I guess part of the problem I have with Stackpole's writing is what he considers to be important enough to fit into a book. He gets three books to write up the lead up to the 4th Succession War, the war itself, and the conclusion of the war and tie up all the loose strings into a nice package. So in addition to planning the wedding, the wedding, the actual war, and the unveiling of the ComGuards, he decides to fit in stuff about Melissa's double, a subplot about Melissa almost being captured and only saved by his pet unit, the Kell Hounds, the Justin Allard is he/isn't he a spy subplot, Solaris VII, the whole Candace Liao going starry eyed over Justin subplot, and finally the entire Aldo Lestrade/Clovis the Dwarf nonsense. So the pages he does have to tell the story of the war get lost in all the jumping around he does.
Of all of it, the Clovis the Lonely Dwarf thing was the worst. We have this halfling who pines over chicks he can't have. If I wanted a story about some chud who can't get laid, I don't need to read about it; I'm living it. But it's all good when his buddies in the Kell Hounds tell him to just be himself and eventually he'll find some girl with low enough standards. Of course, in between his girl angst anxiety attacks, he's got his daddy issues. Seems Daddy is a rapist who doesn't care about Clovis' hood and when it gets levelled by the Dracs, Daddy must pay. Daddy, who the House Steiner book say was shooting blanks and couldn't have kids, really could after all, but only with poor farm girls he slipped a roofie to.
I get subplots and I get the whole epic story, but it was too many directions all at once and I haven't even gotten to the characterizations yet. Melissa is head over heels in love iwth Hanse. Jailbait don't get excited by 50 year old men. Anyone over 25 is old. And it isn't like Katrina can even use the whole "he has huge...tracts of land. Earn them on your back" pep talk. Melissa is heir to the entire Lyran Commonwealth. So do we get a political marriage where the bride is forced to get married and all climbs into bed because it is her duty to be pleased booty? Nope, she's all in love and whatnot. And Hanse is pretty cool with being a white hat cowboy. Does he invade the Capellan Commonwealth because he wants to extend his claim to the Star League thron? No. Does he do it out of a sense of revenge for the whole doppleganger thing? Not really. He does it because some poor Capellan got brainwashed and that proves that Mad Max needs to go away. And of course, later on he does the same thing with some kid because he needs Marik's help. And of course, there's the speech to Mad Max about how he's all evil and whatnot and needs to go. I wish Hanse just sent a short vid of him standing in front of a rapidly shrinking map of the Capellan Confederation and just says "I got 99 problems but a Liao ain't one."
The problem comes down to Hanse is just a good guy. He loves a child instead of looking at her as a way out of a political problem. And of course that's before we get into the skeezy old man trying to tap dat barely legal azz. The girl isn't doing this reluctantly and she never takes a lover that is closer to her age. It's all perfect. Stackpole just can't go shades of gray.
