A Wheel of Time

Krusader

Is it worth the effort to read this series, going through A Dance with Dragons at the moment and looking for recommendations after Im finished, I know there's around about 14 books in the series so it would be quite a big effort to get through them all

OwaynOTT

Crosáidí wrote: »

Is it worth the effort to read this series, going through A Dance with Dragons at the moment and looking for recommendations after Im finished, I know there's around about 14 books in the series so it would be quite a big effort to get through them all

Skip Crossroads of Twilight and you'll be fine.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Skip Crossroads of Twilight and you'll be fine.

it's funny because it's depressingly true


also check out tad williams - memory, sorrow & thorn. imo a better series than wheel of time and at only 3 books doesn't needlessly drag on with subplot after subplot

AnCapaillMor

There's a lot of unneccesary talk in WOT, but get past that and they are utterly fantastic books. The main idea\plot of the book is possibly the best i've read in any fantasy. Currently listening to it on audio.

OwaynOTT

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

it's funny because it's depressingly true


also check out tad williams - memory, sorrow & thorn. imo a better series than wheel of time and at only 3 books doesn't needlessly drag on with subplot after subplot

It's better than that Tad Williams' trilogy and some of the subplots are great.

Antar Bolaeisk

I would recommend reading them but don't try and do a marathon run through them or you will burn yourself out. There's only so much braid pulling and woolheadedness one can take.

OwaynOTT

Also books 7 and 8, should really have been released as one book. I think Jordan split them after pressure from his publishers.

Book 1 - Good book, some standard fantasy troupes but also one or two nice little twists.
Book 2 - Better than one in my view and the story begins to develop more, enter the seanchan.
Book 3 - The end of the trilogy of books within the series. The first 3 are in some ways straight forward quest books. The books change from here on out.
Book 4 - No the series begins to broaden its's narrative horizons. The characters begin to split and go their own ways. A lot less, go here to get this kind of story arcs. Here come the subplots.
Book 5 - Continuing the great form of 4 but what are the 'Fires of Heaven'? The hints, foreshadowing and generally wtf hits full steam.
Book 6 - One heck of an ending and one of the finest battle scenes in the series, if not any series. The bloat begins though.
Book 7+8 - Would of been great if cut to one book but with the split the story drags and can go in circles a bit. The demise of a particular favourite character for me is frustrating.
Book 9 - Poor Perrin and his spinning his wheels and getting nowhere. That's my only complaint here.
Book 10 - Pointless? Maybe but certainly boring. Can be argued that without it, the following books wouldn't be as good.
Book 11 - Return to form by Jordan and sadly his last book. Benefits from the previous book gathering/realigning of plots.
Book 12 - Perhaps the tightest in terms of plot, with only two main arcs and they reflect each other thematically well. Sanderson's best? We know who killed a particular character.
Book 13 - Plot gratification is all this is. Doesn't hold up at all to a reread and could of done with a lot more proof reading and editing.
Book 14 - Only prologue released so far. Hard to make much of that but signs of both an improvement and continuation of Sanderson's poor handling. Talk of a 70,000 word section totally written by Jordan does instil some hope of an ending book deserves.

Sleepy

My birthday present from the fiancée this year...



I'm half afraid to start them!

Krusader

What about Robin Hobb I see her books in Easons all the time

pwurple

Summary version!
http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=386600

I'm recapping before starting the new one.

It starts with the prequel (New Spring). Scroll down for eye of the world.

OwaynOTT

Crosáidí wrote: »

What about Robin Hobb I see her books in Easons all the time

First Farseer and Liveship Traders are both excellent.

ixoy

OwaynOTT wrote: »

It's better than that Tad Williams' trilogy and some of the subplots are great.

I don't know - it's a long while since I read "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" but I found it excellent at the time. The problem with "Wheel of Time" is that it is far too bloated. It has some great concepts but it's got dragged down in a myriad of sub plots, braid tugging, Aes Sedai gossiping circles, etc.

It's a good series (and very good up to, and including, Book 6) but it doesn't, for me, hold up to others that are either more tightly plotted over their series (as above or Sanderson's Mistborn) or even more epic without quite as much padding (the Malazan series).

Trojan

For Hobb, see here.

OwaynOTT

ixoy wrote: »

I don't know - it's a long while since I read "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" but I found it excellent at the time. The problem with "Wheel of Time" is that it is far too bloated. It has some great concepts but it's got dragged down in a myriad of sub plots, braid tugging, Aes Sedai gossiping circles, etc.

It's a good series (and very good up to, and including, Book 6) but it doesn't, for me, hold up to others that are either more tightly plotted over their series (as above or Sanderson's Mistborn) or even more epic without quite as much padding (the Malazan series).

I have no objectivity when it comes to WoT, as its the first big series I got into and really ignited my desire for fantasy works. Whereas, Williams' trilogy came after it and long into my years of reading fantasy, like Magician, and I just never got into them at all.
What I can say for WoT is yes it can be bloated but it's a major influence, or at least began the trend, on later 'epic fantasy'.

Temptamperu

You wont regret it, fantastic stuff lined with intricate silk.

Krusader

should i start with New Spring or The Eye of the World

OwaynOTT

Crosáidí wrote: »

should i start with New Spring or The Eye of the World

Eye of the world and don't bother with that prequel.

AnCapaillMor

Yeah prequels pretty bad except for that bit at the start. First 2 can be a bit slow going at times.

hugo29

absolutely, what a fantastic read, sure some of the books are a bit slow, but you still read them

try Steven Erikson "Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen" another great series

Krusader

Trojan wrote: »

For Hobb, see here.

Got the first book of the farseer trilogy, will be getting into the Wheel of Time during Xmas when the missus gets me a few of the books

hugo29

when the final installment out

AnCapaillMor

hugo29 wrote: »

when the final installment out

Last week.

hugo29

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Last week.

ur fcuking kidding me, i waited over a year and i missed it, is it out in ireland yet

mcgovern

hugo29 wrote: »

ur fcuking kidding me, i waited over a year and i missed it, is it out in ireland yet

Yep

hugo29

Don't go to web site, threads full of spoilers

DapperGent

Sleepy wrote: »

My birthday present from the fiancée this year...


I'm half afraid to start them!

If I were you I'd stop about one foot down.

keane2097

WoT as a series, it's grand. Is the return on investment time-wise worthwhile, not a hope. There's some great stuff but as much terrible stuff. You could literally remove four books worth of it and improve the whole thing dramatically.

ixoy

keane2097 wrote: »

WoT as a series, it's grand. Is the return on investment time-wise worthwhile, not a hope. There's some great stuff but as much terrible stuff. You could literally remove four books worth of it and improve the whole thing dramatically.

'Fraid I agree. I've enjoyed a number of series more. I think that there was too big of a dip in the middle and a pacing that went to a crawl. Sanderson did good work on digging it out again but it's all just a little too bloated. It's memorable of course - how could it not be given I've been reading it for over half my life - but I was far sorrier to wind up the Malazan series.

hugo29

ixoy wrote: »

'Fraid I agree. I've enjoyed a number of series more. I think that there was too big of a dip in the middle and a pacing that went to a crawl. Sanderson did good work on digging it out again but it's all just a little too bloated. It's memorable of course - how could it not be given I've been reading it for over half my life - but I was far sorrier to wind up the Malazan series.

I agree that the Malazan series is better, still have 4 books to go on that one

AnCapaillMor

keane2097 wrote: »

WoT as a series, it's grand. Is the return on investment time-wise worthwhile, not a hope. There's some great stuff but as much terrible stuff. You could literally remove four books worth of it and improve the whole thing dramatically.

Kind of agree, just finishing up crossroads of twilight on audio and it can be summed up as "Meanwhile; yawn". I still think the basic idea, the central plot some of the side plots are\were some of the best in fantasy but too much dillydallying took off alot of the shine. It's a pity because it is a fascinating world and history

A mate was asking will they ever make a movie and you know i was thinking it'd be hard to class, for all the teeny type writing when it came to characters and some plots there was some really dark stuff there, jesus some of the crap the forsaken and dark friends did, if that happened in LOTR you'd have kids running screaming out of the cinema.

Loved the malazan books, but he'd waaay too much going on at times and he literally threw you into the middle of it each time(

You finally get your head around the holds and then he introduces the old gods and their magic

) and the central storyline seemed to keep shifting. what i'd pay to see eriksson take a go at matt's character.

old hippy

Still on book 2. Unless it radically improves, I think I'm going to knock it on the head after I'm done.

AnCapaillMor

old hippy wrote: »

Still on book 2. Unless it radically improves, I think I'm going to knock it on the head after I'm done.

Takes off in the last 3rd of the book. I found 1 and 2 a tough slog and some of book 3. For every great scene\chapter there's a boring scene that goes nowhere or goes into waaaay too much detail. Series really takes off about halfways into book 3 and pretty muich keeps going till 10, there's still some boring BS but the good outweighs them.

Reekwind

old hippy wrote: »

Still on book 2. Unless it radically improves, I think I'm going to knock it on the head after I'm done.

If you're struggling on the first few - which I would consider the best in the series - then I'd say don't bother with the rest

old hippy

Reekwind wrote: »

If you're struggling on the first few - which I would consider the best in the series - then I'd say don't bother with the rest

I read another 6 pages this morning

Nody

old hippy wrote: »

I read another 6 pages this morning

Switch to audio books (if you're used to listening to mp3s etc.); that's how I ended up getting through it after I stopped around book 10 last time because it is not nail biting stuff for 14 books...

I would say the series really gets going late book 3/start book 4

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i'd always have said it starts off very strong with eye of the world and keeps going from strength to strength until book 5.. book 6 is where the wheels kinda start to come off and by the time we're at book 9 you're only reading for the same reason crack addicts keep doing crack after all their teeth fall out.

lol, book 6 was one of my favourites! it's the one I started the series on as well, read it til the cover fell off
depends on taste I guess

AnCapaillMor

I'm with blue wolf, for me 6 & 7 were possibly the best books 8 was pretty good, it went a bit off the boil at 9 alright. I found book 1 really tough to get through at times. And what nody said on the audio books, really helped with the re-read.

fenris

I am in the middle of my umpteenth reread and I have to agree with Bluewolf, I just finished book 6 last night and foolishly (or not) got stuck straight into book 7 at too late o'clock last night with the result that getting out of bed on time nearly didn't happen this morning.

I remember the sheer frustration of thinking "you can't leave it there!" and waiting for "A Crown of Swords" when they first came out, it was pointy elbows time in Waterstones when it launched, which in fairness you didn't see too often for a seventh book in a series!

The whole braid yanking, skirt smoothing, all men are just poor dumb idiots thing does get a bit tiresome, but without saying too much, starts to fade a bit as the men start to grow backbones.

Audio books are a great way of catching up particularly for a reread, I tend to flip between the two and have gotten quite good at finding my place as I move from audio to real book/ebook.

Actually as a complete aside amazon have bought audible.com and have started to roll out a sync feature that does the position location automatically, so if you are reading the kindle version of a book and also listening to the audio version (like I do while commuting) then they synchronise stopping points and it makes things very seamless. Unfortunately they haven't done it for WoT yet. It does mean that you can end up completely stuck in a book for every spare moment of a day though with both audio and kindle version on your phone and the real book beside the bed.

hugo29

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

I'm with blue wolf, for me 6 & 7 were possibly the best books 8 was pretty good, it went a bit off the boil at 9 alright. I found book 1 really tough to get through at times. And what nody said on the audio books, really helped with the re-read.

never thought of audio for reread, great idea

ixoy

fenris wrote: »

The whole braid yanking, skirt smoothing, all men are just poor dumb idiots thing does get a bit tiresome, but without saying too much, starts to fade a bit as the men start to grow backbones.

But it's still a bit too present really, as is the whole Aiel's "wetlanders are mad!" or "Aiel humour" stuff. In general I found a few of those got very repetitive, especially spread over 12,000 pages...

Daroxtar

I'm halfway through book2, having read no other fantasy except Tolkien and a few Terry Pratchett. So far it's quite enjoyable, easier to read than the Silmarillion anyway (although when I read that the second time it was a fair bit clearer and 3rd time made me think it was actually a bit of a masterpiece....).

One thing I'll say, the first book moved at a nice pace but the climax was very abrupt IMO. Maybe I'm just a bit tainted by LOTR having glorious battles that last for 50 pages.
Anyway I think I'll keep going with it for a while. The local library has all the series so it's not costing me anything.

Edit: I read "Belgarth the Sorcerer" and "Polgara" by David Eddings years ago and enjoyed them at the time, is it worth looking into the Belgariad and the Mallorean or are they tripe?

Nody

Daroxtar wrote: »

I'm halfway through book2, having read no other fantasy except Tolkien and a few Terry Pratchett. So far it's quite enjoyable, easier to read than the Silmarillion anyway (although when I read that the second time it was a fair bit clearer and 3rd time made me think it was actually a bit of a masterpiece....).

One thing I'll say, the first book moved at a nice pace but the climax was very abrupt IMO. Maybe I'm just a bit tainted by LOTR having glorious battles that last for 50 pages.

If you think that's bad wait until you hit around book 9/10; 1000 pages covering 1 month of time and nothing happens (up to book 6 is considered the fastest paced story telling)...

Edit: I read "Belgarth the Sorcerer" and "Polgara" by David Eddings years ago and enjoyed them at the time, is it worth looking into the Belgariad and the Mallorean or are they tripe?

Oh sweet mother of brell you read them in the wrong order; the answer is a big resounding yes! You should have read the series first (I still re-read them over 20 years on, yea I'm getting old because they are fun) and then Belgarath and Polgara. There is even a third book (that I can't recall the name off) that's more general background information on the gods etc. as well.

Daroxtar

Nody wrote: »

If you think that's bad wait until you hit around book 9/10; 1000 pages covering 1 month of time and nothing happens (up to book 6 is considered the fastest paced story telling)...

Oh sweet mother of brell you read them in the wrong order; the answer is a big resounding yes! You should have read the series first (I still re-read them over 20 years on, yea I'm getting old because they are fun) and then Belgarath and Polgara. There is even a third book (that I can't recall the name off) that's more general background information on the gods etc. as well.

Ya, I know it was a bit silly reading them first but they were given to me as a present, I don't think I'll remember enough of Belgarth/Polgara to ruin the series. As you said , they were fun.

fenris

Now for the toughest part of my reread, Just starting Winters Heart, I think audiobook is the way to go until I get to Sanderson territory, otherwise it gets too hard to pick up the book again.

If you could balefire any character out of the series, who would it be?

Nody

fenris wrote: »

Now for the toughest part of my reread, Just starting Winters Heart, I think audiobook is the way to go until I get to Sanderson territory, otherwise it gets too hard to pick up the book again.

If you could balefire any character out of the series, who would it be?

Every damn sister from Tar Valon quickly followed by Rand...

AnCapaillMor

fenris wrote: »

Now for the toughest part of my reread, Just starting Winters Heart, I think audiobook is the way to go until I get to Sanderson territory, otherwise it gets too hard to pick up the book again.

If you could balefire any character out of the series, who would it be?

You'll definately need audio for crossroads, that one was painful, the elayne\andor bit while good at times took waaay too long.

Elaida to be balefired and i'd find some way to bring to erase that and then balefire her 100 more times. She still boils my blood

and being leashed was not punishment enough, she should've been made realise that she was an idiot, a dupe for the black ajah that raised her because they knew she'd be a disaster, then leash her

.

Sleepy

Almost finished the first book... you can see the tendency to over-write from the off tbh. I'm going to persevere with it though as while I'm not enjoying it as much as, for example, Mistborn or A Song of Ice and Fire, it's enjoyable enough and the other half will be fairly disappointed if I bail out of it when she's bought me pretty much the full series.

fenris

That is the thing about WoT, we bitch but we always go back, a bit like that dodgy night club with the sticky carpets from teenage years

"never coming here again" - again!

That being said, I really really don't care about lacework on dresses, smoothed skirts etc. fast forward is my new friend!

My biggest balefire award candidate at the moment is Egwene, the transition from irritating little sister that thinks she knows best to arrogant bungling PITA is well underway!

ixoy

Cadsuane wins a balefire award from me. Embodies the worst of Aes Sedai arrogance.