It’s a pretty good read. It’s not going to blow your mind or make you a better person but it’s an enjoyable way to pass the time. Robert Jordan is dead so you don’t have to worry about him churning out any more books. The last book, written by Brandon Sanderson based on Jordan’s notes, has apparently been given to the publisher and will be headed towards the printers soon. The middle of the series drags on very slowly. There is one book in particular where nothing happens except one of the main characters takes a bath. Seriously, 5+ chapters of her preparing, taking and finishing a goddamn bath. In all honestly the only reason I’m finishing the series is because I already have so much time invested in it.
Mahaloth was talking about the Stormlight Archive, Sanderson’s own proposed 10-book series.
I enjoyed The Way of Kings a lot. And I’d say you don’t have to worry about Brandon being able to churn them out at a good pace. He’s amazing.
I really liked it. It was one of those few books where I couldn’t wait to pick it back up, and I hated having to put it down, and I’ve read a LOT of fantasy over the years.
I read somewhere that he’s a little concerned that his fans think he’s going to be keeping up this breakneck speed forever. He HAS been publishing amazingly fast, but until now, a lot of it has been backlog - books he wrote a long time ago but has only been able to sell now that he’s made a name for himself. That backlog is out now, so his output is going to be slowing down.
Move along. Move along. Nothing to see here. Nobody here with reading comprehension issues. Move along. Move along. :smack: How awkward for me.
+1000
I already knew Brandon Sanderson was awesome, but making Nynaeve bearable just blew me away.
To those of you who stopped because the books started sucking- the Sanderson ones are actually good.
So, as a person who generally enjoys fantasy but has avoided the Wheel of Time like it was a disease based on what I had heard about it, is it worth reading now that it is finished or should I not bother?
I am curious because it is very very famous, but it is mostly famous for starting out great and then getting terrible. Should I wade in? If yes, what books should I skip and read Wikipedia summaries of instead?
I was going to link you to the thread I started asking the same question, but the hamsters are seriously ill today and I can’t get Search to work. Maybe later I’ll get it.
I would do the following:
Read books 1-5
Read internet summaries of books 6-10
Read books 11-14 (one written by RJ, 3 by Brandon Sanderson) (Book 14 not yet out, coming out in January).
I think you’ll enjoy them tremendously… although in this day and age of post-modern fantasy where everyone is turning convention on its head and lampshading things and so forth, they’re a bit old fashioned. But it’s really a marvelously constructed fantasy world. Think about it this way… everyone agrees that books 7-10 or so are terrible, and yet people keep reading them and kept clamoring for the series to be completed, so the first 5 or so books must be AMAZING to generate that level of devotion.
There’s a site somewhere that has quick summaries - a paragraph to a page or so in length - of each and every chapter in the entire series. That’s an invaluable resource when reviewing in preparation for a new book or when skipping the more boring entries in the series.
Excellent. I have sort of been thinking about checking out a classic fantasy series that I haven’t read yet. I’ll now I’ll add the first couple of books to my library list the next time I head in. Thanks.
Its testament to how badly the series nosedived that I would still have no interest in reading any more of the WOT even if it turned out that Tolkien had risen from the dead to finish what he started.
As someone who read the series until about 25% through book 10 before I got frustrated and put it down, I’m not sure I would’ve wanted to miss the end of book 9. That was pretty damn epic.
I’ve gotten more into audiobooks lately, so I’ve decided to give book 10 another go. I know all about the bath scene and how virtually nothing happens, but I’ve come this far and I really want to try and see it through.
Yeah, but that’s one chapter of action in the midst of 4 books of nothing happening. My hopes were SO raised by that scene, and then book 10 just crushed them cruelly 
So…are we saying I should read book 9 too? I plan on only getting them from the library so it’s not like I am investing anything other than my time.
Wow, they actually hired someone with TALENT to take on a dead guy’s legacy?
Instead of, y’know, Kevin J. Anderson?
Wow…
Yeah, as thankful as I am for Sanderson’s competence, I’m more so that the series didn’t land in lesser writers’ hands.
It would be plausible to read the chapter summaries of book 9 until you get to chapter 35, then read that chapter in full.
When we’re talking about “the big scene” in Book 9, that’s where Rand cleanses the taint on saidin, right?
jayjay: Yes
It was really quite a way to end the book, which made the fact that the 10th book was by far the worst and most painful to read of all of them that much more of a letdown.