Off to an exciting start after the cliffhanger of the last book!!

I absolutely loved the first book in this series (Ascension), and was very frustrated to have been left hanging! This next instalment seems to be off to a great start. The excitement is there, the disbelief at the reality that they're faced with - I can't actually wait to read this!
There are some good reminders of what happened in the last book, but it's written in such a way as it doesn't go on and on (nice and succinct).