After you force yourself past the first 3 to 4 chapters, this book becomes a page turner. You will find youself lost within the intricacies of the cardassian deserter, and his road to escape from the brutal gul marak.The sub plot of this book is not apparent at first, but becomes more clear as the pages turn. You will get through chapters 6 through 23 in about 1 day if you read like i do. They grip you.I do recommend this novel to any star trek deep space nine fan who is looking for more details about the cardassian empire and the relations that bajor's new provisional government has with other secondary federation worlds.