Nobody else has complained about the first bit so far that I've seen, but perhaps they did have the same thoughts and just forgot all about it as the second half sucked them in, which seems like it's happening with you too. Or of course it could be a matter of taste.

This is not to say that there are not weaknesses in The Way of Kings. Due to the tripartite plot arcs, these arcs sometimes take hundreds of pages to develop toward anything approaching action. Each requires its own setting and character development and as a result of the scene switching that takes place every few chapters, the narrative flow at times can feel a bit sluggish, particularly for the first half of this 1000 page novel. This, however, is largely unavoidable due to the nature of the story and by the 3/4 mark, there is a lot more plot and character movement that makes for a comparatively faster-paced conclusion.