The Wheel of Time

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

So I orginally made it up through The Gathering Storm and stopped as the rest of the series hadn't come out yet. Finally getting back to it after 4-5 years. Trying to decide how to refresh. I don't think I want to reread the entire series again. Perhaps just The Gathering Storm?

 

Anyway, figured such an epic tale deserved a thread. Let me know what you think I should do and discuss anything else about the series.

[Raev]

Did that series get finished?  I thought it was incomplete due to the author dying.

 

I have been contemplating picking this one up.  I read the Song of Ice and Fire series and really enjoyed the epicness of the tale.  It's turned me on to reading the epics.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Did that series get finished?  I thought it was incomplete due to the author dying.

 

I have been contemplating picking this one up.  I read the Song of Ice and Fire series and really enjoyed the epicness of the tale.  It's turned me on to reading the epics.

 

It did, he knew he might die before finishing and made extensive notes. His wife had Brandon Sanderson finish the final books. It's 14 book long, I made it through 12 before catching up. Going to reread 12 to start back in I think. It's very good, writing style similar to Martin's. Not as much adult content. Beware though, I think it's the longest fantasy series ever written.

[kaelvan]

You just had to give me more books to read

[Barmacral]

Probably a good idea to start with Gathering Storm, give you just enough refresh on the series to know what is going on in the last two books.

[BellaDonna]

I read the series years ago until I go to . . Crossroads of Twilight. Ugh. My favourite characters, sitting in a farmhouse or whatever for the whole book.

 

But when I belatedly realised the series had been completed by Sanderson, I read through from where I stopped, to the second-to-last book. And found I couldn't bear reading the last book . . So of course I read through the whole series again ( I love reading, so no problem there ) and then . . the last book.

 

I got way too emotional getting to the end of that book. I loved the series as a teenager. They were my escapism.

 

 

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I will probably read the whole series again one day as well, just no time for reading anymore (babies are a lot of work) and so many series yet to read.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AliTheDrugDealer]

I think I only made it through "The Gathering Storm' too.  I need to get the last few books.  Rereading the Divergent series right now before Insurgent comes out.

[Avatar_V]

I made it through about book 7 or so before I got distracted with other books. Really enjoyed the first part of the series, but it seemed to drag a little in the middle. My wife has read through them all a couple times and tells me that Sanderson did a good job finishing it off, so I'll have to give it another shot some time. It's been long enough since I read them (and I wasn't as far in as you) so I'll probably just start from the beginning someday when I read them again.

[Hulk In Nerds Clothing]

I read the series about twice and listened to the audiobook more than four times at least.

So the thing, if you don't want to start from the beginning and can stand audiobooks would be, listen to them until you get to a point where you haven't read the stuff

I know some people say that the middle books are tedious and long winded. Yes, they are. But they are also part of the series and while I read them more superficially the second time through, I didn't skip them.

Also, don't be alarmed. The first Sanderson book will feel different. I had the impression that in the beginning he tried to copy some of Jordan's style, but as he got more comfortable, he found his own pace. Which by the way, I enjoy very much.

[Barmacral]

While the middle books are slower paced I disagree with them being tedious, I really enjoyed them all, even book 10, everyone's favourite book to hate.

[PMyrrh]

Aaaaannnnddd another series to add on the 'To Read' list, haha.

I remember going through books 1-4 a few years back, good reads.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I'm about 1/3 of the way through Gathering Storm now. I think between this and hitting up the WoT wikia every time I don't remember a character's backgorund and intentions, I'll be fine.

[MariahSnow]

I've been trudging through this series for a while now. For whatever reason, I guess I just didn't really catch on to the severity of the situation or something or didn't connect with the characters until the end of The Lord of Chaos and throughout A Crown of Swords. I don't want to give any spoilers away, but the books are paced much like the Harry Potter books...

 

In the beginning is usually the aftermath of the previous book, pretty quiet and detailed, not a lot of action <--- this is often the biggest part of the book, and the part I drowned in

In the middle, things start clicking into place and plot lines start coming together <--- this is a smaller part of the book

In the end, there's usually some major action, multiple characters engaged in strife and struggle <---- this is an even smaller part of the book, but several action-packed chapters

And then there's a small recap at the end <--- this is usually a chapter or two at the end

 

In some cases, for me, the Wheel of Time books spend a LOT of time in the beginning and middle phases. And because the books are long, long-winded, and detailed, I often find myself asking "why do I care about this random character and their something or other". Only to find out that in 30 chapters later, all that stuff was pertinent to the story. It felt boring and difficult to trudge through.

 

I do have to say that the wikia is a great resource. And I know reddit has a WoT page but seriously beware, there are spoilers all over that shit and it's not nearly as organized as the Game of Thrones reddit.

 

Anyway, currently on The Path of Daggers and really loving the series now. The first ~5ish books were really tough to get through, probably because I was reading 5-10 pages at a time before falling asleep at night.

 

Edit: I am reading this series at the same time as a coworker who previous read most of the series but stopped in the middle of Winter's Heart. She's reread them all and made it through Winter's Heart. So my goal is to burn through Path of Daggers, get through Winter's Heart and then I should have enough steam to finish the series.

[BellaDonna]

 

In some cases, for me, the Wheel of Time books spend a LOT of time in the beginning and middle phases. And because the books are long, long-winded, and detailed, I often find myself asking "why do I care about this random character and their something or other". Only to find out that in 30 chapters later, all that stuff was pertinent to the story. It felt boring and difficult to trudge through.

 

 

Ha, yes I well remember that feeling. When I reread the books it was easier to get through those parts knowing that there *is* actually a point to it somewhere way down the line. It wasn't quite so painful.

[MariahSnow]

Ha, yes I well remember that feeling. When I reread the books it was easier to get through those parts knowing that there *is* actually a point to it somewhere way down the line. It wasn't quite so painful.

 

I had a really hard time with prologues in the first ~5 books because I didn't understand the context. Or if, perhaps, once scene would reveal an Aes Sedai as a member of the Black Ajah, I'm like, "wait, who is that person again? Why is it a big deal if they're Black Ajah?" Needless to say, the Wheel of Time wiki has been very helpful.

[Jittersthe.Clown]

I enjoyed the series a lot.  Every time a new book came out (since A Crown of Swords), I started over at The Eye of the World to review.  

[KB Girl]

Bit late to chime in maybe, but I just thought i'd mention that the audiobooks are really well done, very nice voices. So if you want to go through it all again you could consider using them. It's nice to listen a bit while walking the dog or folding the laundry for example

 

Also I think Brandon Sanderson is great and i'm super relieved it was finished (starting reading when I was 12 or so and cried when R. Jordan died) but I do think he messed up the last book a bit. The character he invented himself and wrote into the books was just a bit too important / all powerful / played too important a role for someone who only got introduced at the end. While reading I didn't mind at all, but looking back it's kind of disappointing to have such an obvious Mary Sue in there.

[Barmacral]

Two potential characters I'm thinking of that you're referring to. One I wouldn't call a mary sue, they were definitely not all powerful, just convenient. The other was actually written in by RJ and Brandon basically wrote them in in advance to give them an introduction.

[KB Girl]

Now i'm curious who you're refering to? As for the mary sue character I was talking about Androl, who was actually in the books before, but Jordan left no notes for him. Sanderson picked him up as a character to "make his own". The problem with him is that his talent with gateways is so incredibly powerful that he was responsible for like 5 huge victories... (which was a shame because hugely foreshadowed other characters played very little roles, like our false 'king' dragon, and these victories were shifted away from existing characters.) Also Androl had insane backstories, 300 different jobs and more travel stories than Farstrider himself.

[BellaDonna]

I actually liked Androl and his neat tricks with the gateways - but I did feel his storyline took up a bit too much, for such a last minute character.

 

I found it a bit weird that you didn't always see much reaction to characters' deaths, especially from people who were supposedly really close. Cold.

[jfreaksho]

I read through book 9 or 10 some years back.  I really only enjoyed the first 3-4 books.  The rest were just tolerable.  Lots of really interesting concepts, really tedious to actually get through.  You spend an entire book on one character on one mission that you have no idea what is going on when you get to the next book and start focusing on another character.*  I'm not inclined to read them all again  to close out the series.

 

*Terry Brooks has done this too, but I think he does a better job of integrating small chapters of the other storylines to keep you on pace with those characters, even while focusing on one.

[Barmacral]

Now i'm curious who you're refering to? As for the mary sue character I was talking about Androl, who was actually in the books before, but Jordan left no notes for him. Sanderson picked him up as a character to "make his own". The problem with him is that his talent with gateways is so incredibly powerful that he was responsible for like 5 huge victories... (which was a shame because hugely foreshadowed other characters played very little roles, like our false 'king' dragon, and these victories were shifted away from existing characters.) Also Androl had insane backstories, 300 different jobs and more travel stories than Farstrider himself.

 

Androl was one of them, I thought he was convenient more than mary sue since that was the only thing he could do. The other I was thinking of was the old Aiel lady that visited Aviendha at the end of Towers of Midnight.

[KB Girl]

Many of the roles he (androl) played could have been fulfilled by other existing characters, who were instead left a little flat. There were many ashaman that didn't live up to their storytelling potential.

So no I don't think he was merely convenient, he was someone Sanderson enjoyed writing a little too much.

[MariahSnow]

I just finished A Memory of Light yesterday. I liked Androl but I can see how he seems random and rushed. I wish there was more with the Black Tower earlier in the books because we see it when Rand is in Caemlyn but once he's off doing other things, we lose touch with what's going on there except maybe in a Prologue here and there.

 

I read a criticism on Goodreads about how the Robert Jordan books are so slow in comparison to the Brandon Sanderson books. I thought at first that that was the result of the climax in a story, but even the books before A Memory of Light were jam-packed with action in almost every chapter. The Robert Jordan books felt very slow and very tedious.