Book 1 felt different than the other two, yeah. Some things in 1 I found more of a stretch than in the others. Book 3 went kinda Inerstellar? My takeaways from the series: Bacteria and mosses and lichens live interesting lives; NASA's "shout" to Voyager 2 risked exposing us to other life in this dark forest; and the night sky is even more wonderful to behold. I like to imagine I'm stuck with my back against the earth, looking out instead of up.