

But anyway, four books in I should have more or less accepted the characterization style of this author. I've been able to essentially deal with it in the previous 3 volumes because the action moved along quickly enough to keep me distracted from the more soapy elements. That was much more difficult in this volume, as there really isn't much going on that's new or interesting. Our hero continues to be the living stars' gift to humanity, while scratching his head over the potential alien enemy on the horizon.