• We’ll have to agree to disagree on that. I don’t consider “long” to be either necessary or sufficient for something to be “epic”—long is just, well, long. When a narrative with a single continuous plot gets longer than half a million words, I start to suspect it needs a better editor. When it passes a million, I know it does. There were rumours as early as the publication of the third book that Jordan was padding the thing out in order to keep his cash cow going.

      (Expecting more downvotes from this, so don’t be shy—I can take it.)

      • He is excessively wordy, I can agree on that, especially when it comes to describing women’s clothing. But the story itself and the world he created are also epic achievements. I think more people would get to experience the latter if he hadn’t done the former.