The Evil Science and Technology Series

Any Hard Science Fiction Like The Academic's Superpowered Technology System?

I've recently been reading *In Prison: Developing Mecha to Get Out*. I'm over 90 chapters in, and the more I read, the more I feel that it's not science fiction at all, just dog food dressed up in a wolf's skin. The book also has a lot of dumbed-down moments and no hard science or tech.