An incomplete song of fire and ice

[Ornery Wyvern]

You would probably need somekind of graph and an objective measure of quality with said measure and time taken as your axis to begin answering that, lol.

[Dyloot]

The way this thread has drawn in both Jordan and Martin is interesting, since I see these as entirely different scenarios. With Jordan, we had a span of several years in which books were being completed and released, but the books were of questionable quality. So some people weren't happy.

With Martin, we have a calendar span of 10 years in which only one book has come out. But that one book that came out between 2001 and now was of pretty high quality (although perhaps not as favored as the rest). And some people aren't very happy.

So: what's worse? A series in which books ARE being published, but those books don't hold up the standards of the series, or a series in which the books are NOT being published regularly, but are of pretty high quality when they do appear?

I think Jordan and Martin are very similar in that their earlier books were simply revered by fans. I think Jordan was even more popular than Martin for the first 6 books or so.

For Martin fans, Jordan serves as a cautionary tale of what can happen to a Big Fat Fantasy is the author continually adds PoVs and expands the world instead of wrapping it all up and finishing strong. Also, Jordan reminded us that authors are mortal and beloved stories can go unfinished if the author takes decades to complete them and, tragically, passes away.