Tropey but quite fun. Basically as you might expect from a YA 90s fantasy commercial fiction series. Comparisons to LOTR are a bit baffling, as that is literary fiction and this is commercial fiction decades later. Of course the progenitor of this kind of fantasy has tropes recycled into the genre. This is meant to be accessible and fun and easy reading. It is not trying to do the same things whatsoever. The first book has the most noticeable tropes popularized in the genre, but it actually diverges quite a bit as it goes on and with each book it does deviate. Though it also becomes of formulaic, which is not all that fun to read. But that is addressed in the ending of the trilogy. The Wheel of Time is turning. It would be funny if Robert Jordan read this and was like Wheel of Time, wait a f*n second. But, of course, this is also a mainstay trope. It’s just funny to hear the exact phrase here. All-in-all this is dated, but perfectly serviceable and fun as a light read, if you take it for what it IS and you don’t project what you’d like it to be onto the text. Like I said, apples to oranges. Sure, they’re both fruit, but they are also distinct.

autographed copy