And I'd have to say it seems like an interstice. It had just enough plot to carry it from the previous confict where the protagonist became an adult and the next, where she becomes (apparently) a leader (or dies. But I doubt that), but it didn't quite stand on its own as a serial text. The main conflict came too late and was too quickly resolved (with too obvious of a shock point). Actually, if I view it as an episode of Battlestar Galactica, I'd be much happier with it. So, ok. It was good. But only with that comparison. Not as a book.