The book is extremely well written and the background in humanities of the writer clearly emerges in the description of the Teixcalaanli culture, its language, its elitist society etc… the first 30/50 pages really gripped me.

The problem was the development of the story. Slow, with VERY LONG explanations about everything… it became very heavy and unengaging. Reaching the end was indeed tough.

In conclusion, great world building and the readers with a background in history, linguistics, and humanities in general can really have a good time recognising how the Author has used the general principles of the subject to create her society.
But those who want a tight, thrilling, fast paced story should probably look elsewhere.