I was so nervous starting this behemoth of a series. Mom and even Lauryn (who is on like book 7) have told me I'd really like it and it's not that I didn't believe them, but I just worried it would be a bit too much like LOTR for me. Like I loved the world and the characters were intriguing, but I never really felt a whole lot of connection with them or I never really felt like I knew them. This wasn't like that; I really did feel like I was getting to know the characters and there was definitely a sense that they would grow a lot and I like that. It's probably going to take me several years to get through it (I mean it took 23 years to finish the series itself), but I'm determined to follow through on it. I liked it quite a bit.