Oh, what a mess ;) When I've started reading, I quickly realised this is a direct successor of the Reclamation storyline. And me plonker wondering about loose ends in that first part - no wonder at all any more :).
Indeed the catchy plot continued smoothly and nicely. The whole story is set up in the Elite universe again, of course. This means, getting the more subtle jokes requires a bit of knowledge about the game; but the book also should unfold its magic without it. To me as a non-native speaker, the sheer amount of threads was a bit overwhelming, but the heavy tension struck at once and let me fly through the book in just about two weeks (which is super-fast for me). The main protagonists, well-known already, are logically and emotionally developed further, smoothly leading the story to a culmination point which the well-disposed reader might have already had in mind before, but the outcome is nevertheless not only exciting but also claims for a sequel. Hopefully there will be one, because the writing style and the many twists and turns in the plot again reveal a clever writer with a big heart and imagination.
If there's something negative to be said at all, the editorial office could have been working a little more thorough. There are many quite obvious typos in the text, even if this does not affect reading joy. Thus, full score - right on, Commander Drew!