Fundamentally you'll either believe in the idea of a new Solar System in the future of the correct scale, and a post-fall society with exactly the right technology to allow for "Space Pirates, Yar!" or you won't. And they pretty much say "yar" and get booty and double cross each other. It's pretty tenuous.

My greater problem is it's also pretty gruesome. On a re-read when I know who's going to survive it's not so bad but I struggled the first time. I've seen some describe this as YA, but I think it'd have given me nightmares. I thought Jurassic Park (book) was pretty visceral.