Hey, that happens. No character is going to appeal to everybody - some take a long time to warm up to, and some just never click for you.

It's struck me that this last chapter had for me the feel of something from a good, solid, old-fashioned historical YA novel, like, hm, maybe something Leon Garfield or Lloyd Alexander could have written - or writers from older times than that. Sabo reads to me like he could have come out of those books. I don't mind at all, but I could easily see how that kind of thing can be too same-old to many (not saying you have the same impression, of course!).