I kind of agree with your thoughts on the prose, but I think the overall plot and storytelling is good enough that I overlooked it or didn’t take a fault to it. I think it gives off a certain blandness that I just summed up to the difficulty in retelling/giving a twist to an epic.

But I think the characters and the plot drive it enough that the prose wasn’t my focus when enjoying the book. Like, the prose isn’t bad, I would say it’s still above average. The fact that it isn’t over the top and is simple, is what I think made it approachable and enjoyable, especially for someone getting back into reading.