Post #3530124

I just finished reading Raymond E Feist's A Darkness Returns. I've been following the series since I first picked up Magician 26 years ago. I loved Magician, and the Empire trilogy was sooo good. There's been some ups and downs along the way, but I recall enjoying them as a whole. And Magician's End was... gutsy, to say the least. Looking back, I should've stopped reading after that. It was a good finale. I've been powering through a chunk of my to-be-read shelf the last few weeks, and reading A Darkness Returns right on the heel of those others (Becky Chamber's Wayfarer series, Martha Wells' Murderbot vol1-3) made me realise I'm not really enjoying it. It felt... repetitive, and lacking in depth in motivation for the characters, them being more like tumbleweeds in the wind. I was going to say the female cast felt emotionally shallow, but on reflection that extends to the male cast too. The completionist side in me may still decide to pick up the next book, but I think I'll be looking at an exit point now. It feels like these books no longer provide what I'm after.