I thank the Coterie for its well placed advice... I have now started reading Royal Assassin.
In regards to the discussion about the trilogy being overly descriptive, I think it's a somewhat valid point. The series is definitely not as fast paced as some other fantasy books. The positive aspect of that is that the characters are quite well developed.
And I do think it would be a shame to dismiss the trilogy on behalf of the few first pages. It's a kind of a prologue and therefore not much is going on. I kind of find the trilogy mixing between longer passages of character development and shorter bursts of furious action. I think that works quite well. But if you're an action junkie then the trilogy is probably not for you. Go read some David Eddings instead.
Edit: Could it be a dislike of the first person narrative, which often seems to take some of the pace out of literature, that make people find it too slow? I guess most fantasy books are written from a all knowing third person perspective.