This is book 2 of the "Manticore Ascendant" series.

This note contains spoilers for the book.

 

Weber and Timothy Zahn, "with" Thomas Pope (who was talked about in the intro last time as deserving credit).

 

I liked this much better than the first one. They got to cash in some of the chips they put on the table. In fact, we got all the way up to the Battle of Manticore in this one (though nobody on Manticore yet knows about the wormhold junction that is going to define the Star Kingdom and make it rich, and is the reason people were trying to conquer them).