Honestly I always thought the first 2 books in the series are a bit clunky compared to the rest. My impression is that by Book 3 Jordan really settled into the world he created and starts branching different narratives out into very complex intrigues and overlapping storylines.
I remember the 2018 Society for American Archaeology conference, everyone saw this paper title in the schedule and tried to go to the talk. Probably the most asked question that weekend besides “time for a beer?” was “did you see the poop knife talk?”