I have read the entire series twice and it was even better the second time (obviously). It does have a somewhat slow start, but it is only for like the first fourth of the book and the fights later in the series are described beautifully. The bad reviews for the book all say it is SOOOOO unbearably slow and dull, but that is only the case if you have the attention span of a fly. If you are a person who even remotely likes fantasy, anime, video games, and/or sci-fi THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SERIES OF ALL TIME (in my not so humble opinion).
P.S. they are going to make this series into an animation soon, sooooooo read the series and jump on the hype train before everyone and their mother does.