If you follow the publication of big name writers, there is a tendency for their later works to get longer and longer, and, as you say, harder to read. Example

If you follow the publication of big name writers, there is a tendency for their later works to get longer and longer, and, as you say, harder to read. Examples include Robert Heinlein in Science Fiction, James Michener in general fiction, Herman Wouk in general fiction. For Wouk, his well known Caine Mutiny is a fairly long book, but it's tightly written. Later works not so much.