What are you reading in 2025?

[Parmandur]

He is also, to my mind, maybe the worst author to bring up defending extremely long books, considering even his fans usually acknowledge "The Slog" and just argue about how many books long it is. I honestly can not think of a single author who needed an editor they weren't married to more than him.

The problems with "The Slog" (which are oversold) are structural, not prosiac. The text remains very readable throughout. Everything thst happened in thst section did actually need to happen to achieve the ending, spending more time cooking would have led to a restructuring not a shortening of the text. The big issue is thst he just kept publishing rather than pausing and regrouping. Jt even if h had, again it could not have been short and peobsvly would have ended up longer.

Which would be fine, because his prose was golden.

 

[Parmandur]

Absolutely. It made me sad as I read Wheel of Time. I could see the Slog dragging on and on, and then when he picked up speed again, racing against time and his health issues. And ultimately not winning that race.

The Slog is much better on re-reads, at least. Removed from the building pressure of "What Happens Next???" there is a lot going on there. Path of Daggers might be the book where Jofdan most effectively conveyed the phenomenal experience of being in the military facing combat in Vietnam.

 

[trappedslider]

Stephan King.

Your point that King needs to hear "no" from his editor/s more often isn't even close to wrong, but it's not because Tabby is editing him. She's long been the first person to read his novels, but A) that's a different thing and B) she pulled Carrie out of the trash can.

I'll also note that for The Stand the editor didn't like the ending he proposed and it wasn't till the tv version in 2020 that he was able to use the ending he wanted.

 

[gnarlygninja]

I think I'll just have to agree to disagree re: Robert Jordan. I don't think he's ever written any prose that even medaled, let alone hit gold.

 

[Parmandur]

I think I'll just have to agree to disagree re: Robert Jordan. I don't think he's ever written any prose that even medaled, let alone hit gold.

Passes the "read aloud" test with flying colors across the board.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The Slog is much better on re-reads, at least. Removed from the building pressure of "What Happens Next???" there is a lot going on there. Path of Daggers might be the book where Jofdan most effectively conveyed the phenomenal experience of being in the military facing combat in Vietnam.

Interesting. I think about a re-read of Wheel of Time now and then. But it's an intimidating commitment. Like, I'm a pretty fast reader and all, but that's the better part of a year's worth of reading.

 

[gban007]

The problems with "The Slog" (which are oversold) are structural, not prosiac. The text remains very readable throughout. Everything thst happened in thst section did actually need to happen to achieve the ending, spending more time cooking would have led to a restructuring not a shortening of the text. The big issue is thst he just kept publishing rather than pausing and regrouping. Jt even if h had, again it could not have been short and peobsvly would have ended up longer.

Which would be fine, because his prose was golden.

I love the wheel of Time, but did have issues with 'the Slog', which may be structural as you say. It didnt help that Crossroads of Twilight seemed to run parallel to Winters Heart, rather than covering much new ground. And I found the whole Faile kidnapping dragged on too long / too slowly to get to the important bits.
But then Knife of Dreams was a huge improvement

 

[Parmandur]

Interesting. I think about a re-read of Wheel of Time now and then. But it's an intimidating commitment. Like, I'm a pretty fast reader and all, but that's the better part of a year's worth of reading.

Very much worth the effort, very rewarding as a reread particularly.

 

[Parmandur]

I love the wheel of Time, but did have issues with 'the Slog', which may be structural as you say. It didnt help that Crossroads of Twilight seemed to run parallel to Winters Heart, rather than covering much new ground. And I found the whole Faile kidnapping dragged on too long / too slowly to get to the important bits.
But then Knife of Dreams was a huge improvement

Main issue with Crossroads of Twilight is that every plot thread is tightening up for a big thrust, that Knife of Dream then delivers.

At ghe very least. He found his way out of the structural maze in the last book, which set the end up for success.