Jumping forward a decade into the war, this story is more "grand" but less individually captivating. A few homages to Hyperion and an outright nod to Maritn Silenus, this story follows Darrow in the wake of his negligence of a possible ceasefire and the senatorial debates over his fitness to be Arch Imperator which follow; a conquered red who loses her family to the war/occupation, and a discharged vet turned thief.

While I think this book is the least-poorly written, it's also the least exciting so far, and exhibits some of Darrow's worst decision making yet which also contribute to a tonal shift in theme in the wrong direction I think: where vengeance ceases to be sub-optimal, but Darrow starts to lean into it only now that he has much to lose. The book opens with a wrathful decision to reign iron gold down on Mercury (based) and this leads to Darrow being ostracized by the Republic, and ends with Darrow doubling down on his angsty solo man arc, despite it meaning that he's abandoning his fractured family and children. Literally no reason for him to do this, and asa direct consequence of him acting rashly in the opening pages of the book. 10 years have gone by and he's like regressed mentally, rather than matured. Also his vengeance/blind rage is no longer being rewarded in the second half of the saga, so it's just doubly annoying.

Setting aside the father, letting the rage set in, becoming the reaper.

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