Robert Jordan‘s Wheel of Time and the age of the recipient

[Wiggo]

After a break of almost 25 years, I recently started reading WoT from the beginning again (I didn't know that there was also a TV series about it).

Apart from the fact that there are now 14 volumes - groan - I now have a hard time with all the different names. Without the fan wiki I wouldn't be able to cope and I wonder how I managed the first time reading without the internet.

Maybe I didn't manage it then either and I just can't remember. Anyway - is it because of my advanced age, or are there just too many characters that no one can remember?

How do you feel about books that have so many names floating around that your head spins?

By the way, I'm on volume 7 and still like the series.

[Calenorn]

It's a lot to keep track of, certainly.

I hung in with the series until some of the characters literally joined the circus. At that point I felt like there was no direction to the plot. The author was swimming in circles.

Swimming is fun, but you have to go SOMEwhere.

[Quoth]

I have them all, but I gave up in #12. It should have been 5 or 6 books. A shame.

[haertig]

I find that I don't necessarily have to keep a profile of each character in my head. Sometimes I do forget which character is which. Sometimes that is important and I'll use the Kindle's "find in book" search to refresh my memory of the character. Other times I ignore the fact that I've forgotten exactly who a specific character is, because it just doesn't matter.

I find this happens when I watch a TV show as well. Immediately after watching a show you can ask me what the main characters names were. And very rarely can I come up with the names. But I still enjoyed and understood the show as I was watching it. It can get a little confusing when I'm watching a long series, and the character they are speaking about was from last season. But then they show a picture of the character in some scene and I remember.

[Sirtel]

I read all 14 volumes a couple of years ago. And yeah, the wiki was a big help. Also the ability to search for a character name on my ereader, to find when they were first introduced (I have the omnibus edition of all volumes, so searching was easy, no hopping between different books). That ability to search was the main reason I got the omnibus.

[Kindleing]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

How do you feel about books that have so many names floating around that your head spins?

I'm not familiar with Wheel of Time but, just for fun (???), I read War and Peace while in high school. That was a little over 60 years ago, so no e-reader or Internet to help out. About the only thing I remember from the book is the mind boggling number of Russian names that drifted in and out... Tolstoy would bring in a new character for two or three pages only to have the character disappear for 50 or 75 pages. Then, upon reappearance, there was the struggle to figure out the context of the previous appearance. Flipping back and forth through the pages was very frustrating.

When I first heard about Kindle X-ray the first thing I thought of was how nice that would have been when reading War and Peace.

[rantanplan]

Did the series get worse or improved when Brandon Sanderson took over writing duties?

[Gandulf]

For me it started off good. The series could have be fewer books if he just stopped repeating things all the time, found that very irritating.

Try the Shannara Books only around 30 of them if memory correct. Also has a TV series but that only covers 3 books i think.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Did the series get worse or improved when Brandon Sanderson took over writing duties?

IMO it got already better in the 11th volume (the last one written by Jordan) and kept up the pace in the Sanderson books. Generally Sanderson did a good job; his weakest point was writing Mat, in which he didn't always succeed and admitted so himself.

[drofgnal]

I read Book one of the series, but never made it to book 2. I don't know why, I enjoyed book 1, it just didn't captivate me enough to take a plunge for what was at the time 10 more books. I have contemplated rereading one and pushing through now that the series is finished.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I read Book one of the series, but never made it to book 2. I don't know why, I enjoyed book 1, it just didn't captivate me enough to take a plunge for what was at the time 10 more books. I have contemplated rereading one and pushing through now that the series is finished.

I was the same. I read book 1 over 20 years ago. And I planned to read the rest, but never really got to it until a couple of years ago, when I learned the TV series was being made. Then I read them all.

[Calenorn]

I haven't read all the Shannara stories, but my impression is that Brooks improved as a writer over time. I especially enjoyed Elf Queen of Shannara. With a title like that, you don't expect a jungle horror survival story. It's like fantasy Hawai'i, overcome by dark magic.

Brooks has his faults, but he sure can write an action scene.

[svenlind]

I really enjoyed the first 6 volumes. I remember I had to wait a long time for volume 7, A Crown of Swords, that according to Wikipidia appeared in 1996. I reread the first 6 before I read vol 7. Vol 7 was, to me, a disappointment. I also bought Vol. 8 but did not finish it.
Actually it is IMO rather good that 6 large volumes are excellent.
I have bought the first volume as an ebook with the intention to reread it. The first reads were paperbacks.

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by haertig

I find that I don't necessarily have to keep a profile of each character in my head. Sometimes I do forget which character is which. Sometimes that is important and I'll use the Kindle's "find in book" search to refresh my memory of the character. Other times I ignore the fact that I've forgotten exactly who a specific character is, because it just doesn't matter

You're right about every character, but it's annoying when you can't remember an important thing 2 volumes before. Somehow I always have the feeling then that the story is passing me by.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I read all 14 volumes a couple of years ago. And yeah, the wiki was a big help. Also the ability to search for a character name on my ereader, to find when they were first introduced (I have the omnibus edition of all volumes, so searching was easy, no hopping between different books). That ability to search was the main reason I got the omnibus.

The easy search in eBooks and fan wikis are really worth their weight in gold. I have the feeling that it immerses me even more deeply in the stories.
I read the simple novels on the kobo and the complicated ones and non-fiction on the iPad, because looking them up on the web works better.

Originally Posted by svenlind

I really enjoyed the first 6 volumes. I remember I had to wait a long time for volume 7, A Crown of Swords, that according to Wikipidia appeared in 1996. I reread the first 6 before I read vol 7. Vol 7 was, to me, a disappointment. I also bought Vol. 8 but did not finish it.
Actually it is IMO rather good that 6 large volumes are excellent.
I have bought the first volume as an ebook with the intention to reread it. The first reads were paperbacks.

I just finished vol. 8 and it was the best so far for me.
Nevertheless, the whole thing could have been tightened up a bit.

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

I haven't read all the Shannara stories, but my impression is that Brooks improved as a writer over time. I especially enjoyed Elf Queen of Shannara. With a title like that, you don't expect a jungle horror survival story. It's like fantasy Hawai'i, overcome by dark magic.

Brooks has his faults, but he sure can write an action scene.

I read the first 4 shannara series, 13 books in all. There are still more. I enjoyed them all. The TV series kinda stunk though.