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Even if we assume Jordan's motive for stretching the series was purely financial, how does that cause you to "lose all respect" for him? The characters are his, the story is his, the decision is his. If people keep buying the books, why shouldn't he keep writing them? Poker players of all people should understand pushing an edge.
I agree the books became tiresome, but how does that wreck the rest of the series? How does book seven or eight or nine or ten retroactively [censored] on books one through six? It's not like the suck in book ten can reach back in time and take the enjoyment out of book three.
SpaceAce
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I lost all respect for him as an author (artist, if you will). It seemed to me that he abandoned his artistic integrity (if he had any) for money. I once read an article where some person had asked him when the series would end and he said something like 'never'. Once I got to the point where the series became terrible I felt like I'd wasted my time reading the first of them even though I'd enjoyed them.
For someone in his field I'd prefer him to be thinking 'how can I make this great?' rather than 'how can I make a dollar?' If it's great it'll make the dollars anyway.
I was one of the ppl who kept buying the books and I became sick of him and them. I can't think of another author in the genre who wrote a series as long and convoluted as his. Even Terry Goodkind (mentioned above) is finishing his 'Sword of Truth' series in the next book. Btw: That series is acceptable, but not great, imo, because Goodkind keeps repeating the same themes.
I'd like to recommend Tad Williams. He writes both fantasy and sci-fi. I'd skip his early work and (for near-future sci-fi) the 'Otherland' series is excellent, his single volume fantasy 'War of the Flowers' is very good and his new series
Shadowmarch is shaping up nicely.