This is a really good finale to an already good sci-fi trilogy and I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it.
At first I took a while to remember who the side-characters are (both because it's been a while since I read the second book and because there's just so many characters!), but due to their often unique personalities I managed quite well a few chapters in. Just like the first and the second book this book quickly whisked me away on a tense and high-stakes mission through space and I could barely put it down.
This book is drenched in grief, as the crew and especially Rachael and Elza mourn Tina after her body was taken over by Captain Thaoh. Not only that, but the characters have been running for two books now, unable to deal with the terror of what the Makvarian death touch causes the survivors the feel about the desceased, unable to truly mourn the dead. How do you mourn somebody if their literally body is still walking beside you? How do you mourn somebody when disgust overcomes you any time you think of them? How do you overcome grief when you find yourself unable to connect to others because of it and the only thing that works is isolating yourself? These themes were beautifully and heartwrenchingly explored.
And as if all that wasn't enough to deal with there's still the issue of the genocidal intergalactic leader Marrant, who wants to kill them and cleanse the galaxy of the wrong kind of sentient life (i.e. anybody not bipedal), the fact that all the suns in the galaxy are slated to go out unless they can fix it and a new princess is trying to cut off Elza's connection to the Ardenii.
One of my absolute favorite things about this book is the incredible diversity. And I don't just mean the fact that we have trans and queer characters of a variety of races, but we also have interesting aliens with fascinating pronoun usage (fire, water, earth, but you gain the pronoun that fits with your profession), aliens with speech that does not simply work with the universal translator, aliens with all kinds of cultures and body types. I really liked seeing this varied and wonderful cast of characters.
The stakes are high and the resolutions satisfying and I can definitely say that this was a wonderful conclusion to a very good sci fi trilogy. If you like fun sci fi I would absolutely recommend this series.