The Wheel of Time Series - Robert Jordan

[Milo_Bloom]

Is anyone still reading this series?

I started it oh, feels like 13 years ago now, and it is still going on and on and on.

This began as one of the most promising series in fantasy history and has now seemingly turned into a joke where it seems even the author doesn't remember the actual story anymore.

Why do I keep buying the books when they come out?

Is anyone else afflicted with this problem?

[silverweb]

1. Not any more.

I barely got through Crown of Swords and that was the end for me. What started out as such an inspired tale just sort of fizzled out.

Who says there can't be too much of a good thing?

[whosinpower]

2. I read most of em

The first three in the series were excellent - but then it began to erode (imho) and the storyline got blurred into an endless word game.

I have not read the last one released. I was angry at Jordan for screwing us aroun with endless words and NO story in the last book I read.

[bullimiami]

3. because you want to know what happens finally.

a few more years and we can rest.
maybe perrin can spend another book chasing down his wife.

[Bassic]

22. Maybe not.

Robert Jordan is sick and might die before he has a chance to write the last book. Grrr.

[Lerkfish]

4. I stopped liking the series after book 4

I still read it up until book 6, but it was really pointless after book 4.

My favorite characters, Perrin and the Ogier were completely abandoned, and subsequent characters were introduced seemingly at random with similar names and appearance only to suddenly disappear with no explanation.
Main characters like Rand and Eqwene would seem to suffer alzheimers from one installment to the next, completely forgetting object lessons learned previously.
All the women are hopeless twits when given actual power, completely centering themselves on men...Characters are motivationally inconsistent, and the plot has become murky at best and completely offtrack at worst.
I always suggest to people to stop after the third book, imagine their own ending and they'll be much happier.

[luaneryder]

5. Struggled thru Crown of Swords

and swore off. The last two were so turgid it took weeks for me to wade thru. Terry Pratchett has a new one out; he's never gone stale for me.

[Mojambo]

6. Still slogging through them as they come out

I'll be damned if I'm giving up now.
The difference between the first 3 and the last 3 written is pronounced.

He needs to get out of the heads of his characters and get some plot movement obviously. The series would also be served well by cutting down on the number of POV characters used.

I thought he finished a bit stronger in his last book (with the kidnapping) so I have hopes for the next installment.

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

18. are you kidding?

the kidnapping was the ONLY thing that happened in that book...and it was at the very end!

Book 10 killed it for me. If he ever actually finished the damn series, I may read the rest just to see what happens, but I'm not following it on a book-by-book basis anymore. I refuse to read another 900 pages in which NONE of the plot complications left hanging from the previous book are resolved, and only one new thing really happens...at the very end.

Argh!

[MARALE]

7. I am

I am reading the last one now. It is kinda like an accident, you just have to stare at the horror of it. It did start out well, but the author got lost and I don't even think he realizes it. I really don't care anymore about the characters, but I need closure. I accually like the female characters better than the male, but he is losing me with those as well. I hope when he is done with the series, someone can take it and get rid of the garbage and filter it into a great story. It has so much potential for that.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

8. This was like a cruel joke

I started reading them after book 9 came out. For some reason, I was under the impression that book 9 was the end of the series. :shrug:

At this point I think I'm too far invested to give up now.

[uberotto]

9. Recently reread most of the series...

I had started reading the books in the late 80's and when I noticed a new installment out, I would buy it and read it. After around book 4, I started loosing track of the story because of the amount of time that had passed between books.

A few months ago, I noticed that book 8 (and 9 and possibly 10) was out in Paperback. I hadn't been keeping up with the series for the past few years. I bought the book and started reading it, but couldn't understand most of what was going on. So after about 100 pages, I gave up, dug up all of the old books that I had lying around and started the series over from book 1 thru book 7. Then I finished reading book 8. Somewhere around book 5 I started remembering why I quit reading the books before. The story has become, slow, stale and quite possibly endless.

I did, however, enjoy re-reading the first few books in the series. It would have been a great set of books if it had ended with 5 or 6.

[ET Awful]

10. How long does it take to get to a final battle between good and evil

anyway?

[Milo_Bloom]

11. Supposedly 2 more books.

At least that is what I hear he said at Comic-Con this year, which I stupidly didn't go to.

I had gone back and re-read the series at some point a few years ago and realized where it all went wrong. THE BOWL! THE DAMN BOWL! (I believe this was in book 5) That was the beginning of the end. Up until that point, the story was building towards a certain conclusion, the battle between Rand and Shaitan. Everyone had their part to play, but it was all related to ultimately getting Rand to the final battle.

However, suddenly in this book, the story takes a strange turn and everyone starts going off on their own, doing their own things towards different ends not necessarily related to the main plot. The Forsaken become little more than a side joke, when at first they were the main obstacle to the end.

In the beginning, it was cool, when a Forsaken died, you kinda checked it off in your mind, another one down. Then they started coming back to life in different bodies, so you don't know how is alive and who isn't.

AND WHO KILLED ASMODEAN???

That was just basically dropped from the story. When questioned about it, Robert Jordan says that people should be able to figure it out.

[Lerkfish]

15. yeah, somewhere around the BOWL is about right.

after that, he seemed to have dropped several important strands of the story, never to pick them up again.

although, for me, once he abandoned Perrin's storyline, the books wavered from focus.

[Khephra]

12. I was struggling my way through book seven, trying to remember

who the characters were that had just appeared who Jordan kept on hinting were significant, yet I couldn't remember them if my life depended on it. I then went to the bookstore to find something a bit different and came across the first book of George R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series. I knew Martin was a quality writer from his work on the Wild Cards shared-world series and the reviews had been filled with praise for the book, so I picked it up.

I haven't read a single page of Jordan since.

[Frogtutor]

13. I started reading it not that long ago

And I'm on book 10 now. I thought it was the final book; you mean there's going to be more?! Even though it's not the best literature in the world, I kind of feel like the characters are part of my life now, and I have to see what happens to them. Besides, I have this obsessive compulsive need to finish almost everything I start, no matter how painful!

Frogtutor

[JerseygirlCT]

14. The last couple were really disappointing...

but I'll probably get sucked in again if he ever gets another out.

[northernsoul]

16. I quit after the first 100 pages of the first book

So many words, so little actual plot development - I knew right away the series was going to just be a hack version of LOTR that the author was going to drag out for maximum $$$ (and apparently that's exactly what he did).

[Chovexani]

17. I have never gotten through the first book.

It's literally been sitting on a bookshelf collecting dust for like, years. Every New Year's I make a resolution to finally read the damn thing, and I can never get past the first chapter.

I thought he was a pretentious windbag then, and I'm glad I've been vindicated and saved myself assloads of cash in the process. I know a couple of Jordan crackheads and boy it is not pretty to watch. I'm SO glad I didn't drink that Koolaid.

[Ducks In A Row]

19. I'm a gutton for puishment, so I have read them all

but then I'm still waiting for the next David Gerrold's book in the Chtorr series

[semillama]

20. I agree with his letting the books get out of control

however, I still really enjoy reading them. I think it's because I love all the detail. I think his work on the history and cultural development of his fantasy world is comparable to Tolkien, and I know I'll get slammed for saying that. But that's how I feel. I think I approach the series now as more of an opportunity to learn more about the world he created more than to see what's going to happen.

The books definitely need plot outlines to let you figure out what happened before in the beginning of each book, that's for sure.

He still doesn't hold a candle to Martin, though.

[Salviati]

21. So, what's you're personal loony theory about the WOT plot?

Who do you think killed Asmodian and why?

My personal loony theory, and it's a doozy, is that everything after page 297 in The Great Hunt has been a fantasy in Nyneave's head. She's still in the Ter'Angreal, the way came but once and she never left...

:silly:

[Vert]

23. the series that never seems to end

I struggled to get through book six; I think I had to check it out twice actually. And after six, I figured, what the hell, there couldn't be much more after this, right? I finally stopped after book nine when I realized that nothing really happened after book five anyway.

[ermoore]

24. It's totally got ahold of me . . . kinda.

It's not fine literature by any account, but I've probably read the whole series more 10 times. I mean at this point if I just need something to read to kill ten minutes I can just pick up any of the books and just start reading somewhere in the middle.
It doesn't hold a candle up to anything by Gaiman or Martin. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire is just outstanding. The analogy I use is that Martin's series is like an HBO original series, while Jordan's is like a Saturday morning cartoon (but one of the better ones).