[WoT] New Spring

[kingpaul]

Just wondering if anyone else has read this book. While this book didn't capture my attention like the first several he wrote in this series (I could put this one down...CoT I kept having to put down), I still enjoyed...the additional backstory and fleshing out of Moraine and Lan were nice.

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I'd like to know how it compares to the origanal short version from the Legends anthology?

 

[kingpaul]

I'd like to know how it compares to the origanal short version from the Legends anthology?

I haven't read that, so I don't know.

 

[KenM]

What got me is everyone was complaining about RJ not advancing the story in the two books before this one, so he does a prequel for this book. I'm glad I never could get into WOT.

 

[drothgery]

I'd like to know how it compares to the origanal short version from the Legends anthology?

There's two parts to the story. One is set in an around Tar Valon, from just before Rand's birth to a few months after Moiraine and Siuan are raised Aes Sedai. That's all new.

The second part is pretty much the novella from Legends, expanded slightly. You have to be reading very carefully to notice the additions.

 

[drothgery]

What got me is everyone was complaining about RJ not advancing the story in the two books before this one, so he does a prequel for this book. I'm glad I never could get into WOT.

Two of the last three books. Anyone who thinks book 9 (Winter's Heart) didn't advance the story wasn't paying attention.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Two of the last three books. Anyone who thinks book 9 (Winter's Heart) didn't advance the story wasn't paying attention.

Book 9 wasn't terrible, in fact I loved the whole last chapter of the book. There were a couple of things that really irked me though, and it didn't really didn't pick up until the latter half of the book.

However, my contention is that RJ could (and should) have basically take books 7-10 and condense them into two books instead of it being four.

Well, I'm changing that. My main contention is that RJ needs a better editor, one that's going to stand up to him and tell him to piss off if he doesn't like the changes the editor wants. I think that's the biggest problem, Tor let him have the reins too long, and now he's out of control.

 

[drothgery]

Book 9 wasn't terrible, in fact I loved the whole last chapter of the book. There were a couple of things that really irked me though, and it didn't really didn't pick up until the latter half of the book.

However, my contention is that RJ could (and should) have basically take books 7-10 and condense them into two books instead of it being four.

I'd quibble with that, mostly because A Crown of Swords is one of the best books in the series, but also because trying to condense books 7-10 into two books doesn't really work well organizationally (for one thing, it would end up ending with the end of CoT, which isn't an ending). The massively overrated Book 6 (Egwene's thread is okay, and there are Things that go Boom at the end, but all and all, I just don't get why people tend to start their list of 'WoT books that suck' with the excellent A Crown of Swords instead of the mediocre Lord of Chaos.) should have been condensed with book 7, and books 8 and 9 also fold together pretty nicely. But unless the conclusion of the series makes what happend in CoT more relevant, I'll probably argue that you can read the whole series and skip that book without noticing it.

 

[Aaron L]

RJ's wife Henrietta is his editor, so that may explain some things.

After the last book, I was quite dissappointed. I just hope SOMETHING interesting happens "on camera" in the next book. I had been waiting for Rand to meet Logain for so long, and then it's mentioned in passing. I got so mad I nearly threw the book.

 

[LightPhoenix]

RJ's wife Henrietta is his editor, so that may explain some things.

After the last book, I was quite dissappointed. I just hope SOMETHING interesting happens "on camera" in the next book. I had been waiting for Rand to meet Logain for so long, and then it's mentioned in passing. I got so mad I nearly threw the book.

I actually knew about his wife being the editor, which quite frankly I'm amazed Tor allows. That's a serious conflict of interest.

I felt the same way about Nynaeve losing her block in book 9 - it's such an important character point for her, and it's pretty much entirely glossed over by her and Lan finally seeing each other again. It's almost a side-note, when it really deserves to be the focus of the story at that point. Not that I thought the method was terrible, I actually liked the premise (love removes a block controlled by anger), I think it was just executed very poorly.

Of course, Nyn losing her block pretty much robbed her of all character for the rest of the book, turning her just as bland as Elayne and Egwene. I'm not sure it ever should have been removed in the first place.