I finally got around to reading these. I need to be more prompt, so I can participate in conversations, rather than popping up months after the fact.

I agree that Maati and Otah are not that fascinating, although I think they annoyed me a bit less than they did you.

Something about the books reminds of Guy Gavriel Kay. I'm not sure what exactly - Abraham's style isn't that similar to Kay's, and most of the things he's concerned with here are not the sort of things Kay's books tend to be concerned with - but something. Maybe it's the way the characters interact with each other. Maybe it's just that Idaan Machi reminds me of Styliane Daleinos. (I was pleased to see Idaan appear again in the fourth book - whatever else you may say about her, she brings a lot of energy to the proceedings.)