I enjoy this series very much - although it's not remarkably original in its light-vs.-dark, wizards and sorceresses, pseudo-medieval setting, it's fun fantasy adventure with engaging characters and plenty of action. However, by this point in the series (the seventh large, fat book dealing with Our Hero Arithon's curse-inflicted conflict with his half-brother, Lysaer) it kind of seems like nothing's really going anywhere. The curse is still ongoing. Love remains unfulfilled. Alliances are formed - but then fall apart. The world is perpetually on the verge of destruction... but the wizards keep just barely managing to hold it together. The characters are all busy rushing here and there, with battles and conflicts and crises - and pranks, drunkenness, debauchery and fun stuff too... not to mention lots of angst... but for all the hue and cry, at the end of the book, you don't feel like there's been much actual progress.
It's still fun to spend time in the world, with these characters... but that seems to really be the entire point of the series.
It's still fun to spend time in the world, with these characters... but that seems to really be the entire point of the series.
