Books like Bedlam's Bard

Comprises: Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, and Summoned to Tourney.I'm assuming that the co-author did the bulk of the writing (with Lackey adjusting for her personal "fit"). Otherwise, there's no way to account for the sheer wordiness and long stretches of interior "thinking" by the characters, especially our "hero" Eric. He, by the way, is really annoying--sniveling, self-pitying, self-righteous.Of course, this is a story of coming-of-age (magically and humanly), really, so by the end he's marginally less annoying. Small mercies. Lackey is renowned for her ability to show a character's growth over time and through experience, but this book goes about that demonstration in tedious style. If Eric's interior monologues were cut out or at least trimmed (or perhaps transformed into dialogue with another), the book would be shorter by half, at least.The best thing about the book is describing how music can make you feel. Yes, there's magic involved here, but music has power to mundanes, too. There's a lot of information about Renaissance Faires, too, that's most interesting. Sadly, these do not make up for the slogging needed to get through the mud of Eric talking to himself.So I'm glad to be done with it. I didn't exactly "dislike" it; it was just boring; so I'm calling it "okay."