Rise of Empire

There is a story going on here that I would love, but the series seems to consistently miss it. Some parts are really fun. Genuinely. But I also have issues with the series that stop me from being a fan of it.

Again, we have two books in one, about the imperialists and nationalists having fights for the power and our characters being tangled in all of this.
This is where my issue starts; we spend too much time on boring or annoying characters. Royce and Hadrian are still fun, they truly work well together. We also have Esrahaddon, Myron (who isn't even in this book at all), but we get ridiculous doses of Arista, the special snowflake princess and Modina, who used to be nice before, but is boring as shit now. Hell, we get brand new people who either die or don't even shop up despite being someone extremely important.
My bigger problem is Arista. Nothing is ever good enough for her, she is literally a princess revolutionary who is the strongest witch ever and she is still never happy about anything and we have to feel for her. I bet she will become Empress or some shit at one point, where we”ll be told she is still saaaaaad. I can't stand her. She makes bad decisions all the time, still manages to fall upwards every time and never understands her luck. It's impossible to please her.

Another thing I don't like is sailing in fantasy books. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing with the whole sea aesthetic, but I don't know shit about sailing. I don't know what the words mean, I don't know anything about the technicalities. When the only enjoyable point of view turns into a ship extravaganza.... I'm not having a good time.

I genuinely think I will like the prequel series more. No Princess Snowflake at least.
Yes, I will finish this series, even though this one was too long, but I don't believe it will be too satisfying to me. It's just fine.