I have recently started reading this series and to be honest, based on the first book and midway through the second book, I believe it will be a herculean effort on my part if I am actually able to get to book 10 without being driven away by the frustratingly unbelieveable thoughts and comments of some of the characters.
One thing I love about the WOT books is that, whilst a fantasy world, the characters themselves have thoughts and experiences similar to real world people. Therefore things I can read and immediately understand and often relate to.
So far with these books, your average 'soldier' or 'priest' or 'young girl with little worldly experience' (Felisin for example) seems to have thoughts, or make statements, that even a Harvard scholar of pure genius would never think up.
During some of the first book I managed to drag myself back to the start of a sentence (reread) that was WAY TOO DEEP on first reading, to try and comprehend again what was being said (and often even a reread didn't help). By the second book though, I am pretty much glazing over such comments/thoughts and just hoping that not understanding a particular line will not affect my understanding of what is going on later in the book. I think if I am honest with myself, this is just an indication that I am trying to rush towards the end of the book...never a good sign.
I'll try and persist, but given that I am struggling midway through the 2nd book already, I doubt I will get very far with this series.
Dragonmount Fantasy Review: Steven Erikson
in Fantasy Reviews
Posted
I have recently started reading this series and to be honest, based on the first book and midway through the second book, I believe it will be a herculean effort on my part if I am actually able to get to book 10 without being driven away by the frustratingly unbelieveable thoughts and comments of some of the characters.
One thing I love about the WOT books is that, whilst a fantasy world, the characters themselves have thoughts and experiences similar to real world people. Therefore things I can read and immediately understand and often relate to.
So far with these books, your average 'soldier' or 'priest' or 'young girl with little worldly experience' (Felisin for example) seems to have thoughts, or make statements, that even a Harvard scholar of pure genius would never think up.
During some of the first book I managed to drag myself back to the start of a sentence (reread) that was WAY TOO DEEP on first reading, to try and comprehend again what was being said (and often even a reread didn't help). By the second book though, I am pretty much glazing over such comments/thoughts and just hoping that not understanding a particular line will not affect my understanding of what is going on later in the book. I think if I am honest with myself, this is just an indication that I am trying to rush towards the end of the book...never a good sign.
I'll try and persist, but given that I am struggling midway through the 2nd book already, I doubt I will get very far with this series.