You know... when I first read FC#2 I was like... hmm that wasn't very good. But then I started thinking about what happened and what it could build towards and I softened my stance a bit. I definitely understand where it can be confusing for some people. Heck I read all of Countdown, Salvation Run and Death of the New Gods and there are still pieces that I don't get. But at the same time, I read the original CoIE for the first time a few years ago and it was SUPER confusing for the first third of the book. I had no idea who anyone was, where they were, what they were doing... etc. And it picked up after that and started to click... so maybe this one will too.