My review of Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations, #5-6), by Michael J. Sullivan:-
Spoiler:
You know, I would be fine with adding books 3 and 4 to this voluminous duet of pleasures. It's a single story, though I hated books 3 and 4. Combined together, they form a spectrum. Reading this, you hate the author and want the book to fail.
Then slowly, when book 5 kicks in, you're taken unawares and revise your opinion of the writer. You get beset by twists, red herrings, and a prose that's artificially original, but is derivative in the best meaning of the word. There's a lot of good hard work in here.
What I'm struggling to tell you is that I have gained a lot of respect for not only the author, but the genre. Wriggle as I might, it's undeniable that most of the books in my top 10 list are Fantasy. Why is that. Partly this is due to the website Goodreads, which weeds out the quirky, psychedelic and experimental dead ends from the 70's.
Riyria was so nice to read. The bits of boredom are not necessarily good, but most readers won't begrudge the writer for that. I'm not fortunate enough to find the entire series great. But what I'll leave you with is that if while reading the book you find that you're zipping through the pages, odds are you'll become a fan of the genre, the series and its creator.