Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Padded and talky

I'm currently reading this book, almost 200 pages (!) into it, and I wonder: will the story ever get started?This is talky, repetitive writing -- some brief flashes of insight and humor in overwritten scenes as historical characters walk on-stage, but not enough. The author's research is obvious, not skillfully woven in (to use a cliché), and often relegated to parentheses.So far, I say, Get started with the story! It's like a military and political soap opera. Maybe things will pick up once, or if, the action begins.