Wheel of Time re-reading: help

[Shadowplay]

Oh lord help I think I'm now considering reading these again.

I started this series when it was about 2 or 3 books in, loved the first one, 2nd was ok, 3rd was good... then things started really going downhill IMO. I think I made it through the 5th one... maybe, but I can't even remember now. I own at least 6 of them and hardcover at that.

Knowing this is such a subjective question, can people here tell if it's worth my time to read this series? I would start from the beginning as I haven't read that first book in more than 15 years. Wow. I suddenly feel really old.

[corroonb]

Originally Posted by Shadowplay

Oh lord help I think I'm now considering reading these again.

Knowing this is such a subjective question, can people here tell if it's worth my time to read this series? I would start from the beginning as I haven't read that first book in more than 15 years. Wow. I suddenly feel really old.

I'd say no myself. Look for some new and better authors. The first few books of the WOT are good but after the 4th, they get ridiculously slow. I don't know if it's worth your time to read through 7,000 pages of tugging braids and smoothing skirts for the occasional plot-line.

I take it you're a fan of Tad Williams. He's far superior to Jordan in my opinion. Joe Abercrombie is supposed to be a good new author of heroic fantasy. I've read a bit of the first book and they seem quite good. Mervyn Peake is also brilliant if you've never tried him. Difficult at times but a unique sort of style. Robin Hobb and George RR Martin are good too. And of course Tolkien.

[Shadowplay]

Originally Posted by corroonb

I'd say no myself. Look for some new and better authors. The first few books of the WOT are good but after the 4th, they get ridiculously slow. I don't know if it's worth your time to read through 7,000 pages of tugging braids and smoothing skirts for the occasional plot-line.

Stop, stop... you're bringing back memories best left buried.

I take it you're a fan of Tad Williams. He's far superior to Jordan in my opinion. Joe Abercrombie is supposed to be a good new author of heroic fantasy. I've read a bit of the first book and they seem quite good. Mervyn Peake is also brilliant if you've never tried him. Difficult at times but a unique sort of style. Robin Hobb and George RR Martin are good too. And of course Tolkien.

Tad Williams - always enjoy his books, though I haven't read his newer fantasy series. "Memory, Sorry & Thorn" and "Otherland" were much fun though.

I've been hearing great things about Joe Abercrombie and just haven't picked anything up yet. Nothing really in ebook and then I kind of forgot about him.

Mervyn Peake - is that the Gormenghast guy? I tried starting all that once, long ago, but didn't "get it" I think. Should probably give it another go sometime.

Robin Hobb - *LOVE* the Farseer books! Read the first 3 and i guess you'd say the last 3, centering on the Fool, but skipped the middle ones about the Liveships or whatever they were called as I wanted to keep going with the same characters.

George RR Martin - love the idea of his books, the gritty realism he injects, but I just can't seem to stick with it. I've read the first book and half way into the second book twice, but have never finished that 2nd book.

Whew! Sorry to have derailed this thread. I'll step out now.

[rahulm]

I'm on The Shadow Rising (book 4) at the moment.

I am seriously considering giving the series up. You are right on the money with the comment about braid-tugging, skirt smoothing and the bloated descriptions, it makes getting through the books a real pain in the ass.

The only thing keeping me going is the hope that Jordan will stop describing furniture and go on revealing important information about Rand's ancestry, the Dark One's true nature, etc.

[BenG]

Those were annoying but what really annoyed me was that after 6 long books, he was still introducing new characters and subplots. That was when I started thinking of them as a soap opera with an open ended plot.

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by Shadowplay

Mervyn Peake - is that the Gormenghast guy? I tried starting all that once, long ago, but didn't "get it" I think. Should probably give it another go sometime.

Robin Hobb - *LOVE* the Farseer books! Read the first 3 and i guess you'd say the last 3, centering on the Fool, but skipped the middle ones about the Liveships or whatever they were called as I wanted to keep going with the same characters.

Of course, Peake is the guy who spends two or three pages describing a fly buzzing around a room. If you don't like detailed description, Gormenghast may not be your cup of tea.

Shadowplay, I recommend the Liveship stuff to you. The Fool is in it, although you don't even realize it until the Tawny Man trilogy (there are hints, but I didn't pick up on them until having it laid out for me). The third trilogy does make more sense with the information from the Liveship series.

Back on thread topic, I think the WoT will be a much better read when the whole thing is available. As each book has been released and more plot threads get started than get resolved, people have gotten frustrated because there hasn't been a sense of completion at the end of a book....and it's been a two year wait between them for the most part. Once you can view it as a single story it'll be a more pleasant/less frustrating read. I think. The latest book was phenomenal, in part because a lot of the loose threads started coming together. I'm very much looking forward to Brandon Sanderson's entry next month.

I'd say it all depends on whether a fourteen book story (plus a prequel) is something you want to invest your time in.

[corroonb]

Originally Posted by GlennD

Of course, Peake is the guy who spends two or three pages describing a fly buzzing around a room. If you don't like detailed description, Gormenghast may not be your cup of tea.

The difference is that Peake is a good writer who doesn't spend time describing the same things again and again and again. Jordan's "detailed descriptions" usually add nothing to the plot, whereas Peake's are usually focused on key characters or settings. Peake describes things the way he does because he's an artist and is striving to create images and not just words.

On topic, I heard that Sanderson had to rewrite his single book sequel into two because Jordan's widow wanted "more clothes" and descriptions of said clothes.

I think sticking to trilogies is a good thing for fantasy authors because otherwise they tend to become over-complicated and impenetrable to newcomers. George RR Martin looks like he's falling into the same hole Jordan fell into and the plot is starting to get away from him. Even writing different stories in the same setting is preferable to creating an unwieldy number of characters and places.

[BenG]

Originally Posted by corroonb

George RR Martin looks like he's falling into the same hole Jordan fell into and the plot is starting to get away from him. Even writing different stories in the same setting is preferable to creating an unwieldy number of characters and places.

I've been waiting for him to finish before I started his series. At least he hasn't yet put the series on hold to publish a prequel before the main sequence is finished.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by rahulm

I'm on The Shadow Rising (book 4) at the moment.

I am seriously considering giving the series up. You are right on the money with the comment about braid-tugging, skirt smoothing and the bloated descriptions, it makes getting through the books a real pain in the ass.

The only thing keeping me going is the hope that Jordan will stop describing furniture and go on revealing important information about Rand's ancestry, the Dark One's true nature, etc.

hehe I've almost finished book 6. I'm going to keep with the series. What irritated me a lot in the first 3 books especially was every description of a fire never let out any heat. Book 4 I think was the first one where a fire actually let out some warmth. Also Jordan was so descriptive on describing the creases on a dress for 3 pages and yet he'd sum up what should have been a good fight scene into 1 or 2 paragraphs. IMHO character fighting outcome is more important than the constant retelling of Aes Sedai dress colours.

I can tolerate him dribbling on a little with the main characters, but when he dedicates an entire chapter to the current feelings/thoughts and history of an insignificant character whom you don't come across again for another few chapters or books, that drives me a little nuts. But that said, the latter books I find the first 200 pages or so difficult to get into, but after that the story seems to flow again at a reasonably good pace. I am starting to break up my reading though, the first 4 I read sequentially but I am finding I need to read a different book to break the story up a little.

[zerospinboson]

Slashdot loves him. Or at least as much as he deserves.
Anyway, ch.1 of book 11 available as a free download. Book will be out oct. 27
Enjoy, I hope.

[Namtar]

Looks like they are officially releasing them in eBook format accoring to this statement linked from the latest TOR/Forge newletter

Tor will be releasing the ENTIRE Wheel of Time series in various eBook formats beginning with the release of The Eye of the World beginning on October 27th. Each book will be released in series order on a monthly basis after that. The text of the books has been optimized for the ebook reading experience, and retain all illustrations and maps from the physical books. Pricing is not yet available

the linke to the whole announcement is here.

So looks like only another year and a half until they are all available as ebooks - one a month.

[bertold]

Originally Posted by Shadowplay

Knowing this is such a subjective question, can people here tell if it's worth my time to read this series?

I think it is, but only if you judiciously skip around. It's not that difficult
to recognize a description you can obviously ignore and just move past
it. Yes, this is annoying, but there are some very nice moments in the
series which are worth getting to, in my opinion. For example, what happens
in the second half of book 9 is huge. I would have hated to miss that,
but I would have, if I hadn't skipped at least 10% of the book while reading
it.

[kwjones]

I started re-reading the series again for the 4th time. I think I may be falling out of love with it. It's just not capturing me the way it used to.

[Over]

Originally Posted by Shadowplay

I've been hearing great things about Joe Abercrombie and just haven't picked anything up yet. Nothing really in ebook and then I kind of forgot about him.

Just. Read. It. Now.

[JSWolf]

Please do not purchase the new Wheel of Time eBook if the others in the series are not released or you will just be telling TOR it's ok to screw us over with book series. And you'll be doing no favors for every since person who reads eBooks. So please, pass this one by. Stay far away.