I've read the entire series 6 times (all 14 books!) - and the ending roused me so much that I read it in a day - all 900+ pages - and thinking about it still chokes me up.
The last book, while getting to it, had moments - but as a writer as well, I thought was spot on whiz bang on point.
I don't need in your face taboo like Martin writes for me to appreciate a complicated plot.
Tolkien? I love his writing to bits, moreso because he wrote as a love of creation on which the fantasy genre derives from still.
I put down Jordon somewhere around book 6. I was no longer interested in the proliferation of yet more, and more, and more of the same bitchy female character. I had no interest paying Jordan money so that he could work out his mommy issues.
Martin is Jordan for adults.
The only similarity between the two is that at his current pace, Martin, like Jordan, will also probably die before the series is finished.
BTW, if you like the gritty realism of Martin, check out Glenn Cook and Joe Abercrombie.
I have also read the entire WOT. Disappointed by the conclusion.
Unfortunately, I think RJ desperately needed a more aggressive editor. The 14 book series would have been much better edited down to perhaps half that number.
And the military aspects became pretty ludicrous in the last few books. Once Traveling had been rediscovered, marching massive armies across country for thousands of miles became pretty pointless.
I thought the first few books in the series were far superior.