I've been gulping down the series for about 3 weeks now, and am almost halfway through the fourth book. The plot and number of characters and cultures make it fascinating, but if you put it down for a while and then tried to pick back up, you'd be lost unless you had a phenomenal memory. This is one series I may have to reread to get all the prior allusions. It may take me half the summer to read these, and I love having a book series to spend the summer reading, especially outside in the nice weather. Kellie