The pace picks up a bit as the main character cycles through a couple of postings and the focus is off of the trading activity for the most part. It's all a cozy low-key kind of drama in the confines of the Lois, with the underlying theme squarely on the upbringing of Ishmael through it all, and the puzzles mainly serve to highlight the relationships between characters.

By the end of the story, one might wonder how the Lois Mckendrick is ever going to be able to make up the loss of so many hands at one time. Also it seems like there's quite a bit more in the way of fraternization among the secondary characters than would have felt appropriate in earlier installments.