Now that I have finished all six parts of this epic, I can say that I don't see what all the hype is about. Is it bad? No. Is is great? No. It is just average, all three compilations consisting of six books got 3 stars from me. If I could give 2.5, exactly half, I would. There are some interesting concepts explored, but in my mind the story unfolds in such a way that there is no real mystery. And Mr. Sullivan is certainly not George R.R. Martin - no major character is ever in danger. Peril? Yes, but something always happens to pull the characters out of the situation. While this is okay every once in a while, death defying escapes all the time are meaningless. By the time I was on the last book it seemed like everything was going wrong. I wasn't worried because the entire series was like the Brady Bunch, everything gets tied up in a bow by the end of the episode. 
 Like I sad, it isn't bad. The mythology around the humans, elves and dwarves was interesting. Many of the characters are well-done, if not a little flat and cliched. However, the magic system isn't well defined. There is some mythology around it, but in one of the stories it didn't take a lot of effort to go from not being able to boil water to creating and maintaining a monsoon. 
 I did finish the entire series and in fact do have the first prequel in my audible library (it was the deal of the day) though it likely won't be listened to for a while. I do find this hard to recommend as there are so many better fantasy series around. It may be a good intro to a teen as it is fairly clean and family friendly. Maybe I am just not the target audience.