So what are you reading this year 2021?

Ralif Redhammer said:

It's definitely Sanderson's most ambitious bit of worldbuilding. And that part was definitely enjoyable. I think part of it was that I've been burnt on 700+ page fantasy novels ever since I did the whole of the Wheel of Time over the course of a year.

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Blue said:

We need a support group.

Me: "Hi, I'm Blue, and I read through the entire Wheel of Time."
All: "Hi Blue."

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Ralif Redhammer said:

It really does leave a mark on a person, in both good and bad ways. I read the whole Malazan Book of the Fallen series, and that didn't leave me as burnt out on long-form fantasy as the Wheel of Time. I suspect that if a person went in and re-wrote that middle slog to condense it and keep the pace going, it might hit differently.

I also wonder whether if Robert Jordan hadn't died before he finished the series, if we'd view GRRM's delays and procrastinations differently, but that's another conversation.

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Blue said:

I think the slog that I never recovered from was when Faile was kidnapped and Perrin spent like three books chasing after her with very little change in status. Perrin was one of my favorites (moreso than Rand) and putting him in not just status, but verbose, wordy, lingering status without character development or plot development around him was a major turn-off.

I loved when they finally cleared The Taint from the male half of the One Power. But then that the first many-hundred pages of the next book was just reactions of the various ensemble cast (and villains) as it was visible around the world just killed all the inertia.

I have the books bagged up downstairs to give to a friend. After I finished I realized I was never going to read them all again, so I should give them away to make space on my shelves.

All of that said, I'm still a sucker for long-form fantasy. Guess I never learn.

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Ralif Redhammer said:

If I had to pick my favorite characters, it would Nynaeve and Perrin, definitely. Super happy with the casting on both of them, too. Totally agree with you on that part of the books, too.

I got the books on Kindle. I pretty much got a Kindle for the express purpose of saving the space they'd take up on my bookshelves and not having to lug them around. I might re-read them some day, but not anytime soon.

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Blue said:

I got Eye of the World in softcover back in '90 or '91. I've got a hangup - if I have a series I want it one way or the other (or both). Having to switch back and forth, while a truly trivial task, bothers me.

One of the short stories in the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold I had only the electronic release of it, and every time I hit a used bookstore I searched for a collection that had it in print. Even though I had it. As a short story that was not a big deal in terms of the overall arc of everything.

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Zaukrie said:

Are all mazalan books as confusing as the first one? Good golly. In fairness, I keep putting it down and picking it up much later, but still. So many characters....

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