Ive recently begun reading Jordan's "Wheel of time". Quite gripping- Im now in the second part... but is every single book so long? In my version its about 900 pages each (1st and 2nd, so far, I havent bought any further yet). I mean, I like it, but Ive got my studying to do, and reading 10 000 pages will take me some time.
So... is it worth it?
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
I am waiting until Memory of Light comes out before making that judgement. Right now, I am inclined to say no, but a good finale might make it worth while.
Posted by Shmuel (Member # 7586) on :
The books got better and better through the sixth, the next two or three were a letdown, and I haven't bothered with those remaining. Whether the last, posthumous, book ends up redeeming it all remains an open question, but the "posthumous" bit does not exactly augur well.
Posted by Philosofickle (Member # 10993) on :
If it weren't for the fact that Brandon Sanderson is writing the last book, I'd give an emphatic no.
In my opinion the first three books were a complete story and the rest was just tacked on to keep it going.
Book 10 was an absolute nightmare.
If you want a summary of the book I can give it two you in 3 sentences.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
Book 10 was pretty awful. My dog peed on it and I threw it away. I have never felt a desire to replace it. But book 11 was not that bad.
Posted by AvidReader (Member # 6007) on :
I liked the first one ok, and the fifth one started to pick up again. Then nothing happened. I think they maybe do something again in the ninth or tenth book, I don't know.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
I stopped at the 10th book.
If I could give my past self advice, I'd tell him to stop after the 4th, and certainly don't read anything past the 6th.
Posted by SenojRetep (Member # 8614) on :
I liked book one. Book two was alright.
Books 3-11 were varying degrees of awful.
For me, Jordan and Dan Brown are in a unique class of terrible writing that I can't even promote to guilty pleasure; it's more like guilty frustration. I read their books compulsively, neglecting everything else in my life including homework, hygiene, personal relationships, etc., until I've finished and then immediately think, "well that was a complete waste of time."
Posted by Szymon (Member # 7103) on :
I think I know what you mean, SenojRetep. Geez. You put me in an awful situation here. I like the second part. And for the next, what, 7000 pages Ill be wondering why is that tenth part so bad.
And nota bene- a life-important note about spoilers. I was looking up somewhere via google about Ajahs, what color means what, and I found four words: "partition of Tar Valon". Dont check anything about any book while reading it. Even if its very long, and appears to suck after two parts.
Posted by aragorn64 (Member # 4204) on :
I loved the first three books. I started the fourth, but after reading the first 200 pages and realizing absolutely nothing had happened yet, I had to put it down. I just couldn't stomach going through the rest of that book, let alone the thousands and thousands of pages the series still had to offer...
But I really did like the first three! I'm thinking about reading them again.
Posted by Philosofickle (Member # 10993) on :
Not a spoiler>>>>
My three sentence summary of book 10:
Perrin does nothing. Rand and Matt whine and then do nothing. Everyone else whines then does nothing.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Originally posted by Xavier: I stopped at the 10th book.
If I could give my past self advice, I'd tell him to stop after the 4th, and certainly don't read anything past the 6th.
I had to double-check to make sure I hadn't written this myself.
Posted by SenojRetep (Member # 8614) on :
quote:Originally posted by Szymon: I like the second part. And for the next, what, 7000 pages Ill be wondering why is that tenth part so bad.
The badness just climaxes in book 10, but you'll have plenty of preview over the next 7000 pages. It's the steady introduction of new characters, which completely bogs down the plot advancement, until you're keeping track of probably 100 characters spread over a dozen locations, and it's simply impossible for Jordan to advance any story. At least, that's where I think the series went wrong.
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
I am not as critical of the series as most people. Some of the late middle books I really enjoyed. But even I hated book 10. This may be a very minor spoiler, but the reason book 10 sucked is becaues when it starts, all the main characters are already on their way somewhere. 680 pages later, the book ends, and they are all still enroute. There's no reason why this whole book couldn't have been condensed into a prologue to book 11.
For those who want to find out how the story goes without reading the books, there are some excellent book summaries at Encyclopedia WoT, all HTML cross-referenced. Each book summary is about 50 pages though.
Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
The series crashed for me at the instant that people you already saw killed began showing up again. That is when I knew I was doomed.
Yet I read them all, and will read the last one. I can't help wanting to know how it ends, even if it could have been told with 6000 fewer pages.
--ApostleRadio
Posted by Constipatron (Member # 8831) on :
Szymon,
I mean this quite seriously: get out! Get out of that series while you still can!
Having said that, I stopped at book twelve, asking myself: "Why am I punishing myself by reading this tripe?"
I'm an admirer of Brandon Sanderson, but I'm still not going to read the finale just because he's writing it. (Although I lost a fraction of respect for Brandon when he stated that he really liked Jordan's series...)
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
I don't think you stopped at book twelve.
Since it's not been written yet, and all...
Posted by Imamess (Member # 11549) on :
I loved them all (even the later ones)
Posted by Szymon (Member # 7103) on :
You know, there is a polish most famous fantasy writer (famous in Poland, of course) Sapkowski, whom Ive read as a teenager. I loved his books, you might have heard, there was a game recently, the Witcher. And he wrote somewhere that he must be read, just to know the genre. So I must. ( I would, if OSC wrote that as well, of course)
Posted by Constipatron (Member # 8831) on :
Scott R,
Er, well, um... I think it's mostly due to my mind projecting forward and predicting the outcome... uh, yeah, that's it! Besides, it's been YEARS since I picked up a Jordan book and actually read it. To correct my very glaring oversight/stupidity, I think the correct number was ten.... but then, it's been so long, I don't clearly remember. I've blocked most of it out.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
I have hatrack to thank for avoiding this series entirely - I never picked it up because of the comments here.
Now, if only I'd listened more closely to the collective wisdom of the 'rack before buying Eragon by Paolini. That book sucked away some hours of my life I wish I could get back...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, I'm with you Belle. Based on threads like this I'll totally avoid "Wheel of Time". Thankfully I haven't even thought of reading Eragon. Posted by DarkKnight (Member # 7536) on :
The series is very awesome for helping me fall asleep at night. Just enough action to keep me slightly interested but not enough to keep me from falling asleep. After book 6 it just seems to drag on and on and on
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Darknight, they should use that as a book blurb.
Posted by Szymon (Member # 7103) on :
All right then, I am going to read just one more. Collective wisdom...
Posted by Philosofickle (Member # 10993) on :
"Do not procrastinate the day of your salvation!"
You can never quit if you begin by saying just one more."
There's another one which I will not quote, but I'll tell you the premise and let you figure it out for yourself:
"Procrastination is like *A solitary act, and rhymes with procrastination*, you only *what a phillips or flathead is used for* yourself."
“Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the “someday I’ll” philosophy.” Denis Waitley
"Procrastination is the thief of time." Edward Young
"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." Don Marquis
"Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried." Author Unknown
"Procrastination is the thief of time." Edward Young
Posted by sylvrdragon (Member # 3332) on :
I had a list of procrastination quotes too, but I think I'll post those later.
Also, you could say 12 books if you count New Spring, which is the prequel.
I can't believe nobody that read it put book 9 on the "Good" list. I was almost audibly cheering at the end. I didn't LOVE the series. Certainly nothing close to the way I liked the Ender books, or all of the solo novels of Card's (that I've read), minus Empire. Maybe it's just me, but once I got used to following 4-5 different branches, some with less liked characters, I actually started getting interested in those characters. It was almost to the point where I was in different "Modes" for the different branches.
One last thing, I don't think it's a spoiler to go ahead and say the real reason nobody likes book 10. The main character isn't in until the Epilogue!!! Book 9 ends with a major event that you REALLY want to keep up on, but in book 10, you only barely hear minor REFERENCES to it.
Personally, I liked book 11 though. I would even say it was good enough to suffer through 10 (though just barely). Or maybe I had just invested so much into the series by this point that I MADE myself like it. I didn't want it to go on the pile of things that I've nearly, but didn't quite finish (namely: Every Final Fantasy game that I've played. Never finished a single one, but always got right to the end).
Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
I stopped after book 6. Not to speak ill of the author, but I just don't see the point of the such large books. They're verbose to the point of non-interest, and seem to equate "depth/meaning" with "higher word count".
Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
I hated book 9. Book 10 isn't even the only time in the series that a main character goes suspiciously missing after doing something -seemingly- exciting in the previous book. Heck, the main character is off the screen throughout most of book 3, but at least he is progressing toward some sort of goal in a linear, palpable fashion, unlike later in the series where you could go 2 or 3 books without seeing a character accomplish anything or grow any closer to accomplishing something. Yes, Perrin, I'm looking in your direction.
--ApostleRadio
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I state again that the problem with the books is that Mr. Jordan falls in love with even his smallest character, can't force himself to let them die, and desires to make them the centers of their own great stories.
What starts off as one story--Rands, soon becomes three, then ten, then thirty, then nothing happens because he's busy making sure all 273 survive and get their twenty pages in the book, plus creating chapters for this 15 new characters that he wants to make just as important.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
It's too bad that Jordan wasn't working with a strong-willed editor.
I fell in love with the series, committed to it, and then, after things got the way Dan just described, we had a very, very drawn out and painful parting of the ways. I'm still bitter about how the series got to keep the house.
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