Thinking about putting the time and money into wheel of time series. How’s everyone feel about it and the length of it? Is it worth the time?
Thinking about putting the time and money into wheel of time series. How’s everyone feel about it and the length of it? Is it worth the time?
I absolutely loved it, I had a really hard time getting into another book after I finished the series.
Imo you slowly work your way to severe disappointment.
Why do you say that?
@Chris i mean i’m happy i read it, but i was young. Now it seems a little contrived.
@Emma with nearly a handful of the books I felt like I was doing nothing but killing time. Ends well though. Just a series I wouldn’t recommend to a friend .
Tbh I stopped reading after the 4th book.
@Chris yeah I noticed that with book 5, it was very slow. I think one reason I want to read it is to work out how they stretch it into so many books ??
That was on my to read list for this year, I’m up to book 6 and loving it
Starts off good. Starts to get really scattered around book 5-7. I hear it get better again around 9 or 10, but I never made it through that middle patch.
It’s amazing!!!!
It’s a classic. It’s a must read for fantasy nerds just like LOTR. But imo it was much better than those.
My favorite series of all time! I’ve read the whole series 3 times.
I’m with you, I’m thinking about starting out after I finish up realm of the elderlings. I think it’s about time ???
@Audrea I’m on my second read through for hobb and I’m thinking of starting the wheel of time but not sure if I want to make the time commitment for another long series yet
@Alex I know what you mean. I think I’ll finish this series, reread something I’ve already read or a good new stand alone and then dive in. I just have to do it at some point. Hahahaha.
@Audrea Yupp. I immediately started over after my 1st read. I just loved everything about it. I did skip the live ship trilogy because I did not enjoy it one bit
I couldn’t finish all the books, I got about 2/3 done and then it just seemed like it was dragging on.
I enjoyed it. Keeping in mind, I read it more than 10 years ago (excluding the last 3, obviously) Thinking back, there were a lot of problems I think the series had. And I don’t know if I’d read it again knowing them.
There’s a serious problem with books 7, 8, 9 and 10 and even 11 where the quality of the writing and the plot just meanders and becomes tedious, and bad. There are a lot of pointless scenes in the book where you get “Meanwhile….the bad guys are being vaguely evil.” And a very sort of pencil-moustache twirling kind of evil.
And some of the end was kind of lame. I didn’t like the way the final conflict played out. I hated that there was a massive thread involving a character that was built up for 14 books and ended in like 3-4 paragraphs and in the dumbest possible way (A certain PF, if you know wut I’m sayin’…)
Some of the characters have similar character progression arcs (the I don’t want to be a leader trope) which wouldn’t be a problem if this wasn’t an important part of so many characters arcs…
I think it’s worth reading once, but I honestly never understood how some people could read it over and over.
@Lucas I dont understand reading anything over and over.
@Gary I think there are some books worth reading over again, but obviously what each person finds reading over and over again varies. And sometimes revisiting things can be nice, but generally if you have a good memory it is pretty unnecessary to do so.
I personally have a hardtime recommending a book series where it seems nearly the entire fanbase agrees that almost the entire middle act of a 14-long book series is so bad that most people skip a pretty significant portion of the series because it becomes so bad.
@Lucas I’m on the first book myself at the moment.
I do like it so far but man, he really likes to describe everything down to a speck of dust which really slows the plot down.
@Gary Yeah. Every writer has their tick. JOR/RJ’s is his excessive amount of description about things that should be quickly glossed over because it seriously sabotages the pacing of his work.
I also felt that too many of his female characters shared the same traits.
1-7 are fantastic! 8-10 are a bit draggie, 11-14 and AMAZING
I hated 7. The climax was absolutely awful and felt slap-dash and like Jordan was just saying “fuck it” to get a major plot point he spent several books building up to out of the way.
Yes it is worth it. The middle is a bit of a struggle because its all set up for the final arch but it all ties in crazy well with satisfying end few books.
Meh…. too much dialogue about the trees and the sky?
@Portia I tend to skip parts like that. All I need to know is it’s a forest
The beginning is good the end is good and the middle is a long drawn out test of sheer will power
Just finished it a few months ago. 6-9 were a struggle if i remember correctly but it was good overall.
I’m on book 14 atm. Up and down but overall I thought it was great.
I’ve been slowly making my way through this series since 1998. I’m halfway through book 11 now.
Skip Crossroads of Twilight and you’ll be good.
It’s my favorite fantasy series outside of LotR, it’s definitely worth it.
No lol dont tell him that,there’s some stuff in there,if you dont read it and skip to the next book you’ll be lost on some things
@David I think a Wikipedia or video summary suffices.
It’s the best series i’ve ever read, and i’ve read it twice. And will probably will read it again. Totally worth it
Very worth it. Before Sanderson took over for Jordan towards the end the chapters were very long.. sometimes as much as 60-90 pages long.
But other than that no problems at all. To me it’s the greatest series of all time
It’s pretty amazing. I love it.
It is one of my favorites!
Hands down my favorite of all time.
WOT is AMAZING!!! I absolutely love it!
I’m on book 6, it’s really good if you can deal with the over the top excessive use of pointless details.
Nope. Run from them, huge boring time waste. Started strong and turned into a swamp of pointless characters, places, and situations.
Eh. I found Sanderson to be better.
The last three were pretty hard to get through
Save yourself the time. Starts well but with all the best intentions it turns into a drawn out chore.
Pro tip: in the middle books you can just read the first paragraph of each chapter, the last paragraph of each chapter, and the dialog. Everything else that is not inside quotation marks you can skip. When you get to the last 3-5 chapters of each book you can read those in their entirety. Also, keep a copy of the Wheel of Time Companion nearby, otherwise it’s impossible to keep track of all the side characters (there are so many!)
Get the audible as a back up. There are some books in the middle that slog a bit. It was a series made over like 20 years. At some point it has to ebb so it can soar
Great series, like everyone else is saying 8,9 and 10 are a bit slow but still still integral to the story
Great series
Lots of people will say “yes it’s great and go spend your money”, BUT I’m going to be a bit reserved about it. I personally love the series, and I found it worth the effort, HOWEVER I’d advise a WoT newbie not to invest any money into it at all… At least not yet. The series starts strong and then gets a bit messy further down the line. The page, character and location count is phenomenal and I found it incredibly overwhelming. The story line also loses its way (on an epic scale) even further down the line and I’m one of the MANY people who struggled through some of the central books and got a bit bogged down with it (it really was a slog). I would loan the first 5 books from your library just to see if you have a taste for it. These are all very strong books and some of the series best. A lot happens in these books and the storyline and characters development is huge. It’s certainly a good way to sink your teeth into the series and see if it’s for you. After that, maybe then consider investing any money. As you probably know, it’s 15 books long and could be an expensive loss if it turns out not to be for you.
Huge weight of opinion says yes.
It’s awesome. There’s a brilliant fandom to be enjoyed as well (although most groups are NOT spoiler free so are better not indulged in until you have finished, there are a couple which are.) It is perhaps better not to judge by the first book, as it’s not the best. However, I would also advise against running out to buy all 14 (+ 1 prequel + 2 factual) because you may find it’s just not for you.
Started reading them when I was 12 and haven’t stopped rereading them. But it is a time and money investment. I’d buy the first two and see how you feel ???
Go! Yes go! Though I feel like a traitor to Jordan’s memory saying this, I do feel that Sanderson saved the ending. The series kinda perked up again when he took it over. Sorry…?
Yes!!!! It’s my absolute all time favortie fantasy series!!!
I’ve read it twice through and the prequel, too. Excellent series!!
I was okay with it until Brandon Sanderson took it over. After reading one chapter of his writing I couldn’t handle it anymore. I know that some people love Brandon Sanderson but I find his style of writing offensive.