@cstross @quixoticgeek same here. About 100 pages into the first volume, "why am I supposed to care about these horrible feudals again?" and "let's hope they kill each other and leave the downtrodden peasants alone", and gave up in disgust. And this despite having bought the first 3 books in anticipation (this was before the TV series, that I also found quite boring, but my wife loved it).