This is the hardest book in the series to get through. 

I read it as a tandem read with 8 and 8.5 simultaneously. 

The first 75-80% of these two books draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaged on. I found it very difficult to stay engaged and to make progress. It took me 12 days to read just this tandem, whereas many of the other's in the series took significantly less time per page.

The content is very heavy and there is little positive happening to encourage you while reading. 

It picked up by the end but it has been by far my least favorite of the series.