I am not familiar with the Apt series but CoT was the first book I read from this author and was blown away.
Although the first part started slow and monologues still happen frequently but the idea and the plot pulled me forward. While I didn't felt he recapped much.
My other suggestion, Peter F. Hamilton is the totally oposite direction when it comes to jumping between places / characters. Sometimes between paragraphs and not at chapters end or page ends.
Still after one sentence you know exactly where you are in the plot. Even when his books throw different characters at you like popcorn.