I think it was book 7 that had nothing happening at all…
My only problem is that by the time I get to a new installment I have forgotten everything that happened so far.
But I have come to think of WOT as some kind of literary soap opera. It just goes on and on and on, characters drop out, characters are introduced. And some time in the not so distant future there will be a voiceover: The character of Rand Al’Thor will now be played by…
Ironic ways that Robert Jordan could die before finishing the Wheel of Time series:
Doesn’t seem to have worked with Jordan, judging by the comments here.
Speaking as a writer, it takes a high amount of arrogance to make up a story, get 80,000+ words down on the page, and convince someone to spend $28.95 on it. It also helps that before your book even hits the press, your flesh is scoured by rejections, self-doubt and criticism from well-meaning but clueless friends, relatives and spouses.
Comments from reviewers and fans can still hurt, but it’s not the end of the world, especially when you’re RJ depositing your latest royalty check.
Sure it will. It’ll end after his fans finally become so fed up with his poorly written, meandering tripe they stop buying his books.
This won’t happen until at least fifteen years (and three ghost writers) after his death, but it will happen eventually.
Actually, the series that springs most quickly to mind when I read this was Frank Herbert’s Dune.
Well, not FRANK HERBERT’s Dune… more like “The Dune That Was Part Of The Frank Herbert Estate And Is Now Paying The Bills Of Frank’s Inheritors…”
Why oh why is the publisher going on with it though? There would be an in-house editor for Maud’s sake, there has to be and WHY is no-one making him write a real book which advances the plot?
I really liked the first few books and I’m deeply bummed at just how excerable they now are.
I heard that the rumour about the new Martin being released in April is false BTW. Yeah, I’m bummed about that too. Somebody recommend me something worth reading in the interim. Please?
As has been mentioned above, James Oliver Rigney’s[1] editor is one Harriet McDougal, wife of James Oliver Rigney. She is the in-house editor which has actually caused some 'net fans to say quite plainly that he needs an editor he isn’t fucking. Come to think of it, now I’m saying the same thing, what with it being true and all.
[1] Whose current pen name is Robert Jordan, just so there’s no confusion.
Robin Hobb, maybe?
I imagine the publishers only care about how much money the books make. If Jordan can extend the series by a book or two (or seven), and make everyone a lot of money, why should they ask him to write fewer books?
I’ve read all the Robin Hobb books. Liked them :).
Ah OK so Harriet is employed by the publishing house to be the editor. Yikes. I guess we are seeing the results of that and it ain’t pretty.
WRT the publishing house and the number of books – it’s not actually to their advantage to bring out a series of 56 books as opposed to 15 good books. there’s production costs involved in bringing out new books (yeah little details like editing 
). The real profits for a publisher lie in the reprints. They are better off selling 100 000 copies of one book as opposed to 20 000 copies of 5 books if that makes sense. So if sales begin to drop and fans are being lost, they’d be better off making Jordan produce something which is both saleable and forwards the plot. You’ve got to wonder if his contract includes the clause about the book being publishable. I’m too lazy to walk downstairs and find a contract and quote it directly but every contract I’ve ever seen has a loophole in it like that.
I have been convinced since about Book Six that he plans to make it a 13-book series (what with the significance of that number throughout the plot). It’s certainly been obvious for a while that he’s padding them. Hardly anything at all happened in Book Eight, and scarcely anything more in Nine.
I’m still early in Ten, but I’ve spent most of it trying to remember who the hell all these people are. The online plot summaries didn’t help refresh my memory much; not a single one I could find was ever updated for Winter’s Heart (despite the incredibly long lag, which may say something about Jordan’s waning fan base).
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I’ve been dying to recommend this to someone ever since I started reading it, so here goes:
The Fall of the Kings, by Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman.
It’s fantasy, though admittedly not quite in the same vein as RJ and Hobb. WARNING: Do not read if you have a problem with homosexuality. The two main characters are gay lovers.
Also, have you read the Rhapsody books? I found the main character incredibly obnoxious but many people seem to love them.
And yet another also, Sir Apropos of Nothing and The Woad to Wuin by Peter David are novels that parody the Big Fat Fantasy novels like the Wheel of Time series. They are good books on their own right as well. They may be a relief to you.
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Sorry about that. 
Some questions…
How many vols. are there currently out? I remember reading vol. six awhile ago and it was copyright '96(?) or something.
Are all his books 1 000 page wonders?(if so, how the hell does he manage to produce so many vol.s one after another?)
How much is this guy making per book?
You mean people actually still read those books? I’ve given up already and I haven’t even finished The Great Hunt!
My roomie insisted I start the books, but they never seemed something that I would really pick up on my own anyway. Don’t get me wrong I love fantasy but he drives me nuts. I only actually started to read when my roomie bought the first book and came home to literally drop it on my chest and say “read this”. He insists I slog through to the latest one, which he plans to pick up on payday, and I might if I can spare the time from books that actually hold my interest.
What irks me is not that he needs to wrap up the story right away, but that he needs to get to the events that have been promised and “just about to happen” for three or four books now. I wouldn’t care if the series dragged on as long as the battles everyone’s been preparing for actually started happening so we could get on to NEW events and happenings. I mean, the seige of the White Tower was JUST about to begin several books ago (litterally: they were stepping through the gateway to start it), after which there was silence in that plotline, and from what I’ve heard, although it finally begins it STILL hasn’t been resolved by the end of this new book. That’s crazy.
What I’m saying is: if the next two books simply rush into the ending, it’ll be JUST AS dissappointing as all this stalling. There are so many things that could and need to happen before the final battles even begin: so many other things to do, so many other adventures. And instead of doing them, and then maybe making room for more things, all the characters seem to be dicking around in the wilderness, saddling and unsaddling horses, tugging on braids, sending messages, thinking long and hard about the color and fringe designs of everyone dresses and tunics, but not DOING anything decisive or getting anywhere.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. Just finished the fourth part. Dark and complex (very complex) but very good. I have no idea when it’s likely to finish, but at least the plot is moving.
Hmm. Have you read any of Glen Cook’s Black Company series?
Juliet E. McKenna? Apart from anything else she’s just finished a series.
Is it possible to be angry with an author for wasting the potential of his literary world without having read a single one of the novels in question?
I just got The World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time on a Christmas bookstore gift certificate[sup]1[/sup], and his setting seems complex and fascinating. Very nice history, nice current political geography, interesting social/cultural differences and interactions. It seems like the kind of fantasy world that has incredible potential and promise.
But every single thing I read about the actual novels indicates that Jordan is wasting that potential by refusing to take the story anywhere. What should be an incredible blending of narrative and setting is mostly a great big lump of boredom and repetition. Despite my interest in the setting of the series, I’m not particularly inclined to pick up and read the actual novels. It’s sad, really.
[sup]1[/sup] I’m a sourcebook/worldbook junkie. There are no 12-step programs for this. 
I’m having the same problem. It basically lost, and I don’t feel like going back to read the other 9 books again. I can’t stop myself from buying/reading the books though.