This thread turns around to Wheel of Time.
Jordan his weaknesses but he is a great writer, world-builder and he will remain one of my favorite authors.
I'll give you the worldbuilding. WoT got the richest world I've seen in fiction. Other than that, he's terrible. For example, discovering the black sisters in the White Tower is one of the most compelling storylines in the books, and it's dealt with quickly in a few pages. That's followed by 200 pages of tedious discussion of the port access deal with the sea folks that can skipped without missing out on anything. Additionally, the length of the books can be cut in half just by removing "women be like this, men be like that" nonsense that you see ten times per page. And I agree with fish's points as well. Just terrible.