Does anyone else feel like Tower of the Swallow is kind of a drag at the beginning?

I’ve been loving the Witcher series lately. The Witcher 3 led me to purchasing the book series and watching the show. While reading the books, I have absolutely loved them and they have quickly become my favorite series of all time. Baptism of Fire is my favorite book of them all so far, I generally really like traveling stories and Milvia is one of my favorite characters in the Witcher series as a whole.

After I finished that I was so excited to start the next book, Tower of the Swallows. However I have not been able to get into it! I’m not a huge fan of Ciri recounting the events of the past, I don’t like how much they are divulging away from Geralt. And I found the chapter in the royal court to be dreadful. Actually made me take a break from reading for a couple weeks. Now that I just finished Chapter 5 though, things are really starting to spice up! I loved the interaction between Geralt and Cahir, the much needed friendly bout to get things set straight to them. I finally feel like I’m getting back to the point of not being able to put it down thankfully! But I still feel like so far this is the weakest book of the series.

I’m curious though, how did you guys feel about the first half of Tower of the Swallows? Wondering if anyone else felt the same drag that I felt in the beginning of the book.