Wheel of Time, where to start?

[IcedEarth81]

I second that, and I'll raise you Jordan's use of different communities as character personalities rather than giving characters any depth. By which, I mean to say that he will describe a new nation or region, and then have every character encountered there or associated with it as conforming to the regional stereotype in lieu of a genuine personality- ie, all Kandorans are wheeling dealing merchants, all Cairhienans are plotting, etc. It's like David Eddings writ large.

That drives me nuts. It's amazing how simply crossing a border completely changes everything about a person. If you live on this side of the border you must wear a viel on your face, if you live on the other side you must grow a beard but shave the upper lip.

Don't start the series, it will only frustrate you. The first few books are fine, but the longer it goes on the less happens. Book 10 is the worst book I have ever read. You can literally read a summary and skip the book without missing anything. If you've read Martin and/or Erikson then Jordan's writing will leave you underwhelmed. His writing of female characters is horrible. I literally hate all Aes Sedai. There are essentially two reasons I still care about the series: I started the series and thus must end it and Mat Cauthon (by far his best and most interesting character).

 

[Eridanis]

Don't listen to any of these folks. This is the best series ever written. To prove it to you, I'm willing to sell you my copies of the entire series, in hardcover, for just cover price. Please? Will you take them with free shipping?

Ahem.

More seriously: I enjoyed the first three books, but book four started making me think that he was starting to pull story ideas out of his nether regions. I don't remember which book I last read; it all petered into disinterest for me.

But I still have them in hardcover. Silly me. They'll be on eBay someday when I get around to cleaning up (especially my signed book 5, which might actually bring cover price).

 

[Hypersmurf]

It's like David Eddings writ large.

... a difference being that I enjoy Eddings It's got a cartoony comfort to it - all Drasnians, all Tolnedrans, all Mimbrates, are essentially interchangeable.

But I never got a sense from Eddings that he didn't realise that it was cartoony, y'know? So it doesn't feel like a flaw to me, just an accepted convention.

It didn't work the same way with Jordan.

-Hyp.

 

[Dagger75]

Here is the order you read them

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows




I did read the first 4 books. I liked the first and second ones well enough. The third one I trudged threw, I stopped half way through the 4th book and never looked back.

And with Robert Jordan's failing health, I doubt it will ever be finished. I pray the man gets better and hope I am wrong.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

But I never got a sense from Eddings that he didn't realise that it was cartoony, y'know? So it doesn't feel like a flaw to me, just an accepted convention.

It didn't work the same way with Jordan.

Definitely agree. He seems to want to go for a more "realistic" approach, yet relies on broadly painting his characters with stereotypical conventions.

 

[IcedEarth81]

Another problem I have with Jordan is the way he basically takes ideas from others, slaps a little gloss on it, and throws it into his story. Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Dune, etc. Every writer is going to be inspired by the writings of another author, but he blatantly borrows ideas from others. Artur Paendrag, the sword in the Stone (caalandoor), a lot of elements from LOTR, the list goes on.

 

[IcedEarth81]

Here is the order you read them

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows

Let me add a little to that. When you are finished with these four, go here next:

Gardens of the Moon
Deadhouse Gates
Memories of Ice
House of Chains
Midnight Tides
The Bonehunters

 

[glass]

Another problem I have with Jordan is the way he basically takes ideas from others, slaps a little gloss on it, and throws it into his story. Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Dune, etc. Every writer is going to be inspired by the writings of another author, but he blatantly borrows ideas from others. Artur Paendrag, the sword in the Stone (caalandoor), a lot of elements from LOTR, the list goes on.

Ideas are free, its the implementation that is difficult, and the implementation is all Jordan's own. Especially the sword in the stone:

Spoiler

it isn't really a sword and it wasn't really in a stone

.

Anyway, I have enjoyed the books so far, and am looking forward to the final one. Admittedly some of the middle ones were a little slow, but not unbearably so. At least, it never occured to me to complain about any of the things in this thread.

I plan to read the whole series again in preparation for the final volume, so it'll be interesting to see what I think of it all having heard these criticisms.


glass.

 

[Aaron L]

i love the Wheel of Time books and have read them all, but i will admit there are several that I wont read again because theyre essentially empty. I hope he gets well enough to finish up. Ive never understood peoples complaints about how many books there are, in fact they baffle me. Do you want them to wrap up Spider-Man and end his story, too?

 

[IcedEarth81]

I have no complaint over the number of books, but rather the pacing of the books. The Malazan series is up to 6 books and is scheduled to go 10, but so far there has been no wasted space. The plots have moved forward a lot in each book and there has been a ton of stuff happening. ASoIaF is planned to go 7 and is up to 4 but it is still firmly moving forward despite the splitting of books 4 and 5. I don't mind a series lasting a lot of books, but those books need to accomplish something and they need to be of high quality. The problem with WoT is there are books where the plot either crawls along or doesn't move at all.