But when someone points out perceived flaws and doesn't praise what you praise, it's okay to roast that person without giving due consideration to what s/he has observed?

I think you missed out on the fun a few years ago of the "great clodding foot of nerdism" that another author, M. John Harrison, wrote in regards to "worldbuilding." Sometimes, less is more and more is much, much less.




Or it's just a sign that he wrote MOR fantasy that most readers read as an equivalent of a popcorn flick. They don't want or care to think too much about it. Similar to how most of Terry Goodkind's readers are not supporters of his Objectivist-leaning thoughts, despite those opinions shaping several of his SoT novels.

Spending 20 years reading a series is not my idea of a fun time. Have too many books to review, short fiction to read for anthologies, and translations to be done in my spare time to spend too much time on any particular author or literary genre. But if that floats your boat, OK, but I just wouldn't think that would be SOP for most readers.





Like I said before, I don't spend much time on it. I read CoT in 2006, KoD and TGS in 2009 only because I received a review copy from Tor a week before the release date. I reviewed the former in a much more snarky fashion than Roberts has shown to date, in large part due to dares from a few regulars at wotmania, including Dom, incidentally. The other two were read just so I could review the book on time. Although I was pleasantly surprised by TGS, it was far from the best read I had in 2009 (for what I did like, you can always click on the link below) and that's chalked up to personal preferences and knowledge of what's available.

It is quite amusing how some think that just because one pays closer attention to how a story is constructed that s/he cannot appreciate the story being told as well. I'd argue that in several cases, the enjoyment can be heightened from being more aware of these things. I heard the audio samples and thought they were tedious. Of course, I can finish the typical book in about 2-3 hours if I decide to spend that much time on a work, so the audio parts tend to be too slow for my liking





Then you aren't reading enough types of fantasy, then. The books I mention in that link are very, very different from epic fantasies.



I burned out on the research parts 13 years ago, after I earned my MA in History