Forward’s Saturn Rukh was interesting in its assessments of the feasibility of going to Saturn to test helium 3 collection.
The crew goes to Saturn and discovers an intelligent but primitive life form in the clouds which kills the economic viability. From a pure economic standpoint it was viable but the legal fights of stealing atmosphere from an intelligent species would drive the costs out of reach.
The use of nanofiber carbon tethers figured prominently in the book as a means of climbing in and out of the gravity well was interesting.
Forward co founded tethers unlimited which exists as a company today with increasing use in space and on earth.
The swing to fantasy from hard SF reflects publisher preferences. Have you noticed how much fantasy has a woman as a lead character, often with non-traditional PC lifestyle choices?
There is good SF out there but you have to find it in self-published books now, or, if the author is lucky, under the Baen imprint.