Though Hell Should Bar The Way is David Drake’s latest entry in the Leary/Mundy series; it’s also an EARC, because as usual Baen is wise to assume that I’m willing to pay hardcover prices to read certain books a few months early. For those unfamiliar with the setting: space navy combat in a far-future where the heroes are much nicer than the star nation that they work for, which is likewise much nicer than the other star nations out there, and David Drake is unsentimental generally when it comes to politics and statecraft. It’s all very pre-Reform Act England mixed with the Roman Republic, and quite entertaining. Hence my buying it in EARC form.