Yeah, Hamilton really gets into world building. Often to the detriment of actual storytelling -- which on its day, is actually quite good.
I'd still recommend these books though.
Edit to add: Hamilton also wrote The Void Trilogy, set in the same universe as The Commonwealth Saga. They're interesting, but less so than the Commonwealth books.
Recently read it on my phone, which tells me it took 27.4 hours, or about the same as Scott Lynch's first two Gentlemen Bastards novels (also a good read, for different reasons), or a bit longer than the first 4 Dresden Files.