The first 15 minutes was very difficult to listen to. The narrator does does catch his groove and gets significantly better and great by the middle of the book.
The story itself has a different sort of mechanic that is refreshing to listen to. This mechanic is that everyone is essentially a puppet on this New World and that changes dramatically over time.
The stats are listed at the end of the chapter so if you are like me and like to skip over the stats, you can just skip to the end of the chapter.
This is a book that I would be willing to continue listening to the entire series if it continues improving like it is.