[Lestrade]

There are definitely a TON of characters when they're all dumped on you at once. When reading a novel generally only a few characters are introduced at a time. If too many are introduced at once it's really overwhelming and hard to follow.

Also I tend to read novels with fairly small casts, I guess. When I think about the last few novels I read, which was basically the complete works of E.M. Forster, they were basically all slice-of-life stories with only a handful of main characters and a small supporting cast. But it's honestly moot; the number of characters in a novel alone doesn't mean anything, it's how they're used. Personally, when I try to read just this event, I'm left confused because there are a ton of people and I can't keep them straight at all. They also all have pretty weird names that I don't find very easy to remember.

I mean, obviously that's just my opinion and you guys are certainly under no obligation to just please me. I'm just trying to explain why I feel the way I do.