A few days ago I finished Hellburner by C.J. Cherryh.

Hellburner is a sequel to Heavy Time, which I wrote about here.  Heavy Time was not an easy read, since a good part of the book involves a man who has been so badly traumatized that he can't function normally.  Hellburner is actually a harder read - it spends even more time in the same traumatized man's head, after another accident has caused him to flip out again.

On top of that, it is often difficult to follow the action in the book.  Too much exposition can be a problem for a novel, but too little exposition is also a problem.  Following the action in this book felt nearly impossible.

I don't know if I would have picked it up if I knew it was a direct sequel to Heavy Time, and I don't think I will pick up any other books that are directly connected.

I just finished Bios by Robert Charles Wilson.

Bios is an oddly short book, shorter than most novels released these days.  It tells the story of a world where all lifeforms have evolved to be hyper-aggressive, leading to death for any human exposed to even the smallest amount of material.

It's never drawn out why human's need to explore this world, but the follows a girl who was genetically altered to be able to resist the bacteria, etc. as a pilot program for others.

The short length, and lack of an important driver behind human needs to survive on this world, undermine the plot and make it less involving.