I've read the first three books. They're interesting, but I don't want to read the whole series until the last book has been published. With all the different names and terms, I think the series needs to be read straight through. Any significant breaks between books will leave characters and events forgotten, and I'm not about to read 12 books that are each 400+ pages just to forget it all by the time the last book is published. (Cast in point: I can barely understand the questions asked in the first post, because I've forgotten what all that stuff is.) At this rate, Robert Jordan is going to die before finishing the thing off, which will leave thousands of rabid fans up in arms.