Simply in-cred-ible. THIS is what I wanted when I picked up the George R. R. Martin books. Epic fantasy with complex main characters (I really like how the aes sedai are both respected and hated/feared at the same time), but without killing off all your favorites. I couldn't put this down. I keep hearing negative comments on the middle books on this series, but I will continue on anyway. There were many aspects of this world that reminded me of LOTR, which may explain why I liked it so much.