IMO It is because there hasn’t been an epic hard sci-fi series of this scale in a while. After the first book, the quality of the plot and characters drop precipitously. The first half of the second book is a big slog. The pacing picks up in the third, but the characters are absurd and there are major plot contrivances. What kept me going was unwrapping the mystery box and the far out sci-fi concepts. But if you’re judging the books in terms of literature, the second two books aren’t very good.
IMO It is because there hasn’t been an epic hard sci-fi series of this scale in a while. After the first book, the quality of the plot and characters drop precipitously. The first half of the second book is a big slog. The pacing picks up in the third, but the characters are absurd and there are major plot contrivances. What kept me going was unwrapping the mystery box and the far out sci-fi concepts. But if you’re judging the books in terms of literature, the second two books aren’t very good.