Oh…come on. I really liked the trilogy on the whole. But that’s due to the strength of its ideas and despite the weakness of its dramatic structure. Gilding the lurching pace of the plot with the phrase “no dramatic hooks” is generous at best. Saying these paper thin characters benefit from “no hyper personalized traits” makes me almost think you’re being tongue in cheek.
You’re right that those elements didn’t guide the story. Instead, “get from idea A to B to C to…” guided the story. Fortunately, the ideas are good! But if I were to reread, I’d probably skip the first book (maybe save a chapter to refresh my memory) and half the rest.
The big reveal of book one is small potatoes to the subsequent books. If you’re expecting the trilogy to work within the paradigm of the first books ending, you might be pleasantly surprised. People’s mileage varies on how impactful the other developments are. Personally, I found the expansion of ideas to be really delightful, even if the plotting was flawed.
The writing quality never went up.