HI! long time lurker, you know the rest
Let me sum up the readers' feelings.
casual readers:
Finally, we can move on!
I got an ending so I can forget that bloody series!
I love never-ending battles! Who cares about the characters?
fans and critical readers:
Jordan (The Glorious Sun):
living characters
consistent vocabulary/style
fascinating story
has great ideas
one can re-read any book of his
there is logistics
big, interesting and short! battles
does not forget about even tiny characters
knows his cast
there is depth
characters are themselves
readers age: 10-110
Sanderson (a flickering candle):
one-dimensional characters
small vocabulary, he has no style at all
boring "story"
has no ideas at all
re-reading: no go!
no logistics
small and very boring battles
main characters: written in water
knows nothing about the cast
only scratching the surface
characters acting out of character
readers age: 10-14
Of course, the real problem is this:
Hey buddy, should I read Wheel of Time?
Answer 1: No. Pale imitation of LotR, no ending.
Answer 2: Max the first books (1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6), then go to Wikipedia and read the summaries.
In 10-15 years, nobody will remember WoT.
Well, one thing can help to keep WoT alive. TV. The adaptation needs an edited version, so Tor can publish a short version:
(based on friends and forums)
No Perrin (admit it, he is just a filler character all the way from EotW to aMoL, one could skip all of his chapters and will lose nothing)
No Faile
No Thom
No Gawyn
No Galad
No Morgase
After LoC:
Rand dies, so Mat will be the real Dragon (there was a really good theory on this), Rand has no role in later books
Aviendha dies (she has no role in later books)
Nynaeve dies (she has no role in later books)