If you want strong women in a fantasy series, I highly, highly, highly recomend the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. The forst book was a bit tough for me- pretty gritty descriptions of what really happens in a war-torn region- but the writing is great and the characters are even better. These are some of the best written women I’ve found, you won’t like all of them, but then again, I don’t think it’s necesary to do so, but they are all three dimentional people with thoughts and feelings and baggage. There isn’t as much of the “magic” element that WoT has, but if that isn’t what keeps you in, this is a good one.

Please note it’s not the last book. Second-to-last, so they say.

Has Francesca read the Discworld novels? They are not epic in tenor, although they are in scope. And, in my own estimation at least, the writing and characterization are a head and shoulders above Jordan’s. They are teeming with self-possessed, capable female characters.

I would take Granny Weatherwax over a whole troop of Aes Sedai any day.

Everything you say is understandable. It is a matter of how much one wants to keep going until the pace picks up again, as Francesca said.

But I want to respond to your comment about the shrewishness of the female characters. This is true. But WoT is also one of the first fantasy series — and I think the first of its scale — in which the female characters across the board are strong, independent, and get things done on their own — even the ones who can’t do magic. Hardly any of the women NEED a man except for romantic/sexual relationships. They don’t need saving. They are not damsels in distress. Francesca likes that.

However she agrees that it would be nice if they were, now and then, POLITE to the men!

This is me. I loved this series right up until around this point (I think I got through Book 7). Then it just became a soap opera and I gave up. I was really starting to think he was just milking it along to see how far he could go, regardless of how bad the story got or rediculous the characters. Now that I know it’s finished, I might try to keep going, but honestly by the time I gave up I really didn’t even LIKE any of the characters anymore, even my favorites from book 1 (I’m looking at you, Perrin). Also, I hate how shrewish pretty much every single woman in the series is. Really, so very few of them had more than one dimention and it just got worse and worse as the series went on.

I am sorry to hear he died, I’m sure he was a lovely man. I’m also sorry if Francesca feels I’m bashing a favorite, but this series got in my craw and I can’t let it go. It’s pretty much the first time I got this far into a series and angrily gave up.