Great insights into Navy carrier life with great detailed descriptions of air combat interspersed. Some of the action is so detailed it spans chapters, but is so intense that it never feels like it is dragging. I am actually going back and re-reading some of the action scenes after finishing the book, they are so good. Lots of characters that you grow to care about as you learn what motivates them. The author borrows an idea from Robert Heinlein where you don't learn something about the protagonist until halfway through the book, by which time you are already fully committed to them.