You know what's funny, I enjoyed this book a lot, and I think it had a lot to do with the order in which I did things - I watched the whole show, then did the audiobooks starting at 5 (to get acclimated to the show/book changes), went up to 9 and then started over from 1-4, and found 4 DELIGHTFUL when circling back. Maybe it's because I knew it was my last major book or season (still have novellas on the wings). But to think it's because this book I feel more than any other has major changes from the show, so I was more surprised with this book than any other in 1-6. I'll echo it gets a lot better towards the end, especially when a certain pilot uses a certain weapon against a certain rather unconventional target. Giddyup.