Absolutely ludicrous. And the same poor quality as the last three books. Everything here is eye-roll-worthy, and it doesn't help that David has thrown everything he can at the wall here, hoping that something will stick. There's bad guys falling into lava, there's a planet hatching into the Great Bird of the Galaxy (and why, oh why anyone involved in this disaster of a series can't take a red pen to in-jokes being shoehorned into plot like this I don't know, they all must have been drunk). There's that loathsome relationship between Shelby and Calhoun, which becomes even more irritating if possible, and of course there's that stupid pon farr storyline which, against all good taste, refuses to die. But the most ludicrous thing here - and that is saying something - is the sword fight in an earthquake. Calhoun gets a sword through the arm, and snaps off the hilt and pulls the blade through his bone as if this is Robin Hood and an arrow instead of presumably decent quality steel. It is just profoundly stupid, on every level.