Is Kingdom of Claw better than The Road of Bones?

Spoiler warning for {The Road of Bones by Demi Winters}

I just finished book 1 of The Ashen Series and overall I thought it was alright but didn't love it didn't grab me as much as I was hoping it would.

Overall I found the plot really predictable - FMC secret royal heritage and overpowered magic who needs to reclaim her throne to free her people has been done to death and beyond and after reading ToG (which I didn't love either but at least it was a very bingeable series) I feel like I've read them all.

I do like Silla far more than Celaena though and as much as I hate the miscommunication trope, I really like that Silla was forced to face truly devastating consequences for her actions. I also really like Rey's very very slow and reluctant but growing soft spot for Silla. 🥹 Her struggle with substance abuse was also really interesting and her sister sounds like fun lol.

However, the Road of Bones felt like a lot of set up and filler and I found my eyes often glazing over and skipping paragraphs and realizing pages later I didn't miss a thing. I even found myself skimming Skraeda's chapters. I was also hoping for more magic and spooky creatures in spooky forest.

I'm wondering if things pick up a lot in Kingdom of Claw?

Ty!