I decided to read this when attempting to get an introduction to the idea of hard science fiction, and I'll be the first to say that it was incredibly dense. The author managed to completely design a world, discuss the physical facts about the world, and how the protagonist uses it to his advantage in what both qualifies as a short amount of writing but also a considerable depth of knowledge regarding the situation. The concepts weren't difficult but he never retreated from using full-fledged scientific details to approach the subjects. The story itself was pretty awesome as well, the characters were mostly one dimensional but the point wasn't about their hopes and dreams but more about the singular individual's ability to utilize a unknown world in order to gain the upper hand on mutineers.