There's a lot of fantasy out there that doesn't cave to hubris and loss of focus. It's not as "intellectual", and it's still escapist, but I've read a lot of Mercedes Lackey books that, you know, they just make me fill...full. She doesn't get up with herself. She just writes books that make me feel, they make me think, and they put me in places I couldn't ever be. And even though they aren't really written on the "level" that Jordan/Martin are, they DO make me think. They make me think about life, not about what contorted plot twist will come next. They make me think about the situations she presents and the lessons she has her characters learn, and how people in real life could benefit from those lessons, or how those lessons exist in real life in other forms. And, in her instance, she's, slowly and through many trilogies, developed this rich world that she's continuously teaching us about. It's a JOY to read her books and put the pieces together. It's not a...a project like it is with putting together Wheel of Time facts. It's an easy pleasure.

I have a old friend who is very religious, who went from believing homosexuality was an unacceptable sin to something that could be tolerated, if still bad and frowned upon, by reading a single trilogy written by a "light" fantasy author. Sure, that's not a huge step, but it's bigger than some people make! That's worth keeping in this world!

No, it's not as "smart" and "complex" as some of your high fantasy gets, but a lot of the lighter fantasy deserves some credit. It communicates on a different level. I have never cried over Jordan. I have had to bite my fist to keep from bawling my eyes out over Lackey. She brought me to an emotional turmoil, and a perspective that I could never go to myself. It was beautiful. You had to have been there

It's definitely escapist, but I think that kind of writing is worth reading.