Actually, my first roommate and my girlfriend have both read a LOT of Jordan, and he seems okay, but...
From what my sweetheart tells me, he needlessly interweaves the stories, forcing you to read the entire series to keep up when he could just as easily devote a book to just one tale. There's a sense with the Middle Earth and the Star Wars galaxy that you don't have to know everything to enjoy individual works. So I think Jordan's move is an unnecessarily restrictive attempt to create an "all-or-nothing" franchise.
Also, I think there's a HUGE difference between LOTR (and the Star Wars Saga) and the Wheel of Time (and Star Wars New Jedi Order book series):
LOTR tells one complete epic in six books (Books I and II in Fellowship, etc.) and SW tells one complete epic in six episodes. There's a real sense that Jordan could extend his story as long as he damn well pleases.
One large story of definite length (like LOTR)? Fine.
An indefinite series of several nearly self-contained stories (like most comic books)? Also fine.
One large story of apparently indefinite length? Not for my tastes, thanks.
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- Achtung Bubba
What did you find, Dad?
Me? Illumination.