I'ma add to my prior point about the comparisons between Stone and Alaric and Malvina and Alaric.
Fundamentally, they all have the same flaw, in that they consider themselves destined to be the conquering hero.
The thing that sets Alaric apart though is that he's the only one of them that realized he had to earn it, and surprisingly the only one that realizes that conquerors don't conquer alone. Stone treats the people under his command as pawns, Malvina treats the people under her command as untrustworthy pawns, but Alaric treats the people under his command as allies all fighting for the greater goal.
This essentially establishes the clear pecking order of our point of view characters, and it also notes who's going to win. Stone's a doddering old fool who can't grasp that his greatness has faded. Malvina's a petulant brat who considers people who don't acknowledge her greatness as traitors. Alaric's greatness is founded on the power of friendship. The outcome is obvious.
Some might say it's too obvious, but I don't think we can blame the writer for that. The outcome was obvious long before this, and in that respect he was going with the flow. Alaric as the conqueror was telegraphed as far back as Bonfire of Worlds, where we are reminded every ten seconds that nobody can challenge him, and even the one person who once did beat him couldn't beat him anymore. At this stage, after so much going right for him, in a book literally titled Hour of the Wolf, we shouldn't be surprised that he gets the big prize at the end.
My personal complaint about how his inevitable rise is being portrayed, and I can blame this writer in this case because he continues the trend, is that he's not suffering any misteps. So far his every move is the right one, every obstacle in his path stands up to him just long enough to be totally owned by some clever maneuver. The biggest mistake the wolves have made so far is driving their entire fleet into range of Terra's orbital platforms, and the writer doesn't even understand the system well enough to acknowledge that that was a mistake.
Ultimately, Alaric and the wolves commit the unforgivable sin of being boring. Because in the real world, great people make mistakes, they occasionally have bad ideas. They even have good ideas that just don't work. Even Hanse Davion's greatest successes were incredibly risky and bit him in the ass at times.
What should be this epic clash between three people all convinced of their own personal destiny as conquerors is boring because the writing has made it clear that only one of them actually has destiny on their side, and the others are just there to give him a cool backdrop of explosions as he marches to the prize.
Which bothers me, because I feel like there's a cool relationship between Alaric and Stone that probably will never be explored. Namely that Alaric is what Stone was, and Stone is what Alaric could easily become.
Anyway, I'm going to try to spend virtual time with friends today, so I can't promise I'll continue the review tonight. Most likely I'll see you all tomorrow.