My favorite series is the Wheel of Time. It is very long so when suggesting it to people, I always tell them to read just the first one since the story moves along very quickly (compared to the rest of the books I guess) and it has a good enough ending that it doesn't leave you hanging. Also, if you can get past books 7, 8, and 9 (seriously, you can just read a short book summary of each since not much happens in them) it picks up a lot after that. Book 12 came out last November and I think I read it in about 2 weeks it was so good (Sanderson is writing this and although it looks like he's trying to match Robert Jordan's writing style, he doesn't bore you to death with as much detail). It was just like the first one, non stop action since he's trying to wrap up all the loose ends and preparing for the huge war that will take place during the entire last book. The next book comes out in November of this year and the last comes out next year.
And whats wrong with the Dark Tower series? How often do you get the chance to read a book where the Author throws himself into the story?