im guessing u havent read hobb... her writing encompasses continents and centuries. the live ship traders novels have multiple characters as well. The history of her world alone overshadows GRRMs even tho her saga spans 30 years.ur comparing styles not context, it is next to impossible for us to objectively quantify the difficulty of the complexity of a novel. A first person point of view can be as complex as multiple characters. most importantly she has written 9 novels each as long as GRRMs and they came out consistently every year Assassins apprentice and a game of throne both debut in 1996. I love ASOIAF as much as the next guy, but the fanboys are out of control sometimes...
At the end of the day no series has come close to the greatness that is Dan SImmons Hyperion/Endymion Omnibus. That is Epic series at perfection.
I disagree entirely that ASOIAF has a less complex history than the Farseer universe. I've read all 9 books set in that world and I find the books pretty sketchy in terms of history. Once there were dragons, and from the dragons sprang the Elderlings and the time when wonders were every day occurences. Then there was a great cataclysm and the new world was born. The Outislanders eventually settled the six duchies, so on and so forth. Some history is given on the nations, how they wwere founded and some of the cultural history. Individual legends are presented sometimes, such as the Rooster Crown but only as it pertains to major plot points such as ressurecting the fool and not so much presented to flesh out the history of the world. I know this is an oversimplification but I can't think of anything of import that I have missed. I just finished rereading the Assassin and Fool series as well, so a lot of it is fresh in my mind. If there's anything I have missed from the Liveship books, feel free to correct me but I don't think my representation of the history Hobb creates is inaccurate.
ASOIAF: The history of the children of the forest fighting the first men and then uniting to fight the Others, the coming of the Andals and the Rhoyne then the coming of the dragons, the Blackfyre Rebellion, not to mention the history behind the Free Cities, the Eastern Contintents, the death of Valyria and so on. Then there is more recent history which is even more detailed, Robert's Rebellion, the Greyjoy Rebellion. It's all very complex.
Added to that is the fact that ASOIAF has a half-dozen well fleshed out religions and countless organisations with their own traditions and historical members such as the Nights Watch, Kingsguard, mercenary companies, the great houses and the minor ones. The history given on stuff like the Wit communities and Skill coteries in the Farseer books are good as well.
I really enjoy the Farseer trilogies, though I didn't really like any of the characters in Liveship as much as characters like Fitz and Burrich. Admittedly, perhaps my memory of the history presented in the Liveship Trader books isn't too fresh because I haven't read them in a while.
My point isn't that these books lose out because their history is less detailed, I am saying that as a person who has read both series, I think the history and detail of the world in ASOIAF is way, way more complex. The history of Westeros encompasses continents, races, religions and myths over centuries and not just with a historical look at important events, but with attention paid to individuals.
I also think that the amount of time taken to produce books is a ridiculous indicator of quality.
Lastly, while I loved the Farseer books, the Forest Mage series are some of the worst fantasy novels I have ever read or at least I thought they were absolutely terrible.
