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You should probably cover more of your post with spoiler tags.

I'll have to check out The Wheel of Time series some time. I've heard a lot about it.

Do yourself a favor and don't. Overrated tripe. Jordan wasn't in the same league as Martin. I'll may pick up the books Sanderson is writing to close out the series, but that's due to enjoying his work more than any interest I have in the setting Jordan created.

If you're looking for another fantasy series, give Brandon Sanderson a try. He is an excellent world builder, but not as strong with characters as Martin. Robin Hobbs Farseer Trilogy are also worth a read.

[quote name='taby' timestamp='1338388647' post='4944684']
I'll have to check out The Wheel of Time series some time. I've heard a lot about it.

Do yourself a favor and don't. Overrated tripe. Jordan wasn't in the same league as Martin. I'll may pick up the books Sanderson is writing to close out the series, but that's due to enjoying his work more than any interest I have in the setting Jordan created.
[/quote]

I thought Jordan started out well, but got lost in the mire of sub plots he created to the detriment of the overall story. I had pretty much given up on the series after I read the last few books (9, 10 and 11), as it just got worse and worse with new sub plots being piled on without satisfactorily resolving the old ones. Then Jordan died and I completely gave up on them.

Until one day a few years ago I got stuck in an airport (flight delayed in transit). I was on my own and the only english language books in the bookshop were "The Gathering Storm" and "Twilight". Since I would sooner have surgery without anesthesia than read that emo-vampire nonsense, I picked up the Gathering Storm.

Despite my reservations, it was actually much more enjoyable than I expected. It felt like the plot was moving again. The next book was even better. I really hope Sanderson can finish strong.

As for the OP post, I'm really enjoying Game of Thrones (the tv show). So much so, that in a very rare move for me, I've decided not to read the books as I don't want the show spoiled for me. Even I think this is kinda weird....

Thanks a lot for all of the recommendations everyone. FWIW, I read The Count of Monte Cristo after the movie came out in ~2000 or so. It was indeed a great book. I was also big into the Horatio Hornblower series back then, so I really enjoyed The Count because of the period that it was set in. Another book that I read in that kind of time period was Treasure Island. Of course, there are people who may label it as "young adult" literature, but whatever. It was great.

Great literature is great literature, it doesn't matter who it was written for.

That said, Song of Ice and Fire is possibly great. We'll see in fifty or so years if kids still pick it up to read, or if it gets eclipsed by something else.

The Wheel of Time? Not really great. Started off strong, was a great easy read for the first few books, but honestly it really went to hell around book 6 or 7 when basically nothing happened that really mattered, and the pointless plots went on. Frankly, it would have been a vastly superior story to read if he had of just split the series, picked one or two main focus characters, and wrote a single story at a time, instead of trying to feed us a dozen or so at once.

The biggest problem with writting like he did is that readers eventually just stop giving a damn. I pushed forward looking for the end not because I was enjoying the books, but because I had already invested so much reading time in that I figured in for a penny, in for a pound. So no, I won't suggest anyone else put themselves through that.

Hell, a few months ago I thought about getting back into the series and reading what happens in the last few books. I started reading a detailed summary to refresh my memory of what had happened in the previous books. (Was a few years since I read them last. I read shorter novels than the damn summary turned out to be!

I read "The Wheel of Time" series to its most recent book about a decade ago, and I think that was book #8. If the series went to shit afterwards, I wasn't aware.
The pacing of the series was a bit slow, but I felt that Robert Jordan did a great job with writing out the action sequences. Lord of the Rings was a bit annoying to read because it was about people talking and walking around most of the time. The antagonist was a bit too uninvolved to really be a good antagonist.

I dropped ASOIAF because it was so "dark." And cheaply manipulative. If I want depressing, I read the papers.

I dropped ASOIAF because it was so "dark." And cheaply manipulative. If I want depressing, I read the papers.

You'd absolutely hate Life of Pi.

As for the OP post, I'm really enjoying Game of Thrones (the tv show). So much so, that in a very rare move for me, I've decided not to read the books as I don't want the show spoiled for me. Even I think this is kinda weird....

My guess is that as time continues, the stories will be less and less linked. I'm hoping by the third season they will change enough stuff so that it will be two separate experiences instead of feeling like one spoils the other.

My guess is that as time continues, the stories will be less and less linked. I'm hoping by the third season they will change enough stuff so that it will be two separate experiences instead of feeling like one spoils the other.

That's pretty much what they did with True Blood. I think I like that route too tbh. It keeps it fresh and exciting for people who have already read the books. There are so many things that are going to be worse for me knowing how they end.