I'm only going to say this once for all 5 books: they are a stellar sci-fi series that any genre addict should read. They are not as great as the first trio of Covenant books, but they are a lot better than some of the recent sci-fi books churned out. That said, they are also more than a little disturbing, and, by the end, more than a little hard to believe. Even sci-fi character can't bend so far until they break, and the main villain of this "franchise" does such a personality 180 that as a reader you're left with 2 choices: put the books down or shrug and move on as best you're able.

If you choose the latter, you are correct, because these are a nice series of stories and although intended, most likely, to be a bit darker than they turned out to be (Real Story, or #1, is like a plague of death whereas the other for are bad colds), they're still a romping good read with memorable characters.

I've read through this set twice in my lifetime, and never say never because maybe in another 20 years I'll itch to pick them up again - and that's saying something.