I read this a few months ago and also found it difficult to finish (with some skimming ahead as well). I started the next book but quit about a quarter (?) of the way through. I agree that it definitely felt very cliche and formula in most places, which was very disappointing to me.

I recently started Dan Simmons' Hyperion novels, and have the same sense of "there's a good story somewhere in here, but the structure and pacing are making it really hard for me to care." Some of it (particularly the "detective's story" chunk) actually made my teeth ache, it was so very very boilerplate. I can't figure out how these won so many awards....