Best. Fantasy. Series. EVER.

Anyone else like 'em? Right now I'm on Lord of Chaos, so don't ruin anything for me or I'll castrate you.

it's good, but I wouldn't say it's the best. I like the Shannara series by Terry Brooks better. and David Eddings' Belgariad and Malloreon, though those just have a special place in my heart...>_>

anyway, I've been listening to them on CD because while it IS an amazing series with an insane amount of great and deep characters, it is looooooong. I love to read, but there's just too much of it. I was in book 10, but I kinda stopped because I lost interest for a bit. I'm thinking of picking it back up now that I've got too much empty time at college

side note, Robert Jordan died in the middle of the 12th book. apparently though he left a lot of notes and info with family so his wife plans to finish it up.

From what I've heard, the final book was indeed finished. But I've never read it, I just know a few fanatics.

The series went on about three books too long, if he would have stopped around winter's heart (Or whatever the snow book was called) it would have been fine. I liked the first few books, but the latter ones weren't as good.

@ Lades - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Memory_of_Light
:D yeah, sure, it's Wikipedia. but you can go to the cited pages to verify, if you are paranoid

oh, and BTW. turns out I lied. I had through book 10 saved to my computer, but I stopped in the beginning of 9

for the record, I ripped them from the CDs because it took me a good month and a half on average to listen through and I got them from the library on a 2-3 week loan depending on which library it got shipped in from and there's waiting lists so I can't renew them. I get rid of them as I go, and unfortunately, it looks like I got rid of 9 and 10 when I stopped

EDIT - @nightwalker
I kinda agree with you there. I don't think it should have stopped at book 9, but I think they all should have been shorter. less detail-oriented and such. I don't think the major plot stuffage should be reduced at all

The Wheel of Time Covers are the worst, and Lord of Chaos is the worst of the wheel of time covers. Rand looks like fabio or something, the girl in the background looks like she's being overcome by his supernatural aura of manliness or something.

If you're curious, the 10th is probably the low point of the series. Basically, at the start of 10 a bunch of things are about to happen, and at the end of 10 a bunch of things are about to happen, soon. In 11 he's back to form somewhat, so if you got that far it's probably worth giving the 11th one a read.

I'm not a huge fan of WoT but I did enjoy them. Some of the characters do get tiring after a while, I find: of the main three Perrin and Mat are ok but Rand is sometimes unbearable. I prefer George RR Martin over Robert Jordan, though, and Steven Erikson over Martin.

One nice thing about Erikson is that he keeps a very good pace on writing his books. Since 1999 when Gardens was released he's gotten tomes, at least 700 pages long, out almost every year. While Gardens was pretty cool but not amazing, since then every book is awesome. In the epic-worldbuilder series I think he's without peer from the others I've read so far in terms of both style and substance. He is most frequently compared to Glen Cook, but I think he's really a step or two ahead (though Glen Cook is often good too).

Other authors IMO (peake, donaldson) are IMO better overall but Erikson manages both depth and funnness. I don't think I've ever read an author who does conversations better than Erikson.

BTW, I'm really starting to get into the epic fantasy series, so any suggestions?

Here's a list of a few other "worldbuilder" fantasies I can think of off the top of my head:
-A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Sorta like, knights, medieval ages, that sorta stuff. The first book is Game of Thrones.

He and Robert Jordan were friendly w/ each other and apparently fans of each others works. He's among the most prolific fantasy writers. I highly recommend this one. He has 4 books out, and IIRC 3 or 4 more to write. The 5th book has been on waiting for a while.

-The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. Very focused on soldiers and wars, as well as religions and gods (polytheistic mostly). The second book and on are all superior to the first entry in the series IMO. The first book is Gardens of the Moon.

This is probably my favorite worldbuilder series right now. I recommend it also.

There are 7 books out, and 3 remaining. There may be other works in the series. Another author, Ian C Esselmont, has started a 6 book series about...olther stuff?

-The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. Bends towards politics type stuff, whether magic is good or bad to some extent, anti-authoritarian stuff? I'm not a big fan though. The first book is Wizard's First Rule (gets some credit as being among my favorite titles for a book).

He's a big fan of Ayn Rand, though I'm not sure what objectivists tend to think of him. He definitely paid his respects in his 6th book, which is A LOT like her book The Fountainhead. So he might be worth reading if you're a fan of her? Also the 8th book is supposed to work as a critique of Kant and rationalism in general (VS empiricism), though it seems many don't think it's very well put together.

The series is done. I believe there are 11 books out.

-The Prince of Nothing by R Scott Bakker. Really weird. Very focused on religion, philosophy. The first few books are based on a war similar to the Crusades. I like it a lot but I figure most people wouldn't. The first book is The Darkness That Comes Before.Try it if you're looking for something...interesting.

There are 2 more books out, which make up the introductory trilogy. I think there are supposed to be about 4-6 more books total.

-David Eddings' Belgeraid. He's not my favorite but he's a fun read I suppose. A lot about prophecy and magic...which probably has something to do with why his books are incredibly predictable. I can't really reccomend him but youo might enjoy him if you try him. The first book is Pawn of Prophecy.

AFAIK all his works in the world of the belgeraid are completed.

-Roger Zelazny's the Chronicles of Amber. Cool magic and dimensional stuff? I haven't actually read these but I've heard good things. I think the first book is called [insert number, I think 7] Princes in Amber, and there's a 10 book omnibus I mean to buy sometime (not sure what it's called).

Others recommend him though I've never tried him. Also, the series is complete.

ooo, I'm going to use that list myself. wow

I can back up that about the Belgariad. there's 5 of them. there's also a sequel series (Mallorean or something like that) with another 5, plus a couple or 3 stand-alones in the same world/setting. he said he's done with that world now though.

also from Eddings, The Redemption of Althalus is a stand-alone. fairly long and a bit weird, but in just the way I like it. there's 6 books making up the Elenium and Tamuli, another fantasy series in two parts. finally (of what I've read anyway) is Regina's Song kinda horror/psychological drama, I guess. I'm not really into that kind of book, but I liked that one alright

the only thing about Eddings' I have to complain about is that between his different universes/worlds/settings/series/whatever, you can start to notice a lot of similarities between character personalities. doesn't really bother me much, but if it does for you, I'd suggest just reading the Belgariad/Mallorean ones

I always forget Althalus. Which is too bad, because it's stand-aloneness is nice, the characters are cool, and it's a nice long read too. I liked it a lot.

Ya, I don't regret spending my time on Eddings but the Mallorean felt too much like the Belgeraid for me to really appreciate it. I feel like I didn't get that much out of them overall, but at the very least they can be a hell of a lot of fun.

One other thing I will say about Steven Erikson's work. I have never read better/wittier conversations that I can remember.

Decisions have been made.

Linky linky.

Robert Jordan's torch will be passed on to some dude named Brandon Sanderson for the last entry. No idea nething about him, all I know is Tor writer, Mormon lol mormons but OSC is a mormon and plenty of people like him so who shits a give, and he's written something like 4 books I haven't read but maybe I'll check him out sometime, who knows. (At least two are contained w/in themselves, so that kicks ass b/c sometimes fantasy writers let a series become bloated when they don't rly need to).