I think the series is truly separate and worse than the original. Clarke even said he'd never intended the line about "Ramans do everything in threes" at the en

I think the series is truly separate and worse than the original. Clarke even said he'd never intended the line about "Ramans do everything in threes" at the end of the book to actually lead to sequels, only to beg the question of what happens to our solar system next. The sequel books do a far worse job of answering that question than the readers' own imaginations, I think. I'd never made the connection to the co-author but it makes sense. I ripped through the first book so quickly, and then picked up the second and couldn't even finish it. I could feel it devaluing my enjoyment of the first it felt like such a different, inferior story.