Very cool idea, I worked for a site that worked with merchants and their menus were the worst part about it. There is no standard menu structure, a lot of merchants have a variety of mandatory and optional selections based on an item. You want a burger? Ok, you must pick a temperature and you can select from 3-5 toppings, some of those toppings are extra cost, etc. This is a cool idea, just wanted to give you a heads up
Get through book 3 before you give up. The dip in 6-9 isnt great but its not awful. The series builds slowly, if you really arent into it by book 3, when most of the story lines have really accelerated, then you can decide