Pausing and maybe indefinitely dnfing book at 31%

I have been slogging through this book on and off over 7 months and I feel that while it will certainly attract the attention of a lot of readers looking for a light hearted romp it is just not connecting with me.

Quite frankly, I just feel that it is sort of boring. It is too reminiscent of the familiar boy of legend with royal blood who is seemingly good at everything trope we have all read time and time again. I tend to feel impatient with Gary Stu MCs and adding a book that hasn't really moved anywhere 1/3rd into the story whose most interesting character (Rhulin aka the King's champion) only appears as a tertiary supporting character for 10 pages at best without any defined aantagonists this far into the story just didn't help to draw me in.

Cobsidering I did buy the trilogy boxset I might be a bit forced to at least finish book 1 to get my moneys worth, I might at least finish book 1 given thw book's one big redemption is its short length. Cheers! ( )

Exposition dump in first chapter, dropped. ( )

At first blush, this book reminded me of the Lord of the Rings, and Terry Brooks' Shannara series...but then I realized that it is something entirely unique. It has those same elements of fantasy that draws me to LotR and Shannara, namely, the magic and the elves and the dwarves...
It's an adventure, and one that keeps your attention beyond the beginning. Whill is an interesting character; the things he discovers about himself as the story goes on actually makes him more interesting, although (SPOILER ALERT!!) it may seem as though the story of discovering the hero to be some sort of long-lost royalty would be overdone by now. Whill, however, takes it and can't seem to figure out what to do with the knowledge. At times, he seems almost reluctant to admit that it is, in fact, the truth, despite knowing it must be.
I loved the characterizations of the dwarves in this book, particularly Roakore. He reminded me of Gimli from LotR, always grumbling about the elves, but meanwhile hiding a grudging respect for them. In a fun twist, the dwarves herein have magic, too, magic over stone/earth (which the elves call keye, interestingly, enough).
The cast of characters is pretty large, but each one is memorable in their own right. Zerafin and Avriel are the epitome of elves, being both beautiful and graceful, strong and powerful, and seemingly tireless, which is slightly obnoxious, but fitting when it comes to elves in high fantasy. Whill, Abram, and Rhunis are your typical warriors, smart enough as needed and very skilled in their chosen profession. As the story revolves around Whill, he definitely has a little bit extra of everything: power, fighting skill, and smarts.
In all, though the story is fun and fantastical, I think there are some elements that are slightly over-used. The elf woman-human man romance feels inevitable from the very beginning. The dwarf-elf rivalry (solely on the side of the dwarves) feels slightly forced. The bad guy teaming up with an evil "power" and an army of evil "freaks" (a mutated race of elves) is almost taken wholesale from LotR...Even the youthful sidekick Whill gains in Tarren feels like an afterthought inclusion.
However, the villains, the evil army...despite their origins in the elven race, are truly unique. Slightly disturbing, yes, but definitely unique. Who would think to combine dragons and elves into one species? Creepy. But good. It definitely works.
In all, a good read for anyone who likes this sort of high fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed it. ( )