The problem with "Sword of Shanarra" was the writing. Broke every rule you learned in creative writing class, especially "show, don't tell." Nice Hildebrandt Brothers cover painting, drek inside. Don't know why it was such a seller, unless fantasy addicts were desperate for anything else once they'd finished Tolkien.
Elizabeth Moon's "The Deed of Paksinarion" triology. Paks and her world are interesting, and there is a good story buried somewhere in the series, but it was clearly padded out in the extreme to make the required 3 novels. If Moon's editor had had any guts, he'd have taken a chainsaw to the mess and could have pulled a diamond out of this coal mine.
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