Well, it’s been over a decade since I started on the series and I figured that I might have forgotten some of the salient points. So I started reading the series again. Y’know, I still like them.
Jordan really can weave a page-turning tale. I’m up to “The Great Hunt” after a few weeks and think I’ll be done with the rest by the time #27 “Blood of Shayol Ghul” comes out.
There are many things that I’ve completely forgotten about in the last ten years - characters, plots, reasons, etc. I had even forgotten that it was Mat who blew the Horn!
Anywho, they are a great read, and since I own them all, I’m getting double mileage for money spent.
I read them again last year. It really wasn’t until about the 6th book that they started bogging down for me. I thought 10 was pretty good. I also enjoyed the prequel in a good, but not great sort of way.
Slightly off topic, but as great as George R. R. Martin has been so far, I could easily see his books going the same route.
They are a great read… at least through book 5. After that, they nosedive, then recover in book 9, then nosedive again.
IMHO, of course.
But they really are an incredibly powerful and gripping tale. Which will never, ever, ever end.
(btw: you have read A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin, haven’t you?)
Started reading this series when the first book came out. A decade later… Well, I still enjoy the story, though the last few books really haven’t advanced the plot noticably and its really gotten a bit tedious. I still want to find out how the story will end. I thought Rand cleansing the one source also was pretty cool, as it enables at least the possiblity that he’ll survive.
So far I’ve loved George R R Martin’s series. I’ve read the first three books and have been totally engrossed in the plot…especially since he seems to have no reguard what so ever of wacking major characters at will. I heard the 4th book was either out or coming soon, so I’ll definitely pick it up when I see it.
Tee hee … once I get to the end of a BOOK I figure I might have forgotten some of the salient points in it (if there ever were any)
I remember having a long conversation with my equally Robert Jordan-afflicted roommate trying to figure out the real identity of the “man who called himself Bors” (but only in this part of the country). I think we accused everybody…Of course, that was when we still had conversations about the novels other than: “Boy, was it ever boring. And long. And Matt wasn’t in it.”
One thing I loved re-reading the series is all the small points and throwaway connections are made. It’s just a shame that the series peaked at book 4 then just went on and on and on. It should have gone no more then 6 books. I remember waiting and pestering book stores for release dates after getting past book 2. Now I just pick them up when I stumble across them.
When I’ve reread the series, I’ve found that I enjoy the “bad” books much more than I did the first time through. They’re still not great, but neither do they piss me off any more.
Incidentally, the fourth George RR Martin books has been “almost done” for at least two years now. On his own site, Martin recommends that we ignore any release dates we may hear.
I got hooked in 1996, and now feel compelled to read the whole frickin’ series when a new book comes out so I know what the hell is going on. I love them. Some of them are soooooo sloooooow, but I still read 'em all.
I do find that I catch “new” things every time I read them. I’m not big into trying to figure out “whodunnit” or what happens next, but I like to go back and see foreshadowing I missed the first time.
That’s precisely why I stopped after the second one. I’m not going back until he ends it. If he never ends it, I’m never going back. I learned that lesson already.
That’s a good idea, except for one thing, which is that you’re depriving yourself of the huge amount of enjoyment you would get from reading A Storm Of Swords. It’s really an outstanding fantasy novel.
I can understand not wanting to support him if he starts dragging something on artificially, but man, the third book of the Fire and Ice series does anything but that. Go buy it and read it. Do it for me.
A Storm of Swords? Oh you mean Tyrion’s Revenge. Damn I love that book.
As for the rest of it I really wish he hadn’t gone the whole “ancient evil reawaking” bit it’s been done to death in every fantasy book since Tolkien. The human politics are so much more interesting it’s a shame when I have to resist skipping over Jon Snow’s chapters just b/c I don’t give a rip about zombies.
As long as we’ve hijacked to talk about series that need to end what’s up with Goodkind? He’s already gotten out all the issues he wants. The ‘moral’ of his last story didn’t even make sense and was illogical to the character Deserve victory? Er ok. And how does that make it so he can eat meat now? He didn’t stop originally b/c he felt bad for killing he stopped b/c it made him physically ill he figured out the balancing killing issue in hindsight. Is it that he’s not supposed to feel guilty about killing people at all anymore? I really missed the boat on the point there. And the whole pacifism is wrong has been done to death in all his other books already. Wonder what the guy thinks of Gandhi? And yes I get it communism is evil.End the series and go write something you haven’t done to death!
I got hooked about 10 years ago, and actually met my wife through the old PacificPages WOT BBS. So, despite the recent idiocy of his work, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Jordan.
That said, books 1-6 were exceptionally good. In my opinion. 7-10 seem to be just filler, though they all end very well. Given that Jordan originally projected this as a 10 book series, and then expanded it to 12, I can see that he was just killing time. The fact that his wife is his editor is also a big no-no. I am all for domestic tranquility, but I’m willing to have someone sleep on the couch if it will save me some frustration.
For those of you that stopped at book 5- keep going, please! Book 6, Lord of Chaos, is a very cool book, and the ending chapters (The Black Tower, Dumai’s Wells) are unbeatable scenes of kick-assitude. I will say that I teared up at both chapters. My wife thinks that 'To the Cho’Don’cal (sp?), the last chapter in book 9, I think, is the best thing she’s ever read.
Here’s a minor, general spoiler for those of you that stopped before book 6:
Rand starts an academy for the male channelers called the Black Tower, and Mazrim Taim is the headmaster there! Taim promises that in a year, Rand wil have as many channeling soldiers with him as there are female Aes Sedai.
Wow, you’re the first person I know of who actually liked book 10. I found it to be positively atrocious, and by the end I slammed the book shut and said to myself, “Absolutely nothing happened in it.” A friend of mine found it so boring she couldn’t even listen to it on CD.
[quote]
For those of you that stopped at book 5- keep going, please! Book 6, Lord of Chaos, is a very cool book, and the ending chapters (The Black Tower, Dumai’s Wells) are unbeatable scenes of kick-assitude.[/quote[
I should probably tell you something:
I hate Jordan’s characters. I found them tepid and banal and ultimately more annoying than anything else. I didn’t get to rooting for the villains to kill them all, because I hated the villains as much as the heroes. They’re all running around doing nonsensical things for no apparent reason and loudly proclaiming how brilliant they are. He pathetically underuses his few interesting characters and so overused his main ones that any cool parts were no longer fun. Rand, for example, started out as a basic archtype, which, lets face it, is not the most complex of characters. However, he’s become a dull mockery of it.
I know Jordan has an interesting plot, its just that he doesn’t do anything with it. He’s too much in love with his own work (and probably the money it brings). Its Hollywood syndrome, the inability to properly edit one’s own work. And he’s driven his characters into the ground and fouled up the whole thing. Its vastly too complex for its own good.
And honestly, I really despise his eternal battle of the sexes. Corny and pointless.
I hate Jordan’s characters. I found them tepid and banal and ultimately more annoying than anything else. I didn’t get to rooting for the villains to kill them all, because I hated the villains as much as the heroes. They’re all running around doing nonsensical things for no apparent reason and loudly proclaiming how brilliant they are. He pathetically underuses his few interesting characters and so overused his main ones that any cool parts were no longer fun. Rand, for example, started out as a basic archtype, which, lets face it, is not the most complex of characters. However, he’s become a dull mockery of it.
I know Jordan has an interesting plot, its just that he doesn’t do anything with it. He’s too much in love with his own work (and probably the money it brings). Its Hollywood syndrome, the inability to properly edit one’s own work. And he’s driven his characters into the ground and fouled up the whole thing. Its vastly too complex for its own good.
And honestly, I really despise his eternal battle of the sexes. Corny and pointless. Ok, it was funny in the first book, but continuing it all the way through was foolish.
Now, for thoase of who who may argue I’m being too hard on him, I shoudl point out I love everything from Hudson Hawk to the Punisher, and love everything from Peirs Anthony to Asimov.
but isn’t it in book 10 that Rand finally removes the taint from the male half of the source?
Maybe that was at the end of book 9? Regardless, I would say that is something pretty major happening. I liked that it seems like we may finally be reaching the end game of the story. When I reread them, I seem to remember cruising through the first six or so really quickly and then bogging down until the last book which went quickly again. Maybe it was just because I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel?
I guess I never looked at it like that, but that is very true. Martin could have dropped what is probably the main arc of the story (ancient evil, exiled princess/widow raising an army, etc.) and made a very tight story about the ruling families. I do like all of it, but I do find myself liking the chapters about the “mainland politics” the best. Tyrion rocks!
Regarding Goodkind, I will admit that I’ve read most of his series. I wait until I find the hard cover versions for $4 in the bargain area of Barnes & Noble. I mostly read them now for the same reason that I watch some B movies that are complete train wrecks. Richard and Kahlen (spelling?) are seriously too stupid to live. It’s also amusing how many times Goodkind pulls out the “<insert character here> thought they knew pain before but it was nothing compared to this pain” thing. Goodkind needs to hire himself a good dominatrix and be done with it.
>I remember having a long conversation with my equally Robert Jordan-afflicted
>roommate trying to figure out the real identity of the "man who called himself Bors
I heard the 4th book was either out or coming soon, so I’ll definitely pick it up when I see it.