Yeah, Awakening suffers from repetitiveness (most games bar the console versions suffer it too, albeit much less).
Sacred Stones gave you a tower to try and climb at the risk of perhaps losing a character in the process (You can reset, but why waste all that time?) whilst Blazing Sword gives you the occasional side quest to try and beat.
With Awakening, it's just too repetitive, even if you don't play the skirmishes or DLC.