This is more about the entire trilogy, rather than this one book.

I wanted to read this series because I wanted a story about how the thinking machine rose up and took over, and how the human race dealt with that and the subsequent aftermath. Instead the series begins centuries after the thinking machines have conquered everything, and little exposition is given to explain how it all occured. What this series actually is is nothing more than a fan service crawl through the origin of everything and anything that the authors could think of from the original book. The real icing on the cake though is how dull and, honestly, rubbish most of the origin stories are, and they get worse the further through the series you get. (seriously, by the end it would have been just as convincing to say "a wizard did it")

If you want a story about the rise and fall of the thinking machines: don't read this series. If you want a story about the origins of everything you can think of from the original book: also don't read this series, just use your imagination, it'll probably be better.