The nudity, sexuality, and fanservice has gotten markedly less gratuitous in this volume and, while I have found the story compelling enough in every volume to enjoy them all so far, I felt especially drawn to continue reading until I finished this volume. I'm not sure how I feel about the way the Aht subplot has progressed, overall, but I'm glad some of the angst of it seems to have been mitigated, at least.

As with previous volumes, I enjoyed the read (see above comment to that effect). I'm also enjoying the evolution of various characters' outlooks on the whole situation. I like seeing characters mature and progress, rather than getting stuck in a perpetual state of mental and emotional adolescence as is so often the case of episodic, ongoing fiction intended to go on without expected end or to spawn sequels. This volume of Ubel Blatt showed significant development for a number of characters, some of it quite satisfying. That's probably the main factor in my particular enjoyment.
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