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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jhallum" data-source="post: 9776290" data-attributes="member: 682">I'm biased by my age.  I read nearly the entire series as it came out back in the day (I think I started when Book 4 hit the shelves). A fair piece of my internet youth in college was reading the Wheel of Time Usenet group and debating theories about what this or that means, along with Babylon 5, which was a TV show contemporary for at least books 3-6 or so.  What I dig about Wheel of Time is what I like most about epic, massive-scale fiction. I love a good set piece, and Wheel of Time has a lot of grand set pieces.   There's also learning about the scale, the cultures, and how characters interact with each other.  It has a lot going for it for me since it was the first mega series I ever started.What sets Wheel of Time apart is the role of prophecy in the plot.  Large amounts of vague foreshadowing bring a fantasy world to life more than anything, and prophecy and the role of the seer (not spoiling who) give a bit of clue as to how things might go, but so vague as to allow for surprise when things turn out a bit differently than planned. Is WoT my favorite fantasy read?  It's my favorite epic read for sure, more than Malazan, which I also love, just not as much.  The Lies of Locke Lamora is still probably my favorite one-off fantasy read.</blockquote>