Well, Dave ~~ must admit only read first book & saw first film & was so disappointed after all the hype that I lost interest in keeping up with the cycle ~~ as indeed one would. But comments recently from others, like the Speccie people & Suibhne above, convince me that I was right and they were not for me.

I react similarly, for what it's worth, provoking the same pitying looks from aficionadi, to the Tolkein stuff ~~ not, I feel, a million miles between the two cycles, magic-realism-genre-wise.

~Michael~