Maybe I’m not recalling the earlier books as well, but the author really dumbed down the characters this go around. So much frustration came from having them just walk into trap after trap making the dumbest decisions that no sane person with an IQ over 100 would make months into this scenario would make. It seems obvious that it’s just for the sake of an easy story at the reader/ listeners expense. Cheap horror movie thrills akin to “don’t go in there!”
It’s insulting to the reader and to the story itself.