I think I like what the author was trying to do with the characters and their complexity, especially with the protagonist and her drives. A lot about her background and about the people and world around her we're only getting surface level info from through their actions and responses, which is interesting. The political situation is an intriguing mess as well. 

However I think this was too ambitious and threw too many balls into the air at once. The characters all somehow manage to be completely ineffective and unlikable, the plot meanders all over the place, and I'm simply not enjoying myself at all. I know more about the food in this world than I feel I understand about the characters.