Moonbiter: (why does that remind mi of Fenrir?
) You seem to like your fantasy a bit on the dark side, eh? And you condemn Jordan's work? I must admit, the books after The Lord of Chaos were really dull compared to the rest, but recently the series has picked up again. And the first six are in no way targeting a minor audience IMO... Yes it's typical High Fantasy, yes Rand & Co are all powerful and our boy manages to splatter millennium-old champions of darkness while still being a half-ignorant shepherd.. But that's exactly what High Fantasy is all about! The coming of age of the main character , the ultimate world-saving quest and a strong good VS evil theme.. I don't know why u didn't reply in the other thread about ASOiAF, yes George R.R. Martin is refreshing but he got a bit carried away in the whole "everyone dies" theme. I mean the only characters I could still like and are alive are Danny/Arya/Jon Snow/Tyrion/Jaime/Areo Hotah(gotta love that guy
)/The Hound/Bron/Timet/Shagga.. But none of them is a leading character one could get attached to - and i'm sure that whenever JRRM feels we are getting to like someone too much, he'll think of a brutal death for him/her asap..