Unlike the rest of the books in the series, where they're a separate story from the previous one, this is part two of the previous book. This novel follows Network Effect and is the continuation of that story, and still set in the same location. The transition is fairly seamless, though I would have had a slightly better time if I had reread Network Effect right before reading this. The story pace is similar to most other Murderbot Diaries books, where it's moving at a steady pace before quickly ramping up the speed before going batshit crazy near the end. It's one of the things I love about this series. I love every bit of Murderbot and ART sniping at each other, and I liked learning a little bit more about the other humans. I don't want to spoil the plot so I won't go super in-depth. Also, I think there was a small nod to The Expanse book series, which I absolutely adored.