MC is an arrogant moron who thinks he’s abnormally intelligent and capable. The rest of the species (read: the author’s/book’s universe) agrees. ..On the intelligent and capable part, not the arrogant moron part. It never comes up and so I honestly am not sure if it was intentional or not.
The tech, tactics, and general logic flow leave tons to be desired.
The Enemy is a race of further-evolved humans of vague origin and vague/unknown motivations, “creatively” dubbed.. seriously.. The New Men. Other than that they have superior tech, superior strength, superior speed, and “superior” (defined as surpassing even moron MC) intelligence, nothing is really explored about them.. yet, I suppose.
MC is always quick to comment on how arrogant and evil whenever they pop up, though, and to anyone who will listen in general. He often rants and raves on how they clearly intend to enslave (regular?) humanity, calls them out for looking down their nose at people different than them, and lobs wild hypotheticals as to what they do with the women of few colonies they’ve seized. Then, you know, “enslaves” (the books word) a sapient AI that was merged with- and effectively- the mind of the last known member of an alien race. Then turns it off. While doing this, he proceeds to aggressively pursue a woman who he needs to remind, often, that he saved her from a prison world.
Seriously, the book is kinda like following Chairman Mao in a lead up to war with the Third Reich (if everyone involved was significantly dumber). Mao describes how sure, he is making some questionable choices for the “greater good” in order to eventually defeat an impossibly evil empire, but clearly both sides are suuuuuper f-ed up.
Honestly couldn’t decide if the narrator was making the book seem dumber/creepier than it actually was intended, or if he just wasn’t helping an insurmountable issue. Regardless, it was meh at best.