Robert Jordan is a superior world builder/designer than Martin, but Martin has a better sense of pace and plot twists.
At least until the last book, in which
Captain Sasquatch evidently shot it all straight to hell. Didn't he say the next book would be out five years ago? And he forgot half the characters in the last one?
The sad thing is that for all its copious length, it looks like Wheel of Time will be finished before Martin gets the next Ice and Fire book out. He's apparently nowhere even close, according to his own blog.
Bahamut.Zorander said:
Is Towers of Midnight? the last book in the series? Oh yeah what how long ago did Robert Jordan die?
Jordan died in 2007. Sanderson is finishing the series under the watchful eye of Jordan's wife (who was his editor), and his former assistants. They're finishing the series off Jordan's copious notes about how he wanted it done, which he had years to write because his terminal illness took awhile.
Sanderson is an enormous RJ fan, so he's taking the utmost care in it, mimicking his style as much as possible and supposedly the last books are really good. RJ's wife chose him.
I'm not up to the last books yet. Only up to 10. The problem with the Wheel of Time is that it goes into a fairly long lull from about book 6-9, where not a lot happens but massive political setup, etc. Jordan admitted later that he got bogged down in a world that had gotten too big and a character roster that had grown too long.
A lot of people drop the series at this point, because it doesn't have the rapid-fire action of the first ones. But it picks up again for the big finish.