You know how it goes - you're enjoying the satisfying wrapup of a Dresden Files book, you turn the page, and find yourself reading that by-now-irritating "When I was a kid, I got sick, and read books and blah, blah, blah,...honorary citizen of Narnia, Gor, Krynn, Earthsea...blah, blah, blah...swords-and-horses fantasy is my original passion and one true love...blah, blah, blah. And I couldn't even get halfway into book 1. Not that I found anything appalling in it, but I simply could not muster the interest. I found nothing new or noteworthy or that promised anything interesting or gave me a reason to keep reading. Kind of like Mistborn, the difference being that there are interesting-looking aspects to that series that make me want to grit my teeth and stick my brain into Sandersonian dialogue and "wit" one more time. Alera, though? Meh. I can imagine that reading as much as you have might turn me bitter as well, if any regularly readers of this site can imagine such a thing as an embittered rant against an IP by Cannoli.