I flung the first Covenant book against the wall after the first 100 pages.

It took me six tries over the course of three or four years to get past that point, myself -- I'm not even sure why I kept trying. But once I did, I roared through the rest of the series. Not that I would claim them as favorites, but after that first enormous hurdle they became much more interesting, and Covenant a significantly more tolerable character.

But I agree. I really don't care for the whole comparison business.