You've hit the nail on the head with that series, Labby. There are a lot of comparisons in my little group between Jordan and Goodkind, and the Wheel of Time series and the Sword of Truth series. The problem with both is that they borrow so heavily on other genre-building books such as LotR, and also on historical storytelling such as King Arthur. The one thing I can say about Goodkind is that he's not *quite* as verbose as Jordan was, with the books a bit shorter, and the series actually finished in 11 books. My husband's currently reading the SoT series, and he's gotten further through that than he ever did with WoT.

"You need me. You wouldn't be much of a hero without a villain. And you do love being the hero, don't you. The cheering children, the swooning women, you love it so much, it's made you my most reliable accomplice." -- Lex Luthor to Superman, Question Authority, Justice League Unlimited