What am I missing with Ted Chiang?

I've recently read Exhalation as it was recommended to me by a friend. I was thoroughly underwhelmed. The first story was cute. A little nod to 1001 nights. The rest got progressively worse. First of all his prose is weak. I don't expect great prose in science fiction. It's rare when one comes across it, but I was hoping for a little more than functional. Usually this can be salvaged if the plots are tight or the characters are well written. But neither was true.His characters were absolutely vapid. Not fleshed out. More tropes than anything else. As for his plots, what about them?. Very lame and derivative stuff.

What is the attraction about this guy? Neither his prose nor his ideas was very good. Again, I don't expect masterful sentences in sci fi. But with the way the reviewers were describing this writer I was hoping for at least a glimmer of genius. Nothing.