I just went back an re-read Eye of the World. That really is a masterful book, and i remember now why i started reading the series, and why i have stuck with it for all this time. The majority of people on this forum are here because of WoT, and Eye of the World made me understand why again. Looking throughout the whole series, i now understand a little better why things have changed as they did, plotlines bloating out of control as new threads were added with each book, because you have to have something new to fill those 900 pages. I mean, the same thing happened to Martin, and he was heralded as "The New Hotness". Jordan is still my prime influence and inspiration along with Tolkien when it some to writing, and i also learned to stick to the Trilogy format from seeing what happens otherwise.