I've read all three of the novels and I can understand the criticisms, the books take a while to get rolling, but once they do, holy crap. Yes some of the twists and turns are predictable, but over all it's a rewarding journey. The Acacia series is worth your time. Hell, just reading Mena's chapters is worth your time. Most of the POV characters are pretty good, but you'll just keep turning pages to find out what's going on with Mena and Dariel. In the end the characters are what drives this series and will keep you coming back, even if it s for only a couple of them. Shallow? Not particularly. Slow moving, yeah. In depth character work? Yeppers, in spades. This is a fun series. Is it on the same level of ASoIF or WOT? No, not by a long shot, but it is a good series with great characters who you will buy into if you give the series a chance. Oh, and Mena rules, FTW!!!

I am half way through the first book and I still cant seem to care about the characters. I sometimes force myself to continue reading in hopes that it will pick up. I think the character development is very poor so when something interesting happens I am in no way moved by it. I also feel that the storytelling is very flat, there is no buildup to interesting scenes things just kind of happen. Its a shame because I do think the story itself is quite interesting but the lack of excitement and poor character development is a huge disappointment.

I'm sure I will push through and finish the book but based on my current opinion of and what I've read here today I probably wont read the other installments.

Acacia was an interesting book, but by no means should be in any top 25. I listened to it on audio cd, and I must admit the narrator was excellent, which I think raised my opinion of it. Acacia was well written, well enough that you dont notice the fact that there are large stretches of the book in which nothing happens. 600 pages (23 audio CDs) and you can succinctly summarize the book in a couple paragraphs.

So would I recommend this book? Thats a tough one. I feel no urge to rush out and get the sequel, but I wont say i wouldnt read it if it was available.

The last book of the series has been published this October.

I pushed through this book, thinking it was a decent read - Then when I got to the first major twist I realized I didn't care at all. Not worth the time for a beginning fantasy reader; I'd recommend it only if you literally have nothing else to read.

Not wasting my money on such a poorly written mess makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Found nothing that compelled me to push through this book, neither the story, writing nor the characters. I'm confused as to why it's rated so highly.

I bought this book and two others based on the review here under the George Martin review - didnt read the comments here before buying this one - my mistake. I certainly appreciate the talent of the author, but found the book mediocre and predictable - even the "surprises".

What I found was:

Tad Williams' tendency to depart into mythic tales/stories. (Which is OK at times, but usually I find to be distracting and annoying even in William's work. Seems more an attempt to add fluff to the story rather than any other real purpose.)

Not so veiled images of Dune - will not spoil it here, but several similarities. One scene mirrored the original book Dune, that I literally lost my place reading because I was recalling the scene from Dune. Not good if one is trying to immerse a reader in the novel.

Attempts at Martin's twists but predictable, predictable, predictable - especially the "surprises". He telegraphed the surprises over and over with little of the shock value. Frankly, some of these surprises are so set up that the characters literally go far out of their way (and far from logic or the reader's ability to believe) just to create the circumstances to make the surprise happen. AND, of course, Deus Ex Machina.

Wish Durham would let his own creativity shine through, as I believe he has talent, but I am not buying more in this series...

i tried but simply could NOT get into this book. i thought the set up and government machinations were very dune-like in their exposition (except fantasy vs sci-fi conventions) and were executed well enough. however, the characters left me completely cold. they were flat and soulless- mere words on paper. i found none compelling and couldn't have cared less what happened to any of them. when reading the book became more of an academic exercise than anything else, i put it down.

The book had a very very interesting and original setup with moral complexity and shades of grey. It could have been the start of a truly great fantasy series. Unfortunately, as others have noted, it is bungled by poor characterization. Only a couple of characters were fleshed out beyond fantasy archetype, and not very well. By the third section the plot felt completely contrived, and everything is resolved by one deus ex machina after another.

book coulda been better
had such an epic backstory but failed to excite me
sorry!

Having read and highly enjoyed George RR Martin's novels, I had high hopes for this new series, which critics loved to compare to Martin. It's obvious the autho of Acacia took his cues from him, and while all the "correct" elements were there, it failed to carry itself with much poise. The characters did not resonate for me, and as others have mentioned, because of this fact, the story fell flat. I found myself reading on only in hopes that it would pick itself off the floor and surprise me, which never happened. I will not read the second installment of this series. Clumsy and labored.

the book started of with such style that i believed i found a great book.however due to the lack of charecter developement it faILS TO THRILL.btw the ending was dissapointing

I felt like this book had some great potential, but did not quite hit the mark. I finished the book feeling somewhat underwhelmed, which I attribute to not really caring about the characters as much as I have in other similar novels. I would not place this one in my top 10 fantasy novels.

I actually picked this book up because it was on the list. I have read George RR Martin and while Durham has his moments, it never quite lives up to Martin in either style or substance. The ending was a contrived, but I didn't mind that. What annoyed me was after reading a 250 pages setting up the characters, Durham ignores his own generated character history. I found the first 250 pages slow, but I was willing to continue to see how the characters developed further. In the end, I actually did like the book, but be forewarned, some characters become archetypical fantasy stories. A worthy read while waiting for the next Martin novel and I will read the follow up once its price drops. Thanks for the recommendation.

This is a great book that could easily be in the top 10.

I

Great book. The story is a little dark, but the characters are complex and the plot is interesting. Great read.

I Loved it! Loved it! Loved it! and can't wait for the next one. If you enjoyed a Song of Ice and Fire and don't mind grey characters, you will really like this book.