Just finished <i>Hammered</i>, and am very glad I got <i>Scardown</i> out at the same time. So, my thoughts: what's best about this book for me is the way it blends several different subgenres of sci-fi, i think. You've got a strong cyberpunk setting, a military sci-fi background, and a space exploration/hard-sf plot. There's a great sense of familiarity with all the tropes that are used, and i think they're all used quite well. The characters themselves are great- multilayered, complicated people whose motives and motivations change over the course of the book. I think the primary weakness of the novel, though, is in the transitions from one scene/storyline to another- they're abrupt, jarring, sort of early Neal Stephenson-esque. And the ending is similar- a lead-in to the next book that's well-crafted but not really satisfying in the way one hopes the end of a book should be, because it functions primarily as a lead-in to the next in the series. Won't be sure how problematic that is until I read the beginning of <i.Scardown</i>. In any case, it was a damn enjoyable read, and I'm looking forward to continuing on with the series.