being my thoughts on 100 Cupboards

Recently, Nim mentioned reading the trilogy 100 Cupboards, and raved a bit about it. So, being the curious sort of person that I am, I promptly borrowed all three books from the library (100 Cupboards, Dandelion Fire, and The Chestnut King). I am afraid, Nim dear, that they were not quite my cup of tea. It wasn't that they were horrible, or any such, but I found them not at all what I was expecting, and rather underwhelming. *here follow minor spoilers, although nothing beyond what you can gather from the dust jackets* The concept is quite brilliant, and I am always in favor of cupboards that lead to other worlds, or bits of other worlds, but the story itself began quite slowly in the first book. I spent most of the first book waiting for something to happen. I did like the letters from the faeren, although when they actually showed up in the second book I found them unimpressive. I was bored about halfway through the third book, and only finished it because I'd already read two and a half books and I wanted to see how it turned out. There was much skimming, and I found the end somewhat unsatisfactory, not to mention that I was distracted by all the discussion of imperial soldiers in red uniforms as "red-shirts." Hah.

Also, where was all the violence that Nim talked about? Maybe I'm just too used to Joss Whedon, but while there was some fighting, I didn't find any of it particularly violent. Or creepy.

( more specific discussion, and major spoilers )