His series was utter shit after the first 3 or 4 books, but after reading hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of essentially nothing, I'd hoped to see some conclusion to the entire mess.
Ive been reading WoT for 11 years now (since I was 14) so Im still a bit in shock. Not that RJ is dead (don't get me wrong it IS sad) but that Ive potentially wasted a LOT of time on a story that will never be *really* finished.
Book 8 was where it started to go seriously wrong for me. The first 6 books cover between 6 months to a year each. I think book 8 covered a weekend. 800 pages on 2 days of storytime meant that EVERYTHING was told. "Matt picked his nails" "Rand snorted, that nasally sound that puts girls off their food" *boring*
With RJ held in a tighter leash and his editor shaving off a couple hundred pages per volume tghe books would have been much better.
Ive actually just finished my first book, and my editor is giving me grief atm.
But it's good grief, though I get the feeling they are pressured somewhat by their bosses. As a newb writer, she tells me whats interesting, whats not, what to expand on, and what to rewrite. But after 7 books, and making the publisher so much money, I get the feeling that the author would have much more influence over what makes final cut than an editor. So book 7 onwards was *real* RJ, and tbh, that didn't cut the mustard. My novel, btw, is a work of art, and you had all better buy it when it hits the shops (circa Jan 2008 so far).
My biggest problem with WoT was the sheer amount of "untouchable" characters. This is what made the 3 first books in George R.R. Martin's Ice and Fire saga so good, the way he killed off main characters. It made the story much more alive.
Yes and no. Was NOT impressed when XXX died in the first book. Even when XXX's head was stuck on a spike over the gate, I was still convinced that it was a ploy and they had XXX locked up and that XXX would break out and save the day. But then GRRM when and killed everyone else too. D'oh. I gave up after three books when we still didnt know what was behind the gerddamn wall!
You may also want to try Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" trilogy (in hardback. Four volumes in paperback IIRC)
Not an easy read. Not as verbose as WoT, but lacking in action for the main part, and when action does happen, its pretty difficult to follow. Also, the story overall left me feeling a bit "meh".
Another series from Williams that's definitely worth reading is Otherland. More sci-fi than fantasy, but I highly recommend it even if you're a strict fantasy reader and don't venture into sci-fi land. It's very well-written and quite an original theme. Very relevant to our time as well, especially to netizens, particularly MMO players.
Again, Otherland to me got boring very quickly. Basic premise: its based in a life like VR machine, and the characters are looking for something. So they go through different landscapes searching for it. It always feels like something COOL is gonna happen, but its usually very placid and reads like hes just reciting stuff off TV. The first book ends and left me going, "well that was a waste of 800 pages".
Now (holy crap this is a long post) my seriesies of recommendation are:
Fantasy: Riftwar and Serpent war sagas from Raymond E Fiest. Starting with Magician, which is one of my fave books off time, the story just keeps building, following a family of nobles through 3-4 generations, so you really feel connected to the whole character set, not just a single person. Gods and demons, swords and magic, action sorrow and joyfullness. Fantastic series.
Horror: While not particularly scary, the Necroscope series, and its follow on the Vampire World novels, are again some of the best easiest to read stories around. The storylines move on, and grow, with backstory too, so you get a decent account of the characters lives. You'll want to be able to teleport after reading these books.
Sci-Fi: Nightsdawn Trilogy, Peter F Hamilton. The first 100 pages are crap, and the last 20 pages are even worse. But the story that unfolds in these three books is outstanding and fairly unique. The characters are well defined and situations and action are pretty damn good. Beware: three books of 1200 pages each are not for the faint hearted.
