I was on the edge of my seat in a very novel way for the first half or so of the first book, then it turned fantasy (to me) quick. I know people are claiming this is hard sci-fi, it's not. But there are some very interesting ideas and they are strung together in a very big way. It was kind of too big for me, so I never read the next two. I'd recommend the first book just so you know what it's all about.
I think by hard sci fi people mean that faster than light travel doesn't exist (aka the warp, tacheon drives, space folding, etc. etc.). I agree on it mostly being fantasy (and reading it just this year you can see it was written when string theory was hot)
