Captain Vorpatril's Alliance

It is a little daunting to take on the 15th book in a series without having read all of the previous ones. Despite anyone's assurance to the contrary, I will always be cautious, knowing that I am missing inside jokes and that moments with a large emotional impact for long-time-readers will fall flat. While I could see a few moments where background characters could have been enhanced by previous knowledge, I was pleasantly surprised that I could follow everything and that things were explained to a sufficient level. If I had picked this book up not knowing that it was the 15th in a long-running series, I would have had few clues that I was missing something.