I'll make this brief:
Nylund's writing style --
"The Spartans stood there a moment—undoubtedly communicating with one another through a mixture of externally silent COM channels and minute body language. She noticed the tick of a finger, the slight nod of a head. They then moved together, picked up their equipment, and walked through the threshold of the vault."
He makes keen observations, noting minute details of the scene. But for the most part, he rarely delves into the emotion and thought behind the detail. Why not a nervous tick of a finger or a leading nod of a head. Tell me why these details are important. Plus, his writing is sparse and dry.
Bear's style --
"Twenty kilometers away, the central peak of Djamonkin Crater rose through blue-gray haze, its tip outlined in ruddy gold by the last of the setting sun. A single brilliant moon rose bright and cold behind our boat. The crater’s inland lake rippled around the hull in ways no tide or wind had ever moved water. Under the swells and whorls, sparkling with reflected sunset and moon, pale merse twisted and bobbed like the lilies in my mother’s pond. These lilies, however, weren’t passive flowers, but sleeping krakens growing in the shallows on thick stalks. Ten meters wide, their thickened, muscular edges were rimmed with black teeth the length of my forearm."
His writing is dripping with meaningful detail. Not only does he observe, he says why it matters. The lake doesn't just ripple; it ripples in an unfamiliar fashion. His command of verbs -- twisted, bobbed, rimmed -- is top-notch. Reading his work is an absolute treat.