I mean, I wouldn't say the average person was horrible, it was more the standards of life were so much worse that horrible things were deemed by overall society as "ok"

The chapter near the end of the series, the battle of Brenna, was one of the best chapters I've ever read in any book.

So many introductions of minor characters, so many washed away shortly after introduction. A general's last moments in the mud. Ancestors looking down at a captain. Nurses and doctors frantically saving lives.

So intense. Such a good story.

Excellent. Excellent. Tolkien claims another.