I hear ya. Steven King got like that for me. Could skip ahead a few pages and find out he was still describing the weather. But with the tech stuff, I just feel that much more drawn into the story. Make me believe it's possible, and it's easier to suspend my disbelief. Tried reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons and couldn't get past the beginning of chapter 2. If you want me to believe you're in a space-faring tree that is powered by black holes in the trunk, you really ought to try and explain a little. Was like the author was just trying to list all the sci-fi cliches on one page. One sentence after the other was quantum leap this, whisker-carbon tubes that. I was rolling my eyes every other sentence and just couldn't get into it.
As far as the characters went, I liked the dry presentation. You learned who they were through their actions and less through their dialogue or author descriptions. You got insights into their personality through the way they viewed the world around them. Much like Miller is described by how he relates to his "idea" of Julie in Leviathan Wakes. I thought that was really well done. I know a lot of people didn't particularly like the politics either, but I may have actually enjoyed that part the most. Kind of like a fantasy version of the American colonies in space.
Give Starfish a try. More action based than the Mars Trilogy, and the tech is different and described in less detail. Also it's free!
The psycho/socio "trash" of society being thrown together in the deep and interacting kept a constant edge of suspense as well, at least for me.