Need to disclose my bias in this matter. I greatly dislike protagonist kidnapping arcs, I believe they are a waste of time, as they really only have one outcome and its normally unsatisfying. As well they are used as a tool to force the protagonist into something they wouldn’t normally do otherwise.
The best points in this novel is the narration, its just as good as always, and the way the protagonist acts in the face of adversity.
Since the ending of this arc is essentially written in stone, getting through all of the build up and forced competition is nothing but a drag and I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
The kingdom building part of the story in the past couple books was amazing I was hoping it would follow that route but the protagonist just runs off on there own again immediately, although they had to in order for the rest of the arc to be more believable.
The hardest part to deal with in the book was the ending, it left me unsatisfied, but also interested in the future of the story.
Overall this book was necessary in order to give the information the reader is going to need going forward, as the story heats up the constant battles become more and more tedious since they feel superfluous. Looking at it in a brighter light, the story is interesting enough that you just want more.
You should definitely give this book a go, since this is still basically the beginning of a massive story and in the end this lackluster part will be nothing but a blip.