Most of the big WOT fans I know do not like the SOT series. This is in part because SOT borrows so heavily from WOT ideas (which I do not mind as WOT borrowed from Tolkien, mythology, etc) but I and most WOT fans take big exception to how Goodkind denies ever reading WOT which appears to be such a blatant lie. (If he did come up with all this on his own then we all owe him an apology but it seems unlikely). My main complaints about Goodkind is that he is so preachy, his writing is too superficial and his characters are to two dimensional. The characters are either very good or vary bad (there are some exceptions like the development of the Mord sith characters). Richard is always right, even when he looks wrong, he is right by some convoluted plot twist, etc. Jordan has much deeper multidimensional characters. The good characters have some darkness to them, and even the evil characters have some lovable points. If fact the forsaken are some of my favorite characters. Two other problems I have with Goodkind are his somewhat graphic descriptions,of evil (although descriptions of Richard's torture by the Mord sith may have been necessary to plot development) and the cheesy ending to the series. Jordan says he knew how WOT would end from the beginning, and all of us WOT fans have been looking forward to this great ending for the past 20 yrs will be really po'd i the ending is as stupid and contrived as what Goodkind came up with.
I guess you know from my post how much I enjoy WOT. In spite of the above rant I enjoyed SOT as well but it was a much simpler, superficial series. Jordan weaves such an intricate, complicated, multidimensional plot and characters that it is a great joy to read and read again. Every time you reread the series you discover new things, either new foreshadowing, new subtle plot twists or details, that is is amazing. I think much of the criticisms of Jordan's series stems form the fact it is so complicated and was written over such an extended time that each book while much anticipated was always unsatisfying because when finished, we were left with the realization that it would be 2 years until we got to read more. Book 10, for example, is very enjoyable as a reread knowing what happens in book 11 and being able to go right into the nest book, but as a stand alone, having to wait 2 yrs for book 11 was another thing altogether. For anyone that enjoys a good story and really interesting char ac`ters, I cannot think of another series to recommend above TWOT. GRRMartin may be a better writer, and ASOF and I is a great series as well, but it is so graphic and violent, that it can turn off a lot of readers.