I almost dnf'd this book multiple times during the first half and even beyond, but I came here and read reviews that said it was worth it to keep going. The reviewers weren't wrong. If the entire book was more like the last third of the book it would have probably received four and a half stars from me. The first half is very slow and about politics on an alien planet complete with weird names that are hard to remember. There are some nice short chapters about myths and histories of the planet. Those short chapters kept me going in the first half of the book. After a few chapters that are kind of transitional with politics mixed with some adventure, the final third of the book is an adventure and a story of friendship. I don't regret reading it. It was well written enough that I am tempted to start over and understand better. I suspect the book as a whole is really quite wonderful if I had the deeper understanding that I would get on a re-read.