I'm reading through the Wheel of Time series for the second time, mostly due to the fact that I have nothing else to read. I must say I'm enjoying it almost as much as the first time, but I am noticing Jordan's tendancy to waffle a bit more.

Have the rest of you who have read these books noticed that he often goes for entire chapters without much happening?

Other than that what do you think of the characters/world that Jordan has created. I've heard a lot of critiscism aimed at him that states that he ripped off most of Tolkiens work. What do you think about THAT as well.

Basically...just discuss Wheel of Time :P

yep i'm going through the series (just finished the Dragon Reborn but lousy libary doesn't have the next couple in yet at the moment)

I think it's not bad set of books but yeah like bean said, sometimes entire chapters pass without much happening. But by the end (especially with DR) everything comes together for some major pwnage.

The evolution of characters is another strong point. Rand finding that channeling comes with a price, Perrin, becoming skilled as a fighter but unsure if that's what he wants. and the rest blah blah blah.

This isn't my favorite fantasy series (Songs of Fire and Ice is, as soon as he gets off his arse and finshes the next one) but it's a damn fine read anyway

I have all the Whell of time books and yeah he can woffle on but I find that his character development to be really good all the impefections coming out the gray areas of the decisions of leadership the strange relationships of the characters. The different cultres are great too although other than the Aiel are a little underdeveloped but shit I can forgive him.

Min is my favorite character doing what she can with her gift and with the rather strange relationship she has with Rand. I like the fact that shes not a phyically strong character and her gift doesn't envolve killing people but she is still very helpful to Rand and the decisions he has to make.

Any one played the game on a side note?

This is my all time fave series and I just finished up reading it for the 3rd time. Personally, I don't think that Jordan waffles on, I find that his in depth descriptions draws you further into the world and into the characters minds. Essentially he creates a huge tapestry, one where I can clearly envision the world and it's inhabitants, often down to the smallest nuances.

Most of the characters in the books are great, in particular Mat. His way of doing things is hilarious, and I love the whole "the Dark One's luck". It makes for some great pieces of action.

I would ramble more, but I have to bail for uni, so I shall revisit this thread later on tonight probably. I'll just finish up by saying that the Battle of Dumai's Well. at the end of book 6, sends a shiver up my spine every time I read it ;)

I quite warmed to a lot of the minor characters myself.

One of my favourite characters is Tam al'Thor. For some reason when he's in the scene, or someones talking about him, I like the scene more :P Weird I know. Reading book one for the second time was a real treat, because I got to revisit some of the characters I'd forgotten. The emonds fielders are all great characters.

As with all fantasy novels that have lots of cultures in it, I try to place them in a real life setting as best I can. The main places, Andor, Illian, Tairen, Cairhienen, etc, strike me as European. The Sea Folk strike me as possibly Persian? Something middle easterny anyway. Borderlanders, Saladea, Sheiharan (excuse spelling, nfc) strike me as northern european. Kind of Germanic barbarian meets King Arthur knight kind of thing.

Meh, I'm rambling now.

My favourite accent is definitely the Illian. I was disappointed that the whole Seanchan thing wasn't resolved in book 10. Especially to see when the Daughter of the Nine Moons was going to hook her claws into Mat :P

Agreed. I love the idea of old Cenn Buie and his physically domineering wife. Genius. Bran Al'Vere also gets a chuckle out of me most times. ;)

I love the detail that Robert Jordan goes into but in Crossroads of Twighlight nothing much happens to the main story line and this could be woffling . Even so though I know Robby gonna get my money for as long as he's writing these books.

I was in the middle of Fires Of Heaven until the library forced me to return it. Someone else had the book on hold.

Gonna take a bit of break on the series before I go back and try to read the rest.

I guess it's one of the better (non Tolkien) fantasy series around. It definitely went downhill from the first book (by a linear relationship... which means it was only the last two that were really average).

I didn't really like the way so little happened in the last couple of books. And Robert Jorden deciding to write "prequels" instead of the next book makes me mad.

It's enjoyable to read... you just start to wonder when it's going to end though.

Someone told me that Jordan has said he plans to keep writing them until he dies. So who knows.

I agree that the last few in the series were a bit dissapointing, I hope they pick up again. I'm up to book 5 now and it's still in the good stage. It's all the political maneuvering and not much else that gets it all bogged down at the end.

The later books seem to move slower, but that's simply because there are so many story threads moving at the same time. He continually has to split his attention (and pages) between Rand and Min, Egwene and the Little Tower, Perrin and Faile, Mat, The White Tower, The Forsaken, Nynaeve and Elayne, etc, etc. I think the fact that the first few books are primarily focused on the one party of people and that they are spread out (timewise) over many months, when compared with the later books that focus on happenings of only a few weeks creates the belief that nothing is happening. The sheer number of major characters means that the action does move a little slower, though I think you need to consider the aspect of time before condemning the series.

As for how long the WoT series will last for, originally it was meant to be a 16 book series. In a recent interview, however, Jordan stated that he will be wrapping the series up with the twelfth book. So it will be interesting to watch exactly how it all plays out in the next couple of books.

Also, there is currently production of a WoT TV series, though it turns out that it is a childrens cartoon and not the live action series it was long rumoured to be. Bummer :(

I think that the whole idea of ripping off tolken is just a bit stupid. I personally think that writers should be able to get ideas from books that have been written before theirs. L.O.T.R is a great series, and taking off it a bit is fine, as long as the meaning that the writer is trying to put across is still his own, and not just a remake of another book with a few different twists.

As long as rand al'thor never meets frodo, I think its fine.

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Congratulations on the longest thread revival of all time. And the most random.

I read the thread title and thought someone had finally got the courage up to discuss Wheel of Fortune heatedly with his fellow Evolites... but alas. :(

It's not like he had a choice Moggo. He created a thread on the Wheel of Time and it was locked and he was directed here if he wanted to discuss the book.

Exactly.

I don't think that Jordon is ripping off Lord of the Rings from the books I've read in the series.

Your quite welcome to make your own Wheel of Fortune thread here Moggo. :P

I liked it when John Burgess hosted it.

Well i'm still waiting for (is it?) the 11th book of the series. I think that if he wanted to have ended them - he easily could have.

Does anyone else get the feeling he's dragging them out a bit? :blink:

Not at all. I've said it before and I will say it again, the series was originally slated to be 16 books in length, and within the last few years Jordan has made the decision to wrap it up by book 12. So, if anything, he is jamming things in.

Yeah, I don't think you can really compare Jorden to Tolkien and as far as I'm aware no one really has.

I think we're all aware of the reasons why the last couple of books are so slow and what we're saying is that Jorden should have written them differently so that they weren't (ie not split the people up so much, spend much more time on certain characters, cut the bullshit and have actual stuff happen).

Anyway, does anyone have any word on when the next book will be released?

And what about the "extra" books, like the one about Rand's dad (I think) any good? There's one sitting around at my place, but I've got better things to read.