What do you love about The Wheel of Time?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's not as talked about as much, as a series, as it once was, outside of the Amazon television show, but there was a decade or more when The Wheel of Time felt like one of the biggest things in geek culture.

If you're someone who loved the series, in whole or in part, what would you tell to someone considering jumping in for the first time?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

When I’m less sleepy I will post more, but for now a short answer; the characters.

 

[jian]

When I started reading them, I loved the scope - the many nations, the history, the reincarnation, the ageless twink collection known as the Forsaken, Tel’aran’rhiod, the cool recognisable historical flourishes (such as the references to Musashi). My high point was probably the siege of the Two Rivers.

 

[gnarlygninja]

When I loved it (I no longer do) it was that there was so much of it. Not just the page count, but how much stuff Robert Jordan crammed into them. There's politics, philosophy, world building, different magics, and probably more things I've forgotten. Looking at them now I don't think most of it is done particularly well but at the time I'd never encountered a series where things the characters, even the most learned ones, were just wrong about how things worked.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It's complete.
tugs braid, smooths skirt, thumbs nose at GRRM

 

[TwoSix]

I mean, you can pick nits around some of his prose, but the guy could simply flat out write some really epic scenes.

Dumai's Wells is of course the most famous one, but the battle of the Stone of Tear and the blowing of the Horn are also pretty fantastic.

 

[MGibster]

:: Sniffs derisively and tugs at braid ::

 

[jhallum]

I'm biased by my age. I read nearly the entire series as it came out back in the day (I think I started when Book 4 hit the shelves). A fair piece of my internet youth in college was reading the Wheel of Time Usenet group and debating theories about what this or that means, along with Babylon 5, which was a TV show contemporary for at least books 3-6 or so.

What I dig about Wheel of Time is what I like most about epic, massive-scale fiction. I love a good set piece, and Wheel of Time has a lot of grand set pieces. There's also learning about the scale, the cultures, and how characters interact with each other. It has a lot going for it for me since it was the first mega series I ever started.

What sets Wheel of Time apart is the role of prophecy in the plot. Large amounts of vague foreshadowing bring a fantasy world to life more than anything, and prophecy and the role of the seer (not spoiling who) give a bit of clue as to how things might go, but so vague as to allow for surprise when things turn out a bit differently than planned.

Is WoT my favorite fantasy read? It's my favorite epic read for sure, more than Malazan, which I also love, just not as much. The Lies of Locke Lamora is still probably my favorite one-off fantasy read.

 

[Lidgar]

I mean, you can pick nits around some of his prose, but the guy could simply flat out write some really epic scenes.

Dumai's Wells is of course the most famous one, but the battle of the Stone of Tear and the blowing of the Horn are also pretty fantastic.

Dumai’s Wells is my answer.

He wrote like a good composer of music. Builds up to crescendo then unleashes with a fury. First six or seven books in particular.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

When I’m less sleepy I will post more, but for now a short answer; the characters.

When I started reading them, I loved the scope - the many nations, the history, the reincarnation, the ageless twink collection known as the Forsaken, Tel’aran’rhiod, the cool recognisable historical flourishes (such as the references to Musashi). My high point was probably the siege of the Two Rivers.

Yes to all these. When the series was at its best, it had characters that evolved, that had multiple notes, coming to life amidst a sweeping backdrop of events and places.