Anderson is a master of the dissapointing climax
Customer Rating: 
Time and again Anderson spends hours of storytelling putting his heros in ridiculously impossible situations to built a dramatic rescue, escape, or victory. Unfortunately the drama often isn't there. Instead you feel like you are being subjected to endless incompentence and bad luck on the part of the heros, and ridiculous displays of power by the bad guys, and getting nothing in return. The misery drags on for chapter after chapter, while the victories are always wrapped up in a few pages. Very frustrating.
The plot is also full of inumerable holes and missing justifications. Why in the world does Admiral Willis drop General Lanyon off at Earth? Why are the flame-creatures so ridiculously powerful? Why does the mage imperator set off with only a single warliner? Why are the people of Earth so incredibly gullible and stupid? With the information given it is very implausible that the Chairman could have stayed in office this long. Far too much of the book's villany is wrapped up in this one man. Any number of people could have easily assasinated him 3 books ago and ended the entire drama (he apparently has NO bodyguard). Meanwhile the mage imperator has hundreds of bodyguards but they turn out to be completely useless time and again.
Just a lot of missing elements. Every planet feels like it's no larger than a mid-size city. Planetary populations are repeatedly described in the low millions, where are all the people? Everything revolves around individual characters, there are almost no institutions or organizations that play any role.
Most good space opera has brilliant + lucky heros and devious + calculating villians. This series is more along the lines of bumbling + unlucky heros and irrational+lucky villians. Very odd.
Overall the series is interesting and builds a lot of anticipation, but just dissapoints again and again. It definetly rides on the strength of the characters rather than the plot.
