> Overall the book touched on a lot of great ideas, but the writing felt like it was the first time the author had written a book. A lot of a storylines were touched upon but never completed.

Personally, I think it's usually better to leave more to the imagination than trying to finish up every plotline. Too many stories meander around endlessly or lose their sense of immersion when the author forces themselves to write a story that's "too complete". I'm a big fan of these type of "time-skip" stories though - 40,000 in Gehenna is one of my favorites, along with Canticle.