Robert Jordan died.

[Runkmud]

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The Wheel of Time is by far the greatest fantasy book series I have ever read... up until about book 9. I'm sorry to hear that Robert Jordan died, but, frankly, the books were starting to suck and I was starting to resent what I felt was him milking the series far beyond the point of reasonableness.

I was smart enough to drop the series at book ten, realizing the author would die before ever drawing the story to a close.

SpaceAce

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Wow, I dropped out around book 5, he started out well, and then it just dragged on and on. Have you ever tried George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series? I think you might enjoy it much more. Anyway, RIP Jordan, and thanks for some good novels.

[Taso]

wow, this is just terrible news. I was a huge fan of this series, I'd read each book twice...Really too bad, he was a great writer. Sad to hear about this.

[SpaceAce]

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Wow, I dropped out around book 5, he started out well, and then it just dragged on and on. Have you ever tried George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series? I think you might enjoy it much more. Anyway, RIP Jordan, and thanks for some good novels.

[/ QUOTE ]

As a matter of fact, I am packing for a big move and, just today, I packed away A Game of Thrones. There is no doubt that the Martin books are good (I have not read the whole series, yet), but I still think Wheel of Time is the best, up until the eighth (or maybe seventh) book. When I said up until book nine, I meant book nine was the first one I considered to be "bad", or, at least, unworthy of the series.

George R. R. Martin, in my opinion, is one of the greatest underrated science fiction authors (he is good at fantasy, too, but I am most familiar with his science fiction work) in the world. I have been reading his work for decades, and the best of it is right up there with Heinlein, Asimov, Ellison and other greats.

If you like Martin, don't miss his Sand Kings collection, especially the title story (The Sand Kings), Fast Friend, and The Way of Cross and Dragon.

SpaceAce

[SpaceAce]

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wow, this is just terrible news. I was a huge fan of this series, I'd read each book twice...Really too bad, he was a great writer. Sad to hear about this.

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The first book was given to me by a neighbor of my father's when I was in my early teens. I read it a couple of times, but it was quite a few years before I sought out the second book. After that I was hooked. I would reread the entire series up to the current book quite often while waiting for the next book to be published. I have probably read the first books as many as six or seven times each, and the eighth book probably three times. I am a voracious reader and I usually can't sit still for five seconds without looking for something to read.

SpaceAce

[Howard Beale]

I lost all respect for Jordan when I realized that he was not trying to write a great fantasy series. Rather he was just trying to make money by dragging things along, book after book. It became almost impossible to follow, he kept adding character after character, the story became as convoluted as can be and became tiresome.

I'd heard that he was rushing to wrap it up once he knew he only had a short time left and apparently he didn't get it done. I dont' see how he could've finished in one book anyway, things had gotten so messed up.

I'm saddened that he's passed away but I have almost zero respect for his series.

[silver book]

A number of posters so far clearly do understand the unwritten rules involving people who have just died.

I'd like to do my part to try and help this situation. Robert Jordan could have been one of the most amazing people I ever knew. He was truly one of a kind. He touched the lives of so many people, and his loss leaves a huge gaping hole in the world.

R.I.P. Rob

[housenuts]

how did he die?

[gimmetheloot]

he was good i read all 10 of those damn books, but 6-10 really sucked hard core.

RIP sir.

[Duke]

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how did he die?

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Cancer.

[StevieG]

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Per his semi-official blog at dragonmount , he passed today.

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That's bad news for anyone who was waiting for the end of his (overlong) series.

There's a lot of braid tugging going on in Ren fests right now.