The difficult sequel

It is always difficult to make a sequel to a great book, so it was with trepidation that I started reading this tome. It was a hard slog at times, this book seems mostly concerned with setting up the epic conflict that will be resolved in future books, so we are introduced to a dizzying array of new characters and locations, but nothing of note happens. The plot hasn't advanced much since the last book. I get the idea of setting up an epic universe, but for a book of this size, it would be nice to get more than just setup for the next book. Also dearly missing from this book was the intense political/personal drama from Amorr that we saw in the last book. All the new characters that were introduced in this book were not developed enough to care about them, and all the characters that carried over from the last have been spread out all over the world, only interacting with their followers and a bunch of undeveloped, two-dimensional characters. Here's to hoping the next book will be more futtering, less foreplay. ( )