Normally I do not have patience for people who say, "Oh, [mainstream author] wrote a fantasy book but the magic system is a mess." Normally, who cares? But wow, this mainstream author wrote a fantasy book and the magic system is a mess, and for a book that has a goddess, people turning into animals, and a 17th-century pirate girl who may or may not be real, a whole lot of nothing happens in this thing.
It's not the worst book I've ever read but I'm baffled by the overwhelmingly positive reviews.