Finished a book in a single sitting (minus a plane landing) after a long time. By the end of it, you are so much more appreciative of how hard writing a good Historical SF novel is.

I was also appreciative of Parker's redemption ark. His character grows so much, and you feel for York's confused feelings - playing asshole or not?

For the book itself - if you've already read Book 1 (which came out just last month), go ahead and read this, if only for figuring out how hard getting to Mars is.

Some of this book is going to become my NASA headcanon now.