Though Hell Should Bar the Way:

Unusually, this story is told from the viewpoint of a character (Roy Olfetrie) making his first appearance in the series: so he knows none of the regular characters, and we get a fresh view of them through his eyes. This adds a touch of novelty compared with the previous 11 volumes, which induces me to reread this one relatively often.There are a couple of subplots in this story that I'm not keen on: the short one involving Maeve Grimaud and the longer one (chapters 18 to 24) involving Roy's involuntary stay on a slaver planet. The latter section of the book seems too much like older stories by other authors, such as [b:Deathworld 2 2173076 Deathworld 2 (Deathworld, #2) Harry Harrison https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327946044l/2173076.SY75.jpg 2222126]; I find it rather tedious and tend to skip it on rereading.However, the main plot of the book (taking up most of its length) is more satisfactory, and involves Roy interacting with the regular characters of the series, who are behaving in their usual ways.It's a pity that Roy Olfetrie is so similar in character to Daniel Leary. He's somewhat younger, less fortunate, and drinks less, but in general he seems like a Daniel clone brought up by different parents.