I wouldn't go so far as to say it's annoying; just that it doesn't hook me as intensely as a different approach might. And yeah, it does kind of map a bit to earlier books vs. later ones; I can't be sure how much of that has to do with when I read them, but I think a lot of her strongest work, at least in structural terms, was on the earlier side. (She's always been able to turn a great phrase and make up really vivid characters.)
swan_tower