SciFi/Steampunk series for fan of Wheel of Time?

[Larry of the Lawn]

Never read it but I imagine JVs around the world in 80 days features lots of steampunk trappings. Maybe swap out chapters if that with a typical epic fantasy and see what happens?

[Kitakaze]

EotW is definitely a Tolkein riff. The series deviates from that path significantly and even includes a definite Dune riff a few books later.

In much the same way you can't judge Malazan on its first book, I'd give WoT at least through book two or three before writing it off.

Read Sword of Shannara, then come back to WoT; you'll appreciate it a lot more ;) There's less of a focus on Rand in the next couple of books.

Gardens of the Moon was great, I thought. Steep learning curve but I prefer to hit the ground running then be handheld. EotW was seeming so tame in comparison after Martin, then Erikson, then Rothfuss. The Chandrian, The Others, The Crippled God, all of those things seemed infinitely more interesting than The Dark One, Shai'tan. But even for what I thought were shortcomings, I really want to like WoT. It has the more the tone I want now and Malazan's Midnight Tides has had my head spinning with the Letherii. It was somewhat like what felt like a huge divergence with the Iron Born in Ice and Fire. I know it will ultimately pay off, but the bleakness is quite a downer and Erikson's humour, while good, is not enough to offset it.

I think I'll continue on with WoT, especially if it gets away from the Tolkien lifting. If I want to read Tolkien, I just go and reread Tolkien.

[Werthead]

But since I'm struggling to find something in fantasy to keep my attention, I'd like to try a huge scifi series, or a steampunk one (if it exists). But I like the high canvas of WoT, with hundreds of characters, a rich and interesting history to the world, ancient secrets, a bunch of competing factions with their own plots and manipulations, politics, etc. Are there comparable series in scifi with a similar feel?

As mentioned above, Hamilton and Frank Herbert fit the SF requirement and Tchaikovsky the fantasy/steampunk one.

For another SF series, Stephen Donaldson's Gap series is worth a look. It's huge in scale but it filters everything down through a smaller number of characters. Still pretty epic though.

[mcbigski]

So let's do this in reverse. Never read any WoT. Should I?

I think I read once Terry Brooks book and thought it sucked. I rate LotR above ASoIaF, mostly because it's more lyrical. Martin does plenty of phenomenal things, but JRRT had an amazing way with words. While I'm not a 'this isn't real literature' snob, I don't read a whole lot fantasy generally. Pretty much also read every Terry Pratchett book I've been able to get my hands on. Would I like WoT? Or is it pretty much median level fantasy escapism?