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I seem to have had a similar experience to many who have struggled doggedly through Stephen Baxter's novels: the ideas he presents (generally hard science in the form of current theoretical physics, mathematics, bioengineering, etc.) are FASCINATING, and if you can get your mind around them at all, said mind will emerge bent and possibly a little shattered. However, the writing itself is totally unengaging (with a few sparkling moments of exception), and all of the characters fall pretty flat. It's a bit like a doctoral student was assigned a "creative final" and chose to write his thesis on apocalyptic astrophysical models as a novel. Actually, it's a LOT like that.

I will, of course, be reading the remainder of the trilogy... if only because Baxter's style and subject matter make it feel like an assignment. This one took me a couple of years to finish, though, in stops and starts, so... it may be a while.

Coda: Another reader has posted a review to the effect that this is a "fast-paced summer read". To that man I would humbly inquire, "HOW BLISTERINGLY HIGH IS YOUR IQ?!" Impressed.