Man, I cannot believe how many decades I spent reading Wheel of Time books preordered as they were published in hardcover. But, I swear past about book 9 or 10 they sure got awfully meanwhile-back-at-the-ranch endlessly cutting away to where different groups of characters traveling towards whatever in same period as the others in other places without a lot of story progression ... I almost didn't read the final wrap up trilogy the Jordans commissioned Sanderson to write after Robert passed away (glad I did because after all those decades it was nice to finally get the wrap-up and he did a bang up job bringing it back to what the first books that hooked me were).
WOT got godawful, didn't it? It started out really fantastic action/adventure for precocious teens, and that was exactly when I read it so I absolutely loved the first 4. Then it started going downhill little by little. By about 7 I didn't care much anymore, 8 was terrible, and over several years read a few more, skipping some along the way. I did read Sanderson's first, and actually checked the final book out of the library and read a couple pages before remembering that I didn't give a fuck. Prime example of why series should be kept short! But also of the fact that if a series gets a large enough fanbase, financially speaking the author can get away with anything because the books will sell no matter what.
I would love to see what people would be saying about the Crown of Stars books now if they'd had that kind of fanbase. The ideal audience is less easily captured than Jordan's, though. It's not an adolescent audience (I tried the first couple books around the same age, 14 or so, and thought they were fine but didn't love them - Elliott works better for adults). It's not the audience that's primarily interested in action or violence, or the audience that's primarily interested in romance. The people who seem to like Elliott's work best are those who want epic fantasy without misogyny, but that's a worldview and not a style. So it's tricky to build a large audience.
I would love to see what people would be saying about the Crown of Stars books now if they'd had that kind of fanbase. The ideal audience is less easily captured than Jordan's, though. It's not an adolescent audience (I tried the first couple books around the same age, 14 or so, and thought they were fine but didn't love them - Elliott works better for adults). It's not the audience that's primarily interested in action or violence, or the audience that's primarily interested in romance. The people who seem to like Elliott's work best are those who want epic fantasy without misogyny, but that's a worldview and not a style. So it's tricky to build a large audience.