Wikipedia is the best:

Reviewers and fans of the earlier books have noted a slowing of the pace of events in the last few installments. This slowing culminated in the tenth book Crossroads of Twilight which covered only one day in the lives of the characters.

Ha! And aren't these books like six hundred pages long? (Holy shit, apparently 864.)

However, he maintains that A Memory of Light will remain one volume "whether it is 1500 pages long, Tor has to invent a new binding system, and it comes with its own library cart".

Well then. There's only one more book left, see! And apparently, what, he projects it will take him thirty years to write it??

I was confused at first: The Wheel of Time is bad to get into, but apparently the...thing with the.. Songs of Ice and Fire, I think it's called? Those books are good, though?

I'm liking them. Ummm, there was a five year gap between books at one point but he seems more on schedule. (Next book is next year and I think that there will be 7 in toto .)

Ooh, the Wikipedia entry for the Wheel of Time might be a good way to get caught up -- just so you can read the most recent book.

ETA: here is the wikipedia entry for A Song of Fire and Ice.

The books are known for complex characters, sudden and often violent plot twists, and intricate political intrigue. In a genre where magic usually takes center stage, this series has a reputation for its limited and subtle use of magic, employing it as an ambiguous and often sinister background force.

The novels are narrated from a very strict third person limited omniscient perspective, the chapters alternating between different point of view characters. Martin has a reputation of not being afraid to kill any character, no matter how major.

Hrm. Definitely sounds more interesting than Wheel of Time, which looked like your standard epic fantasy hoo-hah. I don't know where I'd find the time to read these longass fuckers, though.

Ooh, the Wikipedia entry for the Wheel of Time might be a good way to get caught up -- just so you can read the most recent book.

Heh, I skimmed the summary of the first book, and, yeah, it looks like more Lord of the Rings stuff...and I didn't really like READING Lord of the Rings so much.

I think that Wheel of Time is more like what would happen if The Lord of the Rings were set in Sweet Valley High.

Which is occasionally funny! But not on purpose.

t holds her matched LOTR set close

They don't understand, my precious, no, they don't, you're nothing like those other books, no, not at all. They're all cribbing off of you, sssss.

The Wheel of Time: making the Lord of the Rings look short for the past two decades.

Oh, thanks for pointing out the wikipedia entry! God bless geeks and those who remember where geeks post.

I have discovered that my local library has BOTH the new Elliott and the new Bujold. I must go there this weekend and pay down my ginormous fines and put holds on books.

Ok, for those Shel Silverstein fans: Em got "Runny Babbit" for her birthday and ohmigawd. Joe and I were reading it tonight and we had tears running down our faces. It's so very good.