Wheel of Time

I think there are gonna be 2 more after this one

(unless you are talking about Sword of Truth, I'm not sure how many they plan for)

 

Re: More suggestions

One of my friends who still reads this stuff is trying to get me to read . He's read basicly everything we've listed (both the writer & my friend). Apparently, this guy used to post on messageboards and got a feel for what annoyed people about Jordan & company. In his books, he breaks a lot of conventions like killing off main characters and such. Supposedly really good story & easy to read. I havent read any of them, just passing the info along. [/B][/QUOTE]

George Martin's stuff is by far the best modern (meaning within last 20 years) fantasy series I've read. He pretty much takes the typical fantasy conventions and destroys them by constantly throwing you curve balls, and you seriously have no idea what is going to occur next. He manages to make characters very believable by not making the good guys perfect and the bad guys completely evil. Most of the characters are grey, and one person's hero may be another person's villain and often depends on the reader's point of view. Finally, his work is anything but derivative--he actually has fresh ideas, something that has been sorely lacking in fantasy novels for many years. FWIW, I highly recommend them. But be forewarned, his prose is extremely gritty, and often quite disturbing. There is some extremely foul language and even fouler acts by the characters that might turn your stomach.