My specific complaint with the dialogue is that nearly every character talks in the same way: robotic and professorial. It's a symptom of Liu's poor character design, especially when it comes to female characters. His characters' motivations are often opaque so their actions are inexplicable.

I could forgive this (even Arthur C. Clarke wasn't much interested in characters) if it wasn't for some of the laughably absurd plot points the novel hinges on.