Artifact Space , by Miles Cameron , is the first in the Arcana Imperii series, which I picked up solely thanks to a previous recommend on this sub . It's one of the better space opera books I've read in a bit. As a frame of reference, some of my favorite sci-fi series of the last decade or so have been The Expanse , Murderbot Diaries , and Children of Time (also Final Architecture ) books. The Expanse is a good comparison point, as Artifact Space covers many similar themes, but isn't nearly as grim, and is overall fairly positive about humanity, at least your fellow crew-mates, though not quite as rosy as something like Star Trek (not counting "Nu Trek"), as there are some evil bastards lurking about. This is neither a positive nor a negative, just an observation about the world building. (Also, I just noticed the publisher website claims the third book is, "perfect for fans of Adrian Tchaikovsky and James S.A. Corey.")

Speaking of the world, it's very well built up without over-explaning.…