The 1st of 3 books to end The Wheel of Time to be released Nov 09

[Dachs]

Would you like to do a collaborative work some time? I have good recommendations from writing Jedis v. Nazis in Middle-Earth: The Untold Story.

That'd be Jedi.

 

[Miles Teg]

That'd be Jedi.

Not if you want to avoid a lawsuit.

 

[Dachs]

Not if you want to avoid a lawsuit.

It's fanfic. I want it to die.

 

[scherbchen]

Wheel of time? seriously? I tried to make it through the first book twice and I had to stop due to fantasy cliché overload and bad writing twice. I am more of a Song of Ice and Fire kind of guy.

 

[Miles Teg]

Wheel of time? seriously? I tried to make it through the first book twice and I had to stop due to fantasy cliché overload and bad writing twice. I am more of a Song of Ice and Fire kind of guy.

ASOIAF is better written, no contest there, but The Wheel of Time does have a certain charm to it. Book 1 is fairly stereotypical, but number two is better, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are all really good. After that, quality drops off, with most of 9 being bad with the excepting of the ending, and ten being practically unreadable.

Jordan's strength is most definitely in world building, which unfortunately means he often takes too much time detailing surroundings, or repeating certain characteristics.

Overall however, WoT is definitely a good series, although a bit over-hyped. If you want truly over-hyped, barely coherent drivel, I'd look at The Sword of Truth series.

 

[scherbchen]

hadn't heard of the latter before. I'll be sure to avoid it, thanks

 

[Dragonlord]

^^^ One reason I like the Wheel of Time series so much is that it isnt just full of fantasy fluff. The story has depth and speaks to more than just the classic battle of good vs evil with a bunch of shiney swords and sparkly magic thrown in. I used to be a slut for books of all genres. But thanks to some authors like Robert Jordan, I reformed myself.

I fully agree. Even better is Steven Eriksons Malazan series - if you don't know it yet, get it!

And I also agree on the Sword of Truth - I read the first several but soon had a bellyful

 

[Kozmos]

Bugger...I want it all in one book. No matter if it's Bible sized.

 

[Miles Teg]

I own a New Oxford Annotated Bible, with the Apocrypha. 2000 wafer thin pages. Weighs 3.6 pounds. I'm rather skeptical if it could hold three Jordan sized books.

 

[Grisu]

Only three books? That's about 30 less that Jordan would've written himself to get to an end. If he'd ever get to an end. I've loved this series, but the story seems to be going nowhere. At least not at a decent speed.

the slow pace was exactly one of the things I like so much about the series

My favourite parts is at Rhuiedan, where Rand goes backward in the history of the Aiels.

agreed, that certainly was one of the high points.

ASOIAF is better written, no contest there, but The Wheel of Time does have a certain charm to it. Book 1 is fairly stereotypical, but number two is better, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are all really good. After that, quality drops off, with most of 9 being bad with the excepting of the ending, and ten being practically unreadable.

funny, I have felt book 6 to be the worst so far with quality getting better again afterwards...I'm at book 9 at the moment, and so far I quite like it

Overall however, WoT is definitely a good series, although a bit over-hyped. If you want truly over-hyped, barely coherent drivel, I'd look at The Sword of Truth series.

damn you, I just ordered the first book of that series

 

[Steph]

The first Sword of Truth book is good.

I've finished the serie, because I wanted to know how it would end... And I have mixed feelings.

There are some good ideas... But the caricature of "communism is really evil and bad, free will is heavenly good" is very heavy and almost sickening at the end.

 

[innonimatu]

Wheel of time? seriously? I tried to make it through the first book twice and I had to stop due to fantasy cliché overload and bad writing twice. I am more of a Song of Ice and Fire kind of guy.

I only had to browse through it at the library...

About Song of Ice and Fire, unfortunately GRRM is taking even longer to end his series... I'll never pick another book from a series before the last one is also published!

 

[CCRunner]

Finally we get some news on it.

 

[Miles Teg]

damn you, I just ordered the first book of that series

Don't worry too much about the first book. It ranges from mediocre to good, depending on how much you like cliched fantasy, and the next three just do a fun rip off of the same Robert Jordan we are now discussing. Fifth book onward is where Goodkind starts trying to write Atlas Shrugged as a fantasy story, six straight times. Both the long monologues and the Objectivist propaganda. They're bad apart from that, but that's my main gripe.

 

[PhroX]

I used to love WoT. After books 6-7 though I began to get rather bored of it. However, I've put so much effort into reading it, I've gotta know how it finishes...

Even better is Steven Eriksons Malazan series - if you don't know it yet, get it!

Agree entirely. Awesome books

 

[Evie]

Would you like to do a collaborative work some time? I have good recommendations from writing Jedis v. Nazis in Middle-Earth: The Untold Story.

As opposed to "Jedis v. Nazis in Middle-Earth: The Told Story", which is otherwise known as "Eragon".

 

[Death_Machine]

Nevertheless I like closure, I might take the time to re-read the whole series if I get the time before the release. The three books is probably going to have a net benefit, which you have listed above.

I will also have to reread the series. I look forward to it as well. There are only a couple of books & 1 series (LOTR) that I have reread & this series will totally be worth the massive effort.

Another bit of oldish news is that Universal Pictures bought the movie rights back in August 08 and have plans to make The Eye of the World the first of ? movies.

I'd like to see HBO do something like that. They could do it right.

My favourite parts is at Rhuiedan, where Rand goes backward in the history of the Aiels.

I liked the change in Matt after he was hung. Also loved the dice rolling in his head.

It'll be interesting to see how the Dragon destroys the Aiel, and what becomes of the Remnants. And how the Aiel bringing the song back to The People fits into the completion of that circle...

He has already begun the destruction of the Aiel, starting with how he told them about their origins.

 

[Winner]

Can sombody please tell me what's this all about? No links to Wiki, please, I've been through that.

 

[Steph]

I liked the change in Matt after he was hung. Also loved the dice rolling in his head.

Like when he tried to expose a cheater, but because of his bloddy chance, he wins even with leaded dice!

 

[Steph]

Can sombody please tell me what's this all about? No links to Wiki, please, I've been through that.

Plot summary:
In this world, Aes Sedai are powerfull "wizard" or "sorceress". By accident, in the past, the freed Shai'tan (the Devil).
The best Aes Sedai managed to emprison him again, but his counterstrike tainted the male part of magic, and so all male Aes Sedai eventually become mad and dangerous.
Only the females can wield magic safely.

Many many years later, prophecy says the leader of the Aes Sedai, the Dragon, will be reborn. It will be the time when Shai'tan will get free again, and their will be a last battle between the forces of good and evil.

The books revolves around a few main characters, each with a specific destiny (Rand, the Dragon Reborn, Mat, the warleader and luckiest man in the world, Perrin the Worlf brother, etc...). It shows about they embrace their destiny, how they shape the world doing it, with many subplots as all the nations are shakened by the wars, the attacks of the forces of evil, etc.

What is nice in the book is the number of characters, the many plots that different sides are trying at the same time...

And hwat I also like a lot, and is better shown when you read the series again, is that from the first book, you can see hint of what will come through vision, prophecies, etc, and that's only several books later that you actually see it.

That's the difference with the Song of Ice and Fire. Martin is good with changing the plot in midway, with a treason, the death of a main character, etc that you don't see coming. He probably has the main plot in his mind already, but as a reader you don't know how it will end, and sometimes you have the impression is has just added a trason or a death to renew the interest, but it wasn't really planned, just a way to increase the length of the story.

With Jordan, you can see hints from the start. You may not understand them at first, but it shows that from book 1 he had a relatively good idea of what will happen in book 12, even to the point of tiny details that can be revealed in some prophecies.