Just out of interest, is there a 'Council of Elrond' point when those who gave up, did so?
I made it all the way through but disliked it almost from the get go and my opinion never changed. A lot of reasons I could list but the one that grabbed me immediately was my near total dislike of almost every character. Spending time with these people was a chore.
Often the best sign of a good book, bad charictors yet everything else works.
It is like reading 'A Handful of Dust' by Waugh or most Dickens, or any Dostoyevski. You just don't like the people but have to read because the book insists on it. I find it harder to read books where you don't care about the charictors at all because there is nothing in them to like or dislike, and it becomes a chore.
I am plodding through 'Olympos' by Dan Simmons at the moment, and it has the same problem. Its the end of the world and the charictors are loathsom. Even the ones you are ment to like. There is one in the book, Orphu of Io, who is the only redeaming charictor in the book even if he is a bit dues et machina at times.
Worth a read though, along with 'Ilium' (the first book in the series) but you will need to have at least read The Tempest, The Iliad and The Odyessy. He also play with Proust, Keats and Blake as well, so be warned.