So I'm reading the Sword of Truth books by Terry Goodkind, and they are definitely entertaining if not nearly on the level of storytelling of the Wheel of Time. Probably because Mr. Goodkind lifted significant portions of WoT and incorporated them into his series. Anyway, I'm reading book 6 at the moment (Faith of the Fallen), and I stumbled across some passages last night that I thought were fairly profound.

"Reason is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts, nor are a means to discovering them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality-it's our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see."

Taken by itself the quote is pretty good, but take it in context by reading the end of book 5 (Soul of the Fire) there are some interesting reflections in our modern day world where many people born into freedom don't fully grasp what it means and 'evade the effort of thinking'.

While I definitely think Robert Jordan is a much better epic storyteller than Goodkind, Goodkind has an ability to reflect adult ideas in his work that Jordan lacks. Whether it's the characters who don't bitch about why they were chosen for greatness every time you visit them, or the theme of fighting for your freedom, Goodkind can relate his books to the real world in ways that Jordan can't. Goodkind should still be sued for plaigarism though.