This story starts out immersing the reader in a Klingon battle game, the rules of which are never clear. This opening only really serves to introduce the main characters of the book and is otherwise confusing and completely unnecessary. I almost put the book down because this section was so uninteresting.But it does pick up somewhat from there, when we follow Vrenn's life and his rise from humble beginnings to command a ship of his own. There are some interesting dynamics between the characters but as usual when dealing with Klingons, you're never quite sure who can be trusted or who will ultimately betray whom.Nearly every bit of Klingon lore and culture introduced in this book has been contradicted by the "official" canon of later TV shows and movies, so it's not even really good as a peek in the Klingon way of life.Bottom line - unless you are passionately interested in all things Klingon, I would pass this book by.