Okay then.

I'm assuming we have all heard about Jordan's death after writing Book 11 of this series.

I'm wondering what people think of Brandon Sanderson's work on Number 12. Differences and similarities, how he's treated the characters, how you think it turned out. Etc etc. I wouldn't mind a discussion of the rest of the series either.

On a lighter note, please visit this link: http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=386600
I found it rather whimsical.

I'm also assuming that people bothered to read the series after the disturbing amount of filler that consisted of books 6 through 8 and bits of 9. I did (although I had a mate pushing me on. And nothing better to read. Which is actually frightening), and I really enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed 12 since my aforementioned mate works in a bookstore and they got an accidental shipment of them 2 days early, and he sold them off to us for half price.

Obviously, if you're halfway through the series and are looking to discuss it, this may not be the thread for you. Only advice I can give is to push on through the excruciating vortex of nothingness during books 6 through 8. 9 is much better.

If you're halfway through 12 then you too may consider yourself warned.

This may be the only thread where people get my signature.

Alright. Fire away! PM me if any problems.

Sorry mate - while I loved the first volumes, I stopped after vol 8 - it was that or dying of boredom.

Also it seems to me to be the never ending series - continued for money, not be because Jordan had a story to tell.

The word "sell-out" comes to mind here... a shame because it started out awesome

Wow...a fantasy series i never heard about before...

I was planning to start the series after finishing book 9 of the Malazan book of the fallen by Steven Erikson, I bought the first three books of the Wheel of Time series. Is it worth it to buy the rest?

Written by Bararey on 19.11.2009 at 10:33

I was planning to start the series after finishing book 9 of the Malazan book of the fallen by Steven Erikson, I bought the first three books of the Wheel of Time series. Is it worth it to buy the rest?

Touch and go. If you really enjoy the first three, and want to have the complete set, then yes. Just be aware that the series takes a sharp downhill turn. Stuiff stops happening. Which is clear if anyone visited the Atari forum link that I posted first off, but no one has mentioned it...
Also - love the George RR Martin quote. Nearly through the first one of those. So buying the second...

To be honest I almost expected this kind of response, given that there wasn't already a robert jordan related thread around. But surely, someone must have stuck by this series...

Ah well, i'll give it another week, then remove this thread if nothing eventuates. I have zero faith.

I picked up book 12 a couple of weeks ago and meandered through the first third, a few pages a day. Today I went through from around page 300 onwards without putting it down until I finished. I loved it. And I love the rest of the series. It can't be denied that it has its low points, but there's no one book that I simply didn't enjoy. This particular book though, was engaging from start to finish.

Written by Damned-In-Black on 21.11.2009 at 14:56

I picked up book 12 a couple of weeks ago and meandered through the first third, a few pages a day. Today I went through from around page 300 onwards without putting it down until I finished. I loved it. And I love the rest of the series. It can't be denied that it has its low points, but there's no one book that I simply didn't enjoy. This particular book though, was engaging from start to finish.

SWEET!!! I felt the same, pretty much. I liked that the plot moved forward a lot - Rand chapters are normally excruciating but even those were great. When Egwene is mentioned in the blurb its usually a horrible sign but same thing. Sanderson seemed to just say "right. Lets get on with it!" and go from there.

Two minor complaints:

Graendal - thought she deserved a better death
Morgase - barely got a mention. Would have loved validation that she was rescued too, as she is somewhat important to the whole Rand/Egwene/Gawyn scenario. It came, but late, surely could have been better done...

Otherwise fantastic.

Yes, agree. It has been a while since I last read the other books but I have a feeling the chapters were shorter here and tended to pack more of a punch throughout than at many other times during the series. I did strangely find myself enjoying Egwene's sequences the most. Perhaps not surprising since she was such an integral part of the book - her storyline had been one of the more tedious for a while, but I guess the climax was worth it.

About your complaints - Graendal: I agree. I'd been looking forward to it. The book had hinted for quite some time that a confrontation was imminent, and it was anti-climactic.
And Morgase... No worries for me here - it's just one of the plots that hasn't reached fulfilment yet and I'm thinking it will be addressed properly in the next book, where I presume Elayne will return to the storyline. Hopefully it is done well - there is a lot to pack in to just two more books, but the excellence of this is a healthy indication for the next ones.

Graendal aside, my only complaint is that the book ended and now I have to wait again, ha.
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Written by Bararey on 19.11.2009 at 10:33

I was planning to start the series after finishing book 9 of the Malazan book of the fallen by Steven Erikson, I bought the first three books of the Wheel of Time series. Is it worth it to buy the rest?

Yeah, you really need to read those three and decide whether to go further or not. For me - there was no way I could have stopped after 3 - or 5, or 9... The Wheel of Time has a quite different scope compared to what most fantasy-type storylines attempt. Starts out quite focussed but the number of plots, sub-plots and important characters that simply must have extended parts of the story dedicated to them just... grow... and grow. I think some people find that irritating, or daunting. I personally rather appreciate it.

Written by Damned-In-Black on 22.11.2009 at 11:57

And Morgase... No worries for me here

What I mean was that as soon as it got to Perrin and Faile having rescued everyone from those Shaido dogs, I started wondering what happened to Morgase. I was sure she was with Faile when they were captured, but couldn't remember if she'd been killed or escaped during the fighting or anything like that. It would have been nice for Faile to run into her early in the text, just to let everyone know, because, as you say, there are so many sub plots that it's ridiculous to try and keep up with them all, especially having not read the books for some time. And then Tam comes along at the very end and says "oh, by the way, Perrins got queen Morgase with him as well as the other queen whose name I forget." It seemed like an afterthought. Something that Jordan always did spectacularly well was to subtly keep inserting reminders of what was going on everywhere else in the book.

I just don't like that i was kept in the dark for most of the book about that - it felt like Sanderson had expected me to forget that Morgase was still around, or where she was.

Apart from that it was fantastic. I could tell from the moment I noticed that the prologue had less than 70 pages that the book wasn't going to be perfect, and i accept that. But I still thought it was pretty awesome.

Skipped several posts in this for Spoiler fears.


i agree that the story does take a rather sharp drop in quality after the 3rd book... kinda reminiscent of Star Wars original three versus the pre-quel trilogy. less rock, more talk.

am re-reading the series now. Never got past "Lord of Chaos", and have made it back to, and through, the first 450 pages of that book. we'll see if i can finally muster up the will to get through it (Only one really good chapter - Dumais Wells or whatever - as i recall from my initial read) I have re-started the series probably six times from "TEotW" and not managed to get more than a chapter into the next book. maybe this time is the charm.

i recently picked up "The Eye of the World" on audio book... 25 disks covering over 24 hours. entertaining listen.

I've read all 11 (and the one that is happening before and at the time of Rand's birth) twice! And I liked them so, so much! Even those, someone might consider boring, held my interest because I read them like one big story, putting one down and picking up the other. Don't even know what happened in which book. It is all one big book for me, one of best ever. I woved not to read them ever again if it will not be continued with the 12th book. I can't wait till I get my hands on the 12th one, unfortunaly it has not yet arrived at Serbia, so I'm waiting.