I completely respect the opinion that the beginning of htn is a slog, one of my good friends irl feels that way and even fans of that book in particular also feel that way a lot of times, but all that said, I did not find it boring or difficult to push through. as someone who truly could not give a fuck about how a book is paced as long as I'm invested in the character interactions all the way through, it gave me what I wanted. It gave me interesting side characters, it delivered on character arcs from the first book, it expanded on the themes of the previous book perfectly, and the basic plot eventually did make sense. Plus it ends with an insane burst of energy and the messiest divorce in the universe