@Guitarman, Shadowmarch is awsome, I finished the series quite recently, but pretty much anything by tad williams is (I have not read bobby dollar yet but I'd be surprised given I've never read a single bad book by Williams).
I wouldn't say hobb is like WoT precisely because of what you said about characters, sinse where that is where Jordan (and to a lesser extent sanderson), falls down, it is one of Hobb's strengths, Hobb also tends to write about one character for most of her books, Fitz Shivelry, though actually my favourite series of hers was still Liveship traders which concentrated on multiple characters much more than either of the Fitz series, though being as I also like Pirates I was probably a little predisposed to like that series :d.
I fully agree with you on characters, and as I said there was a hilarious bit in WoT with battles that made me laugh, I believe at the end of book 8 though i will wait until you get to that bit before actually saying why I found it funny sinse it would be a bit of a spoiler otherwise.
I disagree on Sword of Truth being like WoT, ---- accept for also being rather sexist. I enjoyed the first book as a sort of fun fantassy, albeit one with some really shocking moments, however the series just went down from there sinse each book was essentially a repeat of the first, more torture, bigger monsters and a different magic puzzle each time. Where WoT had a distinct world and culture, Goodkind kept making up different lands as he went on and different creatures and magic.
My biggest problem with Goodkind though was the way he had rto ram his politics down everyone's throat to the point where it actually affected the story seriously. i got really sick about reading wrants of how good life was and how evil anyone who thought people should be equal was, indeed he sort of demonized those who disagreed with him so much they were completely impractical! ---- heck how exactly does an army successfully conquer anywhere while keeping the population of every city they capture alive to torture for days and days on end, while destroying all the fields and crops and constantly expecting to survive, really the organization just got insane! In the end I admit I finished the series to book 11 more out of duty than desire and I certainly haven't read anything he wrote after that.
Wizards first rule I did like, and the other books occasionally had some nice character moments, but those became fewer and fewer as the characters of the sereies basically just turned into ways for Goodkind to spout his own views.
Glad you took my advice about the Ducnton books they are awsome, though I have to say where as I regard the first trilogy, Duncton wood, Duncton Quest and Duncton found as some of the best books I have ever read and indeed reread them every so often, the second trilogy I just thought were good. Certainly worth reading, but not as phenominal as the first. audio versions exist in the Uk but I'm not sure about else where.
I am looking forward to starting Rothfuss, I've heard some very good things, though tearing myself away from the dr. who audios I'm listening to right now will be a challenge .
I don't think there are many series exactly! like WoT other than Sanderson, and even he has his own style, however different authors have different strenghts, some of them even better strengths than Jordan, which is why I tend to like a huge range of boks.
With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)