It was a bit overlong for how much was actually happening IMO.

Part of my response may be having incorrect expectations, though — I thought it was an epic war novel. In reality, there are no real battles in it — it's basically just scheming and some of the scheming is frankly a bit lame ("oh no, our leader is depressed and giving up" . . .).

It's entertaining, but not on the same level as similarly long classics like War and Peace, Middemarch, etc.