Robert Jordan: Wheel of Time

[MEYERTREE]

so Jordan has actually said there's to be only 12?
i guess his sales the disenchantment people have been voicing over the last 2-3 years has finally reached his ears.

it would hard for me to pick out the best, but i'd say it was probably one of the first three. the rest just seem like character juggling.

i'm just hoping George R.R. Martin doesn't go the same way with his series.
(kinda like Tery Goodkind did)

 

[Billy Oblivion]

Dear Tommm, do yourself a favour and stop now. I'm hooked and won't give up until either he finishes or I die (whichever comes first). And I didn't even like the first ones - I just have an addictive personality. It's all rubbish and if you can't tell a story in three volumes then it's even bigger rubbish! Except for Gibbon's Decline and Fall.

 

[jadeaaronr]

hello everyone. i know that this question may have been brought up previousley, but since i am new, i figured i would ask if anyone has an opinion on the wheel of time series by jordan. i am interested in reading this series and wanted to hear your opinions before i embarked on this journey.

 

[TroyF]

I read the first three books and enjoyed them. The next two started to drag and I haven't even opened the seventh and eighth.

 

[marxlaws]

good stuff. you cant put the first couple down, your really lucky, by the time you get to the end it should be out. aaaaannnnd he wrote a damn prequil. i dont know if your suppost to read it first or not ?!!stupid preqill

 

[Halcyon]

To those who have read the books – what is the writing like relative to the lord of the rings series? I was thinking about this series too, but I don’t want to read a set like Tolkien’s work right now. Especially 8 of them

 

[magemanda]

I've read all of the Wheel of Time books. I would say that, up to round about the sixth book, they are a really cracking read. The world building is thorough and engaging. The characters hold your interest. And, after the first book, you do get different viewpoints in different chapters a la The Lord of the Rings, which does make for edge of your seat reading. The books after the sixth have gone a little downhill - by this, I mean there is less action and resolution taking place in each book, and RJ seems to have tied himself in knots with the amount of characters he has added to the series. However, when you have invested as much time and money as I have in the series, you are not just going to quit reading them! I'm desperate to find out what happens next .

You'll be lucky in that ten have been released (11 with the prequel mentioned, which you don't really have to read first - you can go back and read it, after you've met the characters Moiraine and Lan in the actual series), with the eleventh due back end of this year. This means that if you enjoy them and read to the end, you will only have had a two year or so wait to find out the conclusion, since RJ has stated he will only be writing 12 books in the actual series.

 

[Zolipara]

This means that if you enjoy them and read to the end, you will only have had a two year or so wait to find out the conclusion, since RJ has stated he will only be writing 12 books in the actual series.

Actually i have heard another quote from RJ: "As long as they keep reading them i will keep writing them."

The first 3 books are pretty good, after that it quickly goes downhill and the main storyline is pretty much at a standstill. It feels like RJ is stalling for time, either because he has no idea how to finish it, or because he does not want to finish a moneymachine. Seeing the above quote my bet is that he dont want to finish it.

His worldbuilding is pretty good, but his characters are horrible, especially the female ones (i wonder if RJ has ever talked to a female). After reading some of the books i got increasingly annoyed with several of the characters and kept thinking the story would be better if RJ killed some of them. The characters have one or two special character traits that is described in detail each and every time you see the characters. The worst example is the female sorceress Nynaeve (sp) that is pulling her braid at least 10 times in every scene. Its definetly not interesting for 10000 pages.

 

[magemanda]

And there you have two different opinions of the series

Basically, I would say to try the first one and make up your own mind (this being, The Eye of the World). Just bear in mind that virtually everyone who has read the series does believe the latter books are not as good as the first few. Where this transition occurs is obviously open to debate.

 

[hay82]

I have read the whole series, and I find the first 8 to be quite good, but book 9 and 10 are extremely boring. The women in his books are always grumpy and in book nine(I think) you really start to get enough of that and just want him to kill them off...
Still I can't wait for book 11 to come out, because if he wants the series to end in 2 books, he has to pick up the pace of the books.

It feels like RJ is stalling for time, either because he has no idea how to finish it

I heard an interview where he said that he has know the ending for the last 20 years...

 

[Zolipara]

I must say you have a lot of patience if you only started to get tired of his women by book9. I think i gave up the series at book 7. I should have stopped sooner, but at that time i actually thought he intended to finish it.

If he has known the ending for 20 years it only strenghtens my belief that he has no intention of ending it because of its success.

 

[hay82]

I must say you have a lot of patience if you only started to get tired of his women by book9. I think i gave up the series at book 7. I should have stopped sooner, but at that time i actually thought he intended to finish it.

Might have been before book 8 but I read them in all in about a month and am not really sure where I got tired of them, but I'm sure I was when I reached book 9 and 10..

If he has known the ending for 20 years it only strenghtens my belief that he has no intention of ending it because of its success.

If he make the story longer that 12 or 13 he'll get a lot of angry fans.. I can't stand a book as bad as book 10 again...

 

[Faegir]

Hello, I' m reading the first one as well and I'm enjoying it a lot, as with the series of Feist, I like long series, so I'm curious to see where it is all going.

As for how many more books, somebody gave me this link once:

http://www.tor.com/jordan/newspring.html

Scroll a little bit down and you'll see a link after "Watch the special new interview with Robert Jordan ", which consists of a number of small clips about several subjects, one of them is about how many more books he's thinking of.

(On a sidenote, you gotta love the chair he is sitting in )

 

[Prolixic]

I was reading the first about the time the prequel came out and decided to call it quits. The second and third are new and have never been opened and are gathering dust on my bookshelf.

 

[Halcyon]

I was reading the first about the time the prequel came out and decided to call it quits. The second and third are new and have never been opened and are gathering dust on my bookshelf.

wanna sell them?

 

[marxlaws]

man i think you guys nailed it. he seems confused. the last book just kept going on and on and i kept waiting for ( i wont say whom) the protagonist and rand to meet up and darn if he didnt keep wandering. and some of its obvious you just know how certain things are gonna go and your waiting and.... waiting ... and i dont know. then when finally im ready to read his latest book--- here comes the prequil.

here is a question to anyone that has read the prequill - does it tell us ANYTHING pertinent to the last books? is it a must read or just insight to lan and ..morine?

 

[Ashlea]

I read the first few, but the main frustration I had was that once all the characters start heading off in different directions, your favorite doesn't show up for hundreds of pages. I stopped after book 5. If and when he ever finishes the series, I'll give it another go, but not until I have the whole lot lined up on my shelf.

 

[Vorian]

i've read all of them so far including the prequel, which was refreshingly short compared to the main books. i am forced to agree that yes all in all the books do start to get a little stale but i can't sem to put them down... i've just read through the series for the second time and i can't wait to find out about what happens to al'thor's friend in the white tower (ou'll have to forgive me i can't for the lifef of me remember her name and im far to lazy to get up and check... LOL)

 

[magemanda]

Egwene?

And consider yourself lucky.... I picked up the series when the sixth book had just been published and, because of the long gap between paperbacks, I have read the series four times so far in an effort to keep all the back details fresh as I read the new book!!

So now I have nine and ten on my bookshelf and am trying very very hard not to read them before at least eleven comes out

 

[JKennedy82]

Is there somewhere on this site dedicated to this fantastic fantasy series. I think there should be if there is not, but if there is then could someone let me know where it is. An exciting time in Rand Land at the moment to be sure, looking forward to october and Knife of Dreams, so I am re-reading all the books and would like the chance to discuss with people interested. Let me know.