Well, that was a read

So I finished "Toll the Hounds" by Steven Erikson. Good lord that took a long time to work through. Towards the end I found myself skimming the bits that I found I just didn't care about to follow the parts I did care about.

Even though there was a climactic-ish ending, I find myself disappointed at it. The ending felt rushed. There were far too many characters. The threads didn't tie together very well. The overall plot was confusing. The pacing was too slow. The overall book felt bloated and far too... well too much.

Erikson's great for epic fantasy, but it felt like he wasn't taking time to step back and read his own stuff. All his characters feel like they're cut from a handful of molds and just given different, random names.

*sigh*

First Robert Jordan's stuff got waaaay too convoluted and focused on minutae that nobody really cared about.

Then George R.R. Martin seemed to lose it with his last novel, a plodding beast that he even admitted didn't do anything to address the fan-favorites of his readership.

Now Erikson's showing signs that his mythology is getting away from him.

It saddens me.