Wheel of Time....good series to read after Hobbit/LotR?

[GSHamster]

I disagree with the above in some respects. If you stick with it, it is an excellent long series, now that it has finished.

But the point about the middle dragging is true. Books 7-9 in particular are terribly slow.

 

[Umbran]

I'd recommend Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams as being closer to LotR. It reads better, it's much more concise, it's a better story. The world feels more like Middle Earth too.

Agreed. In fact, Williams was *specifically* aiming to do a sort of modern (meaning late-1980s) version of LotR with this work.

But the point about the middle dragging is true. Books 7-9 in particular are terribly slow.

When the terribly slow portion of the series is 2300 pages long, I think that's enough to say the thing's got a real problem.

 

[SkidAce]

I would read something else. Sure, each book might have 100 pages that are good, but you have to sift through 400 pages of Robert Jordan's, um, boring obsessions to find them. The first book is great fun, the second is decent, the third is mediocre. I thought it would pick up in the fourth and fifth book, but it just got worse. Every time Jordan writes a potentially exciting hook - for example, the main character discovering artifacts of great power - he discards it in favor of page after page of grouchy, frigid women fantasizing about spanking each other and grown men acting like junior high kids trying to get their first kiss. And don't get me started on the dresses and tile patterns.

There is much truth in this.

I suppose since I read the 1st book when it originally came out, and it was so great with such depth to the mythos, I may have rose-coloured glasses.

A lesson here for authors of books; finish your series before its been out so long that that it becomes out of touch with it's initial appeal.

 

[GSHamster]

When the terribly slow portion of the series is 2300 pages long, I think that's enough to say the thing's got a real problem.

Yes. But in my opinion, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses. Something can be terribly flawed and still enjoyable, still worth watching or reading.

 

[Mark CMG]

I think the next real fantasy book I read after LotR was The Sword of Shannara. I had read R E Howard's Conan and Kull stuff prior to LotR. I read as much SciFi, maybe more, back then as well as standard fiction (mostly short stories). At some point after Shannara, when I got to reading some more fantasy, it included the Thieves World books and a lot of Eddings, though I was more partial to the Elenium series than the Belgariad stuff. I was never able to immerse myself in The Wheel of Time though I have the first four on my shelf and suspect I'll take another run at them someday.

 

[Morrus]

I've tried two or three times, but never gotten a third of the way into the first book.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I think the next real fantasy book I read after LotR was The Sword of Shannara. I had read R E Howard's Conan and Kull stuff prior to LotR. I read as much SciFi, maybe more, back then as well as standard fiction (mostly short stories). At some point after Shannara, when I got to reading some more fantasy, it included the Thieves World books and a lot of Eddings, though I was more partial to the Elenium series than the Belgariad stuff. I was never able to immerse myself in The Wheel of Time though I have the first four on my shelf and suspect I'll take another run at them someday.

Yeah, Shannara and Belgariad aren't great fantasy, but they'll pass the time pretty well. The Begariad (and subsequent series) are actually pretty good and a fun read. Shannara is a bit ... derivative ... but not really in a bad way.

Wheel of Time I came back to and preferred it in audio book format. The Kate Reading/Michael Kramer combo is fantastic, and you don't mind the long books so much when combining them with another activity. The last three books in the series (by Sanderson) have been great.

Yes, Game of Thrones is fantastic (minus Feast for Crows). But GRRM needs to buckle down and write. Having a dead guy finish his series before you should be professionally embarrassing. Or maybe we can convince him to hire Brandon Sanderson.

 

[Nytmare]

I only read the first two books, but found them to be incredibly immature and felt that they were just Lord of the Rings with a cheap coat of paint.

I've been told numerous times that it's worth it, and that it breaks free from that pattern quickly, but I've never run into a friend who first read the series as an adult who tried to convince me to read it.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I only read the first two books, but found them to be incredibly immature and felt that they were just Lord of the Rings with a cheap coat of paint.

Shannara, or WoT? That certainly sounds like Shannara to me, but not WoT.

 

[Nytmare]

Shannara, or WoT? That certainly sounds like Shannara to me, but not WoT.

Wheel. I read Shannara in 1986, and don't remember any of it.

I read those first two Wheel books like 6 or 7 years ago maybe? All I remember is a not-Gandalf and three not-hobbits (and weren't two of them named practically Merry and Pippin?) who team up with not-Aragorn while running away from a bunch of not-Ring Wraiths.