yes, the tropes! i didn't read SBP until after i'd already read a bunch of (at the time) recent fic and a great deal of older fest fic and whatnot. so when i read SBP it was like this aha moment. "so THAT'S where that trope comes from!! ugh" XD
it did have its moments though, i'll give it that, but on the whole i was very unimpressed and undoubtedly also biased against it because i already didn't like the tropes in it.