This book was such a journey. This series was such a journey. It's the first high fantasy series I've read for a few months, and though I was lukewarm about it at first, eventually it reminded me how much I love this genre. My initial opinion about the writing was that it was plain, but I fell in love with it, noticing that the author wove his words with such care that everything said exactly what it meant to and nothing unnecessary, and it was beautiful.

I didn't fall in love with the characters. They all seemed kind of remote, falling into their places in the story with all this knowledge and ease. It felt magical, the quickness with which they assimilated, but also it made them more distant. It worked well; the story carried the books, rather than the characters, but it took a little bit of the joy out of it for me.

The story did wrap up very well, and overall I had a good time reading it.