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.