Hellmer wrote:kzt wrote:There are some really irritating elements in those books. The most recent book has enormous continuity errors and long meandering passages to nowhere, but even the first book was really kind of annoying.
Agreed. That, and it's just so detached from the larger story being told. It's theoretically interesting, but the characters aren't really interesting enough to drive it on their own.
I loved SoSag. CoS, was pretty good as well along with ToF. For both you had to have read the Service of the Sword first to truly enjoy the books and understand them along with Changer of worlds and uh um, forgetting one other. Otherwise, the foundation for those beginning two books is really not set in the readers mind.
The problem is that none of the side line books after the initial installments had much extended character development(Slaves books this is not true). Or worse, were developed and then NOTHING happened from their POV for the rest of the book(s). Or they are given a partial chapter to get you engaged into the book again and then abruptly vanish into the nether making some of the books VERY disjointed. Made worse by copying whole chapters into multiple books.
Instead a million other folks will likewise be "described" ad nauseum, who all quickly vanish as footnotes. Hello! NoBODY CARES. Likewise the last 1/3rd of CoG, or should I say truncation? It was pretty good up to that point and I was really jonsing for a good ending and then.... BLAH PHHTTTTTTTTTT... Pretty much the entire book of SoF was this way(still have not bought it and do not think I ever will) 1st in line at the Library-->phew
I am praying that now all 3 series have converged, we get focus, creating jewels for books once more.
Still my favorite author, but man these last few have been really hard to say they were anything but hastily collated, unfinished, with some wonderful chapters followed by multiple chapters of nothing but silhouettes. Great plot architecture, but completely lacking in focus.