Reading Comprehension Quiz -- What does this MEAN?

[sekiharatae]

[Poll #1784008]

I was reading reviews on Amazon, and someone quoted this sentence from Gardens of the Moon, the first book in a ten book series by Steven Erickson. Now, I love fantasy, but ten books sounded a bit much... and the more reviews I read, the more it sounded like it would not be my thing. Main characters introduced in one book only to disappear for a few more before resurfacing? Plotlines introduced, abandoned, then picked up again volumes later? That sounds frustrating to me. Add in that it sounds like it has twenty or so 'lead' characters, and I think not.

But what really really killed it for me was this quote. I hate sentences like this. They may sound great, but when you take it apart, it makes no sense. I hate that people get applauded for it -- where has reading comprehension gone?  These books are apparently chock full of sentences like this one, and that would drive me bonkers.

Comments

[laura-josephsen.livejournal.com]

I was going to go with option number 2, but given that I had to read the sentence about ten times to try to sort it out, I went for the first option.

I don't mind long series--heck, I'm co-writing a long series--but I do like to understand what I'm reading. O_o

[sekiharatae.livejournal.com]

It just doesn't make sense; if it makes sense, it's because you let your brain ignore words. That's what happened to me after several read-throughs; if I ignore the word 'imagined' it makes sense. It's still a horrendous sentence, but it makes sense.

Ten books at 666 pages each is a lot. That's not just a long series, that's... ridiculously epic.