** spoiler alert ** 
 This book made me sad. 
 Not because it was a sad book. Okay, well, rather, it is, but not in the cry-me-a-river sort of way. 
 It made me sad because I am a HUGE David Weber fan. I love his Honor Harrington series. Love it. Lurve it, even. 
 I am also a huge fan of end-of-the-world apocalyptic scenarios, even if that means an invasion by a crazy alien species. 
 This book was all set up to be one of my all-time favorites. Really. Seriously. 
 But the gaping plot holes..and the craziness...and the...vampires? Really? Vampires? We already have a crazy militaristic alien species nuking the planet and the survivors are in a losing battle to survive, and we get..vampires? 
 That, tacked onto everything else, just made the jump from improbable to completely implausible. Suspension of disbelief completely suspended. And thus I was sad. 
 Woe.