Escape Artists

PodCastle => Fantasy Discussion => Topic started by: lowky on May 23, 2016, 09:59:44 PM

Title: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: lowky on May 23, 2016, 09:59:44 PM
Still willing to give it a chance as I am only about a chapter in, but for such a celebrated series I have to say, I am not feeling it so far.   Anyone else not  that impressed?
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: Devoted135 on May 24, 2016, 02:19:49 AM
My husband slogged through the first book quite a long time ago and refused to read any more of the series. I've never given it a try.
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: eytanz on May 25, 2016, 01:10:17 PM
It's been a while, but from what I remember, I found book 1 good but not great, and then got into the series in books 2-4, found book 5 beginning to be a slog and gave up on book 6. Never was tempted to go back to it.
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: bounceswoosh on May 25, 2016, 10:43:58 PM
I made it through I think 6 books as a college student. Eventually, I got tired of all the female characters being bitchy and bossy and generally annoying, and the story wandering hither and thither. I gather the wandering continued for several books. ... I think there are better uses of time than reading them. But they certainly have their strong admirers.
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: lowky on May 28, 2016, 12:27:56 AM
just one of those series I never read, mostly because at the time I heard about it, my source for reading material was my local library because of finances, and they always skipped 1st book or two on series.  Or worse yet, they had book one then skipped ahead to book 3 or 4.  So many series that looked interesting that I skipped back in the day.  Pern is another series in my TBR pile. 
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: bounceswoosh on May 28, 2016, 01:20:02 AM
Pern is another series in my TBR pile. 

Pern isn't nearly as sequential. A lot of separate titles. I read them at a time when you had to get them in book stores and they only had what they had ...
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: danooli on May 28, 2016, 11:05:41 AM
Here are my thoughts:
I started reading the series in 1996 and LOVED it. Until book 7 or so came out. Then it got sloggy and a bit hard to get through. And since the series was still being written, each time a new book came out I had to reread the previous. And then RJ died, and I stopped caring altogether as there was so much else to read.

I had heard Sanderson was finishing the books, and that he was to be trusted, but I still wasn't sold.

Finally a friend convinced me, after completing the series, that I should just finish. That it got better after book 10.

So, I bit the bullet and started listening to the audiobooks. It took 6 months and quite a few extra credits, but I made it through.

It was a satisfying ending, I guess, but th series does have its problems. Namely the insane number of characters, the many different side plots, the treatment of women is arguably bad, and it is somewhat cliched at this point.

All that now said, the audiobooks really helped make it more enjoyable for me. I loved the way Michael Kramer and Kate Reading read.
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: lowky on June 07, 2016, 09:10:58 PM
Well I just finished it this morning, and have to say not sure if I want to continue the rest of the series or not.  The first book did finally draw me in, but the ending was so anti-climatic, and really no cliff hanger or anything else to say go grab the next one immediately and continue reading.
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: TrishEM on June 08, 2016, 10:11:22 AM
Finally a friend convinced me, after completing the series, that I should just finish. That it got better after book 10.


Choke, sputter ... with all the fabulous books and stories out there, why would I invest 10 books' worth of reading in a series to hope to finally get to the good stuff? Life's too short!
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: bounceswoosh on June 08, 2016, 05:25:28 PM
Finally a friend convinced me, after completing the series, that I should just finish. That it got better after book 10.


Choke, sputter ... with all the fabulous books and stories out there, why would I invest 10 books' worth of reading in a series to hope to finally get to the good stuff? Life's too short!

+1 million

The answer is, if you've already invested the time to read 7 of the books, and you want to know how it ends. Ordinarily that is a strong enough pull for me, but not for this series.
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: Frank Evans on August 18, 2016, 02:55:54 PM
I got into WOT during university and ripped through the first four books, really enjoying them as I went. Over the next few years I followed along until I got up to book 10 and I just gave up. From about book 7 onward I kept waiting for something, anything, to happen and it. never. did. Book 10 in particular was, in my opinion, terrible.

However, I've heard very good things about the series once it was passed on to Brandon Sanderson and I enjoy his writing. So, this year, I decided to give the series another shot. I started at the beginning and have been re-reading steadily. I'm about 3/4 of the way through book 6 and some of my old complaints (lack of forward progress, Jordan's writing of every single female character as "bitchy and bossy" as bounceswoosh points out) are starting to resurface. At the same time, without having to wait three years between each book there's at least a sense of continuity and familiarity (so far) that's making it easier to push on this time.

I really wish though that RJ's editor had sat him down at some point and just set fire to a couple thousand pages of manuscript, pointed to what was left and said "there, that's enough. No more."





 
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: webalong on October 10, 2016, 01:38:57 AM
Not a series I ever read.
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: stePH on November 22, 2016, 05:13:40 PM
The answer is, if you've already invested the time to read 7 of the books, and you want to know how it ends. Ordinarily that is a strong enough pull for me, but not for this series.

Even that's not a good enough reason, as my understanding is that Jordan died before completing the story.
Title: Re: Appeal of Wheel of Time?
Post by: DerangedMind on November 23, 2016, 02:48:32 AM
I read the first book and enjoyed it, but the pacing seemed ***slow***.  After that, I read I think, one or two more.  But, the series felt predictable to me.  And I was also reading the "Sword of Truth" series at the time too, and they seemed so similar that I dropped WoT.