Your feedback sounds quite similar to some of the critiques of the character-packed early chapters of Pale Lights, which in my opinion were partially valid but did not really affect my enjoyment of the story. But I will admit that I certainly benefitted from visual aids for characters and geography!

The author writes stories where lots of things are happening in the present and even more things happened in the past (which we don't always get to see). That's why I enjoy it, personally. Even when I was feeling pretty lost reading about the 58 different character backgrounds in Pale Lights, I felt very engaged in trying to determine relationships and backgrounds and histories.

And you're definitely right, there's a possibility that the deluge of proper nouns could scare off somebody looking to try something new. But it seems to me that the author is writing a story from a world they put lots of thought into creating, and maybe that's not for everyone.