The Desert Spear starts pretty badly as we retrace the coming of age story of the Sha Demakha.
We learn very little of value to the plot during this whole first section.
The Audible.com version of the audiobook is split into 4 pards and the first part of the audiobook corresponds to the first section and can be skipped without much loss.

Some of the characters gain a bit more depth, but many remain flat stereotypes.
This is both a weakness and a strength, the most clear example is the abusive father figure. on hone hand he's a complete stereotype, on the other hand you grow to hate him intensely and in turn came very much about the fate his poor daughter.