Peter Watts, especially Blindsight, although Starfish is also good. He's the rare writer who combines hard and soft SF in one; keep plowing through the first thirds to halves of his novels, which are confusing but worth the payoff.

I also read Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312 not long ago and didn't dislike it, exactly, and yet felt bored even in the midst of exciting reversals and shocking events in the context of the world.