Robert Jordan, author of the "Wheel of Time" fantasy series, and assorted Conan novels, died
I am not much of a fantasy reader, although I went through a phase of reading all the Conan novels (originals by Robert Howard, then the later sequels by de Camp and Carter and then Jordan, haven't looked at the third wave of graphic novels and movie tie-ins).
Occasionally, some friends would recommend a fantasy series, some of which I read (like anything by Guy Gavriel Kay) and others not so much (I may yet forgive the friend who recommended the Illearth series, maybe, but the "Bio of a Space Tyrant" was unforgivable...).
So, at some point I picked up "The Eye of the World" the first in the Wheel of Time, bit derivative, but not bad. Good enough to pick up the next one.
Then they got better, quite good in fact.
Then, they dragged a bit, enough for me to stop reading for a number of years, then recently I caught up again and discovered the pace had picked up again with a lot of of sub-plots closed and the main plot moving to a climax.
One book remains unwritten.
Most likely someone will actually write it, from notes and drafts, but it will not be quite the same.