Oh my God! I cannot conceive how anybody could enjoy these books! Although, I must say, these books incited in me some of the strongest feelings I've had reading fantasy fiction. Frustration was an overriding sensation as these books, instead of improving over the trilogy, actually managed to become less intelligible and increasingly soulless. In addition there was anger, that the author couldn't even remember the names of his main characters from one chapter to the next (don't doubt me, he actually does get his character names confused in the second book), and confusion resulting from fundamental mistakes in the text. Finally there was a deep feeling of regret upon completing the trilogy of having wasted my time and my energy, which would have been better employed injecting myself with deadly microbes and slowly watching myself decay in front of a full length mirror.
If you are in any doubt still as to whether you should buy this book, here are a few other observations.
The main character is entirely detestable, never at any point giving you any reason to support him and his pointless existence. At one point he massacres most of the people on his home island for some inconsequential reason that I have blocked out in order to preserve my sanity.
The author would also appear to have an unwholesome interest in writing lengthly instruction manuals on blacksmithing. If perhaps I had bought a book entitled "how to make a small boring looking knife in seven easily digestible chapters" then this would have been forgivable. However, I mistakenly thought I was purchasing a work of fantasy fiction, with all of the well-rounded characters, snappy dialogue and exciting plot turns implicit in such a genre.
In closing I should just like to mention that the entire point of the plot is hinged upon one small pointless occurence in the last chapter of the final book. If you do indeed wish to know how, or if, Poldarn is the cause of his civilisations downfall then I suggest you just read this chapter. Believe me you will have saved yourself a lot of time, and will not have missed anything by way of enjoyment, or plot backstory.
