The thing about me and Jordan is that I'm not really reading him for the big epic quest (and the "epicness" in the early books actually annoyed me more than anything). I know where it's going, and details aside, I know how it ends. I'm not bothered by the fact the "main story" has slowed down, or that Jordan went into so much details about the Andoran succession, or the Tower conflict, nor even that Faile doesn't get rescued fast, or that Tuon and Mat are just on the road. There's a lot happening in COT, it's just not obviously relevant to the main storyline. It's also a book about things getting bogged down and stalled while time is running out, so it's pretty normal there's a feeling of stagnation in some place. Jordan sought to create that effect. Arguably, he overdid it

It's also not as interesting to a lot of readers, and I understand that - whereas it deals with stuff I personally find enjoyable, and I find Jordan on the whole far more interesting in detailed, slow storylines than he is when he tries to be fast-paced and epic (he's not all that good with that, IMO), so... that's why I prefer the later books (from POD, say) to the earlier ones (though my favourite is book 4, in part because it's then I knew I wished to continue reading).



Well... that may be a plus for me, but only as long as Erikson manages to keep me interested in his world.

I read big series with a main storyline that seem to "go somewhere" mostly because it's what is available, and I like big series. I guess I'm more interested in imaginary worlds than in traditional epic fantasy as such. I loved Miéville's Bas Lag for its lack of that (but I would gladly have read 4-5 more BL stand-alones).