Wheel of Time series

Zehn - Vhex_sl said:

Just started reading the series, on book 1 still. So far kinda boring. However I now know where like 1/3rd of the people I knew in EQ and WoW got their names.

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I had a lot of trouble getting into it myself when I first started Book 1. I actually stopped for a time before going back to try again, but once you get past the pretty slow paced opening of the first book it gets good.

Imo it definitely picks up when they're on the run after fleeing Baerlon. Rand and Mat's chapters after that are quite awesome

I started this series 15 years ago and stopped reading when Jordan died. By that point most of the characters just annoyed the shit out of me with all the braid tugging and lamenting how many women they had killed and all. Also, I started reading Game of Thrones around that time and it makes this series look completely Twilight-ish. Given that, are the last 3 books (the ones ghostwritten by Sanderson) worth reading or should I just go find summaries on how it all comes together?

I thought Sanderson did a decent job. Certainly made me want to read sanderson's other works. Would be worth the read just to finish out the series

It's worth reading.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll go ahead and finish it out.

her hair was not cut

and i agree gawyn turned into worse than the girls ever were...

Wolfen_sl said:

It's worth reading, and Nynaeve stops pulling on her braid once she gains self-confidence. That, and she cuts her hair. Nynaeve turns out to be a decent character at the end.

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Well despite my FOH name, I didn't buy the last book until about 3 days ago. The last book of the series by far the best. It was a battle scene for 90% of it.


I honestly end this series wishing Sanderson was the one who wrote it from beginning to end. Maybe there wouldn't be as much rampant feminism or braid tugging. I had such a difficult time remembering all of the damn names too. Why introduce 1,000 different characters into a book ? That's all fine and dandy but I started skipping all of the girl POV chapters from book 6-11 and reading the sparknotes review of the chapter instead.

I think Sanderson did an excellent job on WoT. I might be slightly biased since I love his other books though. As for WoT in general I think it has too much filler. The core is great, but it feels like Jordan ran into trouble with the main plot after a few books and started padding the books to keep his publishers/fans happy. I think the series would have been better if compressed to maybe 6-7 books.

SAIDIN_sl said:

[...]I honestly end this series wishing Sanderson was the one who wrote it from beginning to end.

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voteban

sanderson's books might have been refreshing given the dull latter wot books but in no way is his other books better. i really think he appeals to the under-30 crowd (adhd crowd). imo wot is best read in and around puberty as it reads from a more innocent/naive/gentle generation, particularly its relationships.

I liked the Jordan parts; I started reading WOT after LOTR in middle school I think, and found them to be similar. Especially for their penchants for describing shit down to the very smallest detail - the biggest thing I remember from LOTR was Fangorn forest, and for WOT it was the fucking doublets of all the assholes at the one meeting Rand has in like book 7 or something. I tended to skim over those, but I think in large part to how they just had this entire world that was so real to them they could nail down the smallest things was part of why I really liked Jordan. Also, the "tone" of books is what tends to keep me reading. Jordan's tone was overall better for his series. Sanderson is very good; Elantris was a little oddly toned, but Mistborn was phenomenal. Still, for WOT as long as you skimmed past some of the women's chapters, the long, extended descriptions of things etc, I think it was better with Jordan.

HOWEVER, I will say that I think Jordan lost a bit of what I loved going to the end of the series, so when Sanderson arrived I think it definitely sparked some good things. Some characters became exceedingly more likeable, and I am unsure if it was the way Sanderson wrote them or the way Jordan wanted them written that did it, but I found there were characters I liked much more after he took over.

The last book was very good, though I did have an issue with...

Seriously, fuck Robert Jordan. I shouldn't be in the 13th (and second to last) book in this series and still be reading about major characters refusing to accept their lot in life. This series should have taken six books max to finish. Two books full of all of them complaining about how they are just simple farmers and how much they hate the things they have to do is plenty. 13 is fucking outrageous.

/rant

Just hit book 4 and what the fuck is wrong with these people? Lets see, about 7/10 times we sleep at an inn something terrible happens. Some tries to murder us and we get no sleep/have to leave town.

The alternative, camping out in the woods, works out just about everytime.

But fuck it, lets just pull into another inn so all hell can break loose soon. Even better lets stay at an inn and leave the horn in the room with 1 loser guarding it, I wonder what will happen, Hrm.

Anyway, really like the series so far, but everyone but Lan seems to do really stupid shit, I want more Lan and animal sex with Nynaeve.

Rod-138_sl said:

I want more Lan and animal sex with Nynaeve.

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Isn't this all anyone really wants?

nynaeve ended up being my 3rd favorite char.

Matt>Lan>Nynaeve>everyone else

in all honesty i think Matt would kick Lan's ass in a real fight.

Lan is a badass motherfucker though. Matt just Wins because he is the Gambler.


As for Series Length...7 books tops would have been a significantly "tighter" story.

Gawyn and galadred imo were a waste of the last few books- they could have been so much Better, but Nooo they turned into dicks. ESPECIALLY Gawyn.

Didn't really care for how Sanderson did Mat. Jordan Mat was definitely the best character though.