I'm giving this book a 3.5 because I almost gave up on it several times. It was so extremely slow in the beginning. I had my library's due date looming which is the only reason I kept at it (well that and a bunch of people said the books were good). It is a good book but it took half the book to get there. Ky is kicked out of the military academy for going around school officials to help an underclassman she was assigned to help through the academy process. He accused the school, military, etc. of ethnic and religious prejudice through his spiritual adviser who then let the media know. She's sent home in disgrace. To help her through this and get away from all the hub-bub, she's sent on her first captaining voyage to bring a ship's cargo to several ports and then eventually scrap the ship. All kinds of excitement happens.
Because the book ended so much better than I had anticipated, I am going to read the series. I hope the author just used the first book for world building and now it will be an easier read for me.
