Good follow up to The Final Empire, although I feel like this book is leading the story down a path similar to his Reckoners series, where the main villain is defeated in the first book and the next two books set up a much bigger adversary. 

While I do agree that the book can get tedious in the first part, especially with the politics, I did enjoy the story. The italicized bits above each chapter really help to keep my interest; primarily because I really want to know who is speaking in those sections.