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Apparently GRRM made up for all the lack of Tolkien talking about going to the latrine where there is no latrine. Yet another reason I am heartily glad I gave up on reading the SOIAF with the first volume, back in the before days when it was first published.
Unprecedented foresight and wisdom.
After getting burned by the Wheel of Time series, my "never start a fantasy series unless it's finished" rule has spared me from several much-hyped series that look like they will never be finished (GRRM and Rothfuss immediately come to mind).
You and a lot of other people. Larry Correia often rants about how badly this has ruined the market for new epic fantasy authors, though for some reason he blames GRRM rather than Jordan.
To be fair, Jordan was well aware he might not be able to finish the series himself, and planned it carefully and left all his notes so another writer could do the job. ( @RoyGBivensAction ).
True. It was a more a combo of unfinished + went to crap after book 4/5/6 (opinions vary) that caused me to implement the rule. Even if he had lived and finished it, it wouldn't have saved the series from how terrible it became.
It got finished by Brandon Sanderson in case you weren't aware, using Jordan's notes, after being chosen by Jordan’s widow. That was one of the major elements propelling Sanderson to fame.
My understanding is that Sanderson managed to tie up most of the loose ends and get back to the main characters pretty well, though I never finished the series myself. I have a sort of affection for the later books just because with Rand they go into character/political territory that ordinary fantasy (and indeed Dark Fantasy which has its own genre constraints) never actually has to get into, but I have to admit that my rereads usually stop at the end of book 5.
Yes, I'm aware, but I had long lost interest by the time that happened. When I started reading them (shortly after book 9's release, I think), I was under the impression it was supposed to be a 10-book series. Not sure if it was marketed that way, or if I mistakenly assumed it, or what, but that was my belief. When I finished all those (and boy were some of those later ones bad), I was dubious it was going to happen. I read book 10 and saw no end in sight (and hated all the characters by then), so I cut my losses and stopped paying any attention.
Fair.
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