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Thread: Wheel of Time

  1. #31
    Astonishing Member AndrewCrossett's Avatar
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    I couldn't get into the books, but I am looking forward to watching the TV show without being able to compare it to the books.

  2. #32
    Spam Hunter Conn Seanery's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CSTowle View Post
    Ach, my bad. Guess good for the bump?
    I'm almost certain someone started a thread with the teaser, which is what I mistakenly assumed this thread was when I merged it.

    Since it isn't posted here:


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  3. #33
    Silver Sentinel BeastieRunner's Avatar
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    Oh? We DID have a thread!? YAY!
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  4. #34
    Extraordinary Member thwhtGuardian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndrewCrossett View Post
    I couldn't get into the books, but I am looking forward to watching the TV show without being able to compare it to the books.
    I'm the same way, I've read the first two books but just couldn't get into it.
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  5. #35
    Silver Sentinel BeastieRunner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by thwhtGuardian View Post
    I'm the same way, I've read the first two books but just couldn't get into it.
    TBF, WoT doesn't really become the Wheel of Time till Book 4.

    The 1st 3 books are great, however, but much like Dune, not something I would recommend to everyone. I tend to very seldom recommend Dune or WoT unless certain books are mentioned that someone has enjoyed. But once you get into either, it is hard to pull out of it.

    You kind of have to have a certain pallet to enjoy it.
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  6. #36
    Ultimate Member Jackalope89's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeastieRunner View Post
    TBF, WoT doesn't really become the Wheel of Time till Book 4.

    The 1st 3 books are great, however, but much like Dune, not something I would recommend to everyone. I tend to very seldom recommend Dune or WoT unless certain books are mentioned that someone has enjoyed. But once you get into either, it is hard to pull out of it.

    You kind of have to have a certain pallet to enjoy it.
    Jordan did tend to go a little overboard with his details at times.

  7. #37
    Silver Sentinel BeastieRunner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jackalope89 View Post
    Jordan did tend to go a little overboard with his details at times.
    Indeed. Whole pages or paragraphs on the color of a dress, down to the button!

    Much like Tolkien or King at times.

    Which YMMV depending on what you like to read.
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  8. #38
    Extraordinary Member thwhtGuardian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeastieRunner View Post
    TBF, WoT doesn't really become the Wheel of Time till Book 4.

    The 1st 3 books are great, however, but much like Dune, not something I would recommend to everyone. I tend to very seldom recommend Dune or WoT unless certain books are mentioned that someone has enjoyed. But once you get into either, it is hard to pull out of it.

    You kind of have to have a certain pallet to enjoy it.
    See, that just kills me. I shouldn't have to read four books just to get to the good part.
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  9. #39
    Silver Sentinel BeastieRunner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by thwhtGuardian View Post
    See, that just kills me. I shouldn't have to read four books just to get to the good part.
    Well, it's not the good part per se, just when the series really finds its identity instead of just successfully playing off (then) current fantasy tropes and making homages to fantasy literature of the time. Jordan wrote Eye of the World as a more "realistic" reaction farmers would have to wizards and being told to leave their lands. It was his homage to Lord of the Rings. The Great Hunt was his take on the heist/robber/chase tropes. The Dragon Reborn was his take on Arthurian mythology. He leans heavy into Norse and Slavic myth later in the story. Shadow Rising is when WoT really goes in it's own direction. And he turns dues ex machina into a plot point. "Why does stuff conveniently happen to us?" Is part of the plot of the story.

    He wanted to do it sooner, but the editors (sans his wife) said HELL NO to his ideas. When book 4 was turned in as a draft, he said, "I am proven in sales, I'm doing what I want or leaving." And the rest is history. His foreshadowing in singular books and book-to-book is to this day, untouchable in the genre.

    It's the progenerator of modern fantasy. A lot of current authors in the genre broke their teeth on WoT. Paolini, Sanderson, Rothfuss, Jemisin, McGuire, the list goes on.

    But you kind of have to like verbose writing in a post-apocalyptic, horror, gunless, Renaissance-era fantasy setting that is ultimately about stories within stories. I personally like fiction like the Unwritten, Stranger Than Fiction, Fables, etc. where writing and "story" is center to the plot. The Poppy War or Way of Kings tend to be the books I hear people like when I recommend WoT.

    The writing style I would say is the biggest thing to overcome. The series is heavy on repetitious phrases. It has lots of recaps and debriefs of events. There are a run of books nicknamed "The Slog" (or the oldschool bookworm term "series creep") but with a healthy payoff at the end! The length is not bad when you actually read it but I can see that as a major turn off, too. There was also a time when the totally overwhelming fanaticism these books used to inspire would be off-putting. For a while it seemed as if any time anybody criticized WoT anywhere they were flooded with hate and ostracized. The fans seem more chill now (but not as chill as Dune fans IMHO).

    It's not everyone's cuppa tea and that's okay. I hope the show captures the feel of the books (which it looks like it will) so maybe people will give it a go again. Or at least enjoy the show enough to enjoy the series.

    The original audio books were amazing, BTW.
    Last edited by BeastieRunner; 11-02-2021 at 04:44 PM.
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  10. #40
    Astonishing Member AndrewCrossett's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeastieRunner View Post
    A lot of current authors in the genre broke their teeth on WoT. Paolini, Sanderson, Rothfuss, Jemisin, McGuire, the list goes on.
    Heh... I think you meant "cut their teeth"...

    The first book seemed too derivative to me... I might have kept up with it if it weren't for the thousands and thousands of pages I knew lay ahead in the story. I think the TV show may be the best way for me to consume this story (just like some people prefer audiobooks to dead-tree books), but my big concern is that few TV/streaming shows last long enough to fully cover a saga as long as WoT, so I'm afraid we'll be left high and dry. Which might be a good thing for book sales if the show is good. (Read the books to see how it comes out!)

    I was the same way with Game of Thrones. Tried to read the first book, didn't care for it, but loved the TV series.

  11. #41
    Ultimate Member Jackalope89's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndrewCrossett View Post
    Heh... I think you meant "cut their teeth"...

    The first book seemed too derivative to me... I might have kept up with it if it weren't for the thousands and thousands of pages I knew lay ahead in the story. I think the TV show may be the best way for me to consume this story (just like some people prefer audiobooks to dead-tree books), but my big concern is that few TV/streaming shows last long enough to fully cover a saga as long as WoT, so I'm afraid we'll be left high and dry. Which might be a good thing for book sales if the show is good. (Read the books to see how it comes out!)

    I was the same way with Game of Thrones. Tried to read the first book, didn't care for it, but loved the TV series.
    You wouldn't believe how often us book fans were told that while waiting for new books to come out.

    I will say, the show will have a number of differences from the books. One of the main, without spoiling anything, is that the main cast is aged up a few years.

  12. #42
    Silver Sentinel BeastieRunner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndrewCrossett View Post
    Heh... I think you meant "cut their teeth"...
    I think I wrote broke into, deleted it, then wrote cut their teeth, deleted it, forgot what I was saying, and ended up with some weird amalgamation of what I meant

    Quote Originally Posted by AndrewCrossett View Post
    The first book seemed too derivative to me... I might have kept up with it if it weren't for the thousands and thousands of pages I knew lay ahead in the story. I think the TV show may be the best way for me to consume this story (just like some people prefer audiobooks to dead-tree books), but my big concern is that few TV/streaming shows last long enough to fully cover a saga as long as WoT, so I'm afraid we'll be left high and dry. Which might be a good thing for book sales if the show is good. (Read the books to see how it comes out!)

    I was the same way with Game of Thrones. Tried to read the first book, didn't care for it, but loved the TV series.
    I think that is a valid point and fair to say about WoT.

    GoT got started about the same time, so it suffers from some tropes in the first book as well. I think WoT, GoT have LOTS of influence on modern fantasy and they needed to tie into the "old" fantasy in the 90s to hook new readers before they tried new things. I ended up giving up on GoT towards the end of book three because the constant killing of characters actually became TOO predictable. "Oh I like this character? This is a new character that seems important to the plot? They will die." So it lost the excitement for me. That and the POV of the Red Wedding was over-the-top for me. I don't mind dark or violent stuff. It just came off as trite, so I was done with it. Tried reading more as recent as last year, but still cannot get into it. Couldn't get into the show either despite loving 95% of the castings.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jackalope89 View Post
    You wouldn't believe how often us book fans were told that while waiting for new books to come out.

    I will say, the show will have a number of differences from the books. One of the main, without spoiling anything, is that the main cast is aged up a few years.
    The Ajah's being out in the open is another one but IMHO makes sense for streaming. Same with New Spring being sprinkled into what looks like flashbacks.
    Last edited by BeastieRunner; 11-03-2021 at 10:47 AM.
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  13. #43
    Extraordinary Member Zero Hunter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jackalope89 View Post
    Jordan did tend to go a little overboard with his details at times.
    I think that is why I really loved the last 3 books that were ghost written by Sanderson. He took Jordan's plot and notes, but cut out a lot of the detail overload.

  14. #44
    Silver Sentinel BeastieRunner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zero Hunter View Post
    I think that is why I really loved the last 3 books that were ghost written by Sanderson. He took Jordan's plot and notes, but cut out a lot of the detail overload.
    There were only 3 sections 100% written by Jordan in the final 3 novels, too. The series epilogue and most of the prologues. There was about 100 other pages randomly smattered in that would be too spoilery to talk about.
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  15. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jackalope89 View Post
    Jordan did tend to go a little overboard with his details at times.
    I say that's part of the charm, as opposed to being overboard.

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