There are a few books that are hard to get through because of the writing style or an abundance of descriptions. However, with these books, it's also worth getting to the end because of the intricacy of the plot, such as Conspiracy of Paper. This, too, is one of those books.
Basically, a retired police detective in the days of Poe is asked to solve a gruesome murder at a recently created West Point. He enlists Poe, who was actually a cadet at West Point in real life, to do some spying on the other cadets to figure out whodunnit. It was a fairly long book, but it was worth it- a fairly good twist at the end. And, with Poe as a major character, I clearly had to do some research on his life.
So, if you are willing to put forth some concentration on reading, this is for you. However, a beach read it is not.