Parts of this book were off-the-charts good, which honestly made the rest even more frustrating. When it worked, it really worked. But huge sections felt like: open portal, close portal, blow up portal, soul crystal, train line, station number, NPC null, maintenance cart, stairs, tunnel, another portal.
After a while, it all became noise. I never had a clear sense of where anyone was, where they were going, why a lot of the tactical choices mattered, or what I was supposed to be picturing. The train mechanics were so overexplained and yet so impossible to visualize that I basically stopped caring. I ended up skipping the last couple chapters and jumping to the ending just to see what mattered for the next book.
I would have DNF’d this if I didn’t already love the series. Still looking forward to the next book, but this one was exhausting.