GregHowley.com

In my mind, this is the ultimate hardcore fantasy novel. Besides Lord of the Rings, maybe. This series is addictive, enthralling, and the books actually get better as they go on rather than worse. The setting is incredibly detailed, and I can't recall a series with a greater number of characters. The number of characters actually gets cumbersome at times. On my second reading, I began taking character notes on post-its, and soon had about a dozen full of my teeny-tiny handwriting.

Robert Jordan's plot has a Sauron-like villain, a Paul Atreides-like hero who is Über-powerful, and many other characters and groups borrowed from fiction, but this is not the partial plagiarism that exists even in other good fiction. Jordan makes these elements his own, and creates a magic system that is more detailed and original than any I have ever read in a fantasy novel.

Addendum: Around the time of the eighth book, things really slow down. Path of Daggers(8) was a bit boring, Winter's Heart(9) was much much better, and then Crossroads of Twilight(10) was incredibly slow. Thankfully, Knife of Dreams(11) picks things up a bit and gears up for Jordan's 12th and final book.