3.5 stars out of 5

Scoring this book is difficult. The first half I would certainly give 4 stars. Maybe 4.5 for the language. But definitely 4. But then the books goes off the rails in the second part. The writer knows this and actually adresses it.
Is the second half bad? Absolutely not. But it's not as enticing as the first part, hence the reduction of half a star.

This book, this series, is an old classic. It's fantasy, but it's sci-fi as well, and I like that in books. The worldbuilding is alluring, the main character is okay-ish. It's an obvious self-insert, and as male writers of that period were wont to do, those self-inserts are a bit of a Gary Stu. Of course every woman desires them. They don't want to, but in the end they just can't help themselves.
Were the women written badly? Surprisingly: no. They have a smidgeon of depth.
The writer has a weird view of what love is. I think he confuses lust and desire with love, even though he philosophises on the subject. If he really fell in utter hopeless love on the drop of a hat, well... he may have had some problems ;-) Then again, those people do exist, they used to be considered very romantic (cough), so...

Back to the book. I had fun. It was clearly a source of inspiration for Patrick Rothfuss and Josiah Brancroft, and many other more recent writers. Maybe even for Joe Abercrombie, with his delightful torturer (though it was better done in this book).
I had some fun, and reading more convoluted bloated sentences is sometimes good for the mind. Like a big fluffy over-achieving bottle brush that cleans out all the nooks and crannies. So yes, I had fun. On to the next book!