I am about a hundred pages into book 4, and I love it!
I have other stuff to read, but I dont want to interupt the reading of these fine books with other fiction.
Who is your favorite character?
I love Perrin. Something about him is so tortured, so burdened, yet he remains noble. Somehow more human that the others, despite his wolfy tendencies.
Morgaine is a bitch. Cant stand her. I didnt like Nynyeve until the girls were taken by the Seanchans. Egwene is probably my favrite of the female characters.
I am so impatient for them to get back to the Two Rivers, I just know the Children will do something terrible to Tam and the others.
After 3000+ pages…they feel very real to me.
If only JKRowling was as prolific as Robert Jordan!
Surprisingly, Jordan does manage to keep the series interesting, even with all of the books he’s managed to cram in. If you find it heavy going in the next few books, take heart; the most recent one seems to indicate a bit of a change of tack from the author. I’m waiting to see if it’s a new trend, or he was just smoking something particularly good for the last volume.
What number is he on, anyhow? We bought the first six as a set (three cheers for the SFBC), and then the next, and then the NEXT, and no freakin’ end in sight…he’s getting to be like Piers Anthony, without the pedophilia and rationalization.
The last one we bought, we got three years ago…how many more have there been? When did the last one come out? What was it called?
And to the OP (as I blush over my brief hijack) I enjoyed them a lot…until I started feeling as though I was merely being manipulated into blowing another $26 every two years. If the most recent book(s?) are a little bit more coherent, I’ll be all about finding the set and starting over from the beginning, and reading up through the current book…even round out our collection.
I read an interview recently that says he plans on writing them until he keels over.
I’d rather have him wrap it up in a tight package. I mean, he probably could have comfortably done it a few books ago without leaving any loose threads.
I’m still enjoying them a heck of a lot. I have the latest sitting on my dining room table right now. It’ll have to wait until the semester ends, though. Nothing like grad school to kill any desire to read for pleasure…
Ahhh, Kelli… enjoy it while it lasts. Because after book #5, the party’s over, and the heartbreak begins. You’ll read #6 and think “OK, this wasn’t that great, the main characters were starting to act like immature moronic brats, and the plot wasn’t really advancing, but hey! Cool climax!”, even though the climax doesn’t come near that of #3, #5 and especially #2; then you’ll read #7, and when you’re finished, you’ll think “wait a minute, I just read something, didn’t I? Then why can’t I remember a single thing that happened? Lemme see, there was this scene with Nynaeve, and…”; and then you’ll read (God knows why) book #8 and think “Well, at least it was shorter than #7. An ending would have been nice, though.”; and then… I don’t know what happens then. Beyond that, even I dared not venture.
But then again, you don’t like Moiraine, the third-most appealing character in the series (after Lan and poor Mat). So maybe you’ll see things differently. As for myself:
You know, I can help out there.
Go to your neighbourhood bookstore and buy A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Read it. Call me later to thank me.
I’ve enjoyed the Wheel of Time since I read Eye of the World in 7th grade. I’ve begun to hate the long wait between books, though I’m glad that statistically I’ll outlive Jordan and hopefully see then end of his series. For what it’s worth, though, that quote about keeling over comes from the insert of all of his books and states something very similar to “he lives with his wife and plans on writing until he keels over”. I believe it used to be “… plans on writing until the final nail is put in his coffin” on earlier books of his. I don’t believe it refers specifically to the WOT series. I hope not, at least.
Anyways, the books are great, but I would suggest that skipping chapters with Nynieve, Elayne, Egwene or Elieda (ohh, the humanity in my spelling) would make books 6 and 7 much more enjoyable. When I re-read the series, I did just that, and it improved them immesurably.
Once you finish book 9, come back and we can discuss conspiracy theories about Thom and Matt and Rand and Asmodian and who Luc really is.
Superb book… and the second book is great (although not as good as the first one). And the third is, well, pretty good (notice the trend?).
In fairness to Jordan, the 9th is actually quite a bit better than the two or three previous books. It restored my faith that the series wasn’t just going to spiral into blandness and oblivion (like everything Piers Anthony touches).
I’ve read up to book 7 (I think that book 8 recently came out in paperback, and I haven’t gotten around to it yet…I wasn’t aware that book 9 was out) and my only complaint is that approximately the first half of each book was RJ going into redundant detail about how all of the characters got to that point. I realize that most authors that write a series will do this to a degree so that anyone who felt like picking up a book mid-stream (although god knows why you would) would be able to catch on, but enough’s enough.
Anyway, I found it extremely annoying. I also wish that Nynaeve would quit yanking on her braid and pull that stick out of her patootie.
My brother (the one who forced me to read the Wheel series - I dont usually go for fantasy stuff) has highly recommended A Game of Thrones too, he loved it.
Well, Ninnie (what I’ve taken to calling her; I can’t spell or even pronounce her damn name) is still the same. Loosening up a little, mabye. But RJ actually saves a bunch of the rehashing in the latest book. I was like you–I ripped through the first 8 books, hating all the explanations, and then all the sudden I was done and had to wait and wait and wait for the 9th book. By that time a lot of the subplots had really faded in my mind and I was looking forward to the rehashing. But there just wasn’t that much, if any.
I read in a lot of the reviews that this last book pushes ahead a little, and I see people mention it here, but I really didn’t see it. It was good, but I didn’t see how it was all that different than the rest of the series. Can you explain what you mean, Cerowyn, by “change of tack”?
After 9 books, though, with no end in sight, I’m ready for this “Game of Thrones.”
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT get me started on this topic. After each book, my sister and I email each other back and forth for weeks, generating enough discussion and speculation to put out a few books of our own.
OK. Books 6-8 got pretty slow. There was a whole hell of a lot of talking with very very little action. Although, having said that, I enjoyed those books much more the second time through them. I can see how flyboy may not have noticed the difference, when the next books were already out and waiting, but believe me, it was very frustrating to wait a few years for the next book, read it with breathless anticipation, and finish it, realizing that nothing much happened, and it was going to be several more years until the next one.
Then came the oh-so-glorious Book 9. RJ took everything that was wrong with the series and totally eradicated it. Gone. Nothing left. It was great. Tons of big major action and revelations. No one was sniffing or adjusting skirts needlessly or wrinkling their noses. None of that crap.
Crap. I’m really tempted now to start another thread about Book 9 spoilers and post my up-to-date Forsaken scorecard. You know, where they all are, who’s alive, who’s dead, etc. My sister and I figured out the status of all the Mystery Forsaken. Great stuff. But if I start posting, I’ll never stop.
Compromise: if someone else starts the thread, I’ll contribute.
One of the nicest things about “A Game of Thrones” is that it’s finite. It’s either 6 or 7 books (Martin has said, but I don’t remember which).
Something to keep in mind, though: Martin does not suffer from SpiderRobinsonitis (SpiderRobinsonitis: The tendency for an author to cheat to make things come out ok for a character that the author really, really likes)
I’m not going to say any more, because I don’t want to take a chance of spoiling the series, but I suspect you’ll love it.
Back on topic, is the first half of the first WoT book representative of the rest of the series? I really didn’t care for the part I read, but if it’s just Jordan getting his feet under him or a slow start before picking up steam, maybe I’ll go back and re-try him.
You know, I really like that about Martin’s books. Shocking as hell, when it happens, but there’s none of this miracle-out-of-the-woodwork stuff. At least not yet.
To add another tangent, has anyone else read any of David Farland’s Runelords stuff?
Yes i have read the first seven. No not the recent ones. I will wait till they’re all out thank you.
Still very dirty on him for deciding (after six) to make it longer - orginally it was supposed to be 7 and I thought he had it all set up so well.
Mongrel.
And all the women seem to get bitchier and more meddlesome as we progress.
I’m 200 or so pages into Book 9. I like it far better than Book 8.
Nynaeve is actually one of my favorite characters…and Moiraine, too. Min is my third.
I don’t care for Egwene, Elayne, or Elaida much.
I love Perrin, Mat, and Lan.
All the women are so…stereotypical, though. There’s not much difference from one to another.
I started reading the WoT books, ohmylord, seven years ago now, and I LOVED them. Really, really, really. I played a WoT RPG online for a couple years, and was practically obsessed. (I had very long hair and wore it in a braid every day for most of my junior year of high school. I even got in the habit of tugging it. :)) Anyway, I was pretty pissed off at RJ for not moving the plot at ALL for two whole (gigantic) books, and haven’t read the newest book, even though I work in a goddamn bookstore. But I talked to a friend who had read it the other day, and he said that stuff actually happens. Also, Mat came back. Oooh, I was so angry that RJ left Mat out! I love Mat!
So yesterday, thinking of my friend’s review of WH, I skimmed through the series for the first time in years. Writing wasn’t as good as I remembered, but the plot is still as complicated (a good thing in my world). I quickly found myself caught up in the storyline. So I guess I haven’t given it up entirely yet. I am a little annoyed at Nynaeve’s character changes though (she was one of my fave characters, or couldn’t you tell?). She went from being angry and confused at having her authority stripped away to just angry angry angry. She needs to lighten up! Nyn, darling, stop quibbling with Elayne and Mat. (I love Mat!)
There’s a subtle shift in the character development in the most recent book. Rand in particular seems to be thawing somewhat, and some of the ‘ice’ is broken in some of the personal relationships. I felt that “Winter’s Heart” wasn’t as dark as the previous few volumes.
