Amazingly enough, I didn't read this series when it first came out, and I've read a lot of books (of a wide variety of genres). Now I've read the first 3 of this now and I think it's interesting to read the reviews now vs the time they were written.Just sticking to this 1st book, overall I agree with the reviews and ratings. It's an excellent story and excellent writing. The one thing that is different now than then is that it is no longer unique. Many fantasy books (and more importantly perhaps, movies) have created whole new worlds and I don't find Jordan's that different really (replace Orges with Trollocs and Clerics with Aes Sedai, etc). Sure it's different, but not amazingly so. Also, the 3 main character theme vs the traditional one is now old hat thanks to Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and decent supporting cast TV shows (Stargate, Firefly) and movies. So again, at the time, this was all breakthrough and wonderful, but reading it now it's great, but not shocking is all.What I actually find great about these books is the pace at which they move, given the sheer size of each book. The interest, suspense and action all keep moving and while each book is a story in its own, also ties to the larger arc. Well done there.Jordan captures the gender stereotypes well also. Again, new at the time to have main female characters and strong female characters, but old now (and somewhat overdone, especially in TV/movie areas). What might be nice is to see smart male characters. What I find lacking in a lot of fantasy novels is any real politics/trade discussions. Ok, so not as exciting as swashbuckling perhaps, but would be nice to have more depth from time to time.Anyway, based on only 3 books of the series, this is great overall and I'm looking forward to more. But in that I'm also looking for more character and world development along with arc continuations.Edit:Now I've read the 1st 6 books and I can say the story has kept up it's good pace and intrigue, and characters have changed, developed, which is good. I particularly like that we see more of the world and its politics and slowly see more of the Dark One's plans/actions.I suppose at this point there are only 2 things that are bothering me. First, the repeated and dominant use of the device of Person A believes that Person B needs to be protected (from others and themselves) and doesn't need to be asked/included in discussions - the condescending paternalist attitude that constantly leads to missed communication and crossed goals. Once or twice, fine, but it's always there.Related to this is the constant Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus aspect. One might expect the average person in the story to adopt these views, but these characters are not average. Perhaps it's a reinforcement of the story setting where no one is enlightened and all kings are blood-thirsty savages with no brains that need Aes Sedai to guide them and all women are helpless and need men around to protect them, but I seem to have higher expectations.Edit update: 1/3 of the way through Book 10Ok, things did slow down a bit. Part of the issue is that there are so many players and so many tangents that it takes forever to tell one and get back to another. Still, petty good overall so I'll try and finish it out. 

Question: How is the character?
Answer: savages