I am now crossposting between megas. Be afraid 
Unjust Depths posting except there's no spoilers, I'm just rambling about how good it is!
I'm not too worried about Unjust Depths' cast getting bigger and bigger anymore. I used to be, and it probably has over 40 named characters by now; while I was worried that it would lose the plot at various points, it doesn't really. There are long stretches here or there where you aren't with the "main cast" on the Brigand, but the fluid perspective that can follow anybody gives you a really wide variety of viewpoints on current events. Plus, UD is pretty much all killer no filler, like any pagetime that a Brigand crewmember gets is dense with stuff about them. We only spent maybe two or three chapters following Shalikova and I already wanna go back and know more! I'd also be excited to get into Zachikova's semi digitised brain. Or hang out with Valya, or go watch Sameer bug her crewmates with enthusiasm...
I guess my point is, there are pacing issues here or there, but the quality of story presented never drops below "goated" and I rescind my comments about the Vogelheim arc being boring. I just want more of everyone who's been introduced, other than Sawyer obviously :)
Anyway the current happenings circa 5.6 is that Murati is taking Zachilova and Shalikova into Serrano to extract THEIR VIP, and I'm so ready for the Brigand and the Vogelheim plotlines to finally cross paths...