It’s been an extremely long time since I last read a genre anthology, and When Swords Fall Silent handily reminded me of why that was; the quality varies wildly from story to story. Hell, most of the stories in here don’t even have an assassin as a protagonist while some barely even relate to the profession… and one’s connection to the theme only happens to be a single mention of the word. That some of them seem to be related to ongoing series (and thus leave a great many things unexplained) doesn’t help matters any and only results in an uncomfortable mess.
The fifth of J.J. Ackerknecht‘s All I Got is This Stat Menu series is pretty solid. If gives a nicely wider view of the Empire and Wardens, sheds some more light on the triggering events that led to the galaxy’s current state, and sets the stage to take a closer look at the Union as the presumably final battle against the Ninth Dominion’s forces looms.