Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time

Tabris · 10-23-2006, 01:07 PM

SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD!

You guys knew the thread was coming.

I admit it's a guilty pleasure. I haven't touched a book in the series since the abortion that was Book 8, vowing not to read or buy a new book until the entire series is entirely released.

How is Jordan doing now, especially with his disease? Will he finish the final book or is it going to be ghost written by someone else?

Nebuchadnezzar · 10-23-2006, 01:17 PM

With Jordan i think you have to view book 8 and 9 as one novel and 10 and 11 as one novel as well. Why it was released like that people can assume what they want. Either he wanted more money or he got old and it took him longer to write, with greedy publishers and selfish fans hounding at him to release every year. Sad thing is, the same thing is happening to Martin slowly but surely.

Buckaroo Banzai · 10-23-2006, 01:41 PM

I love the first one, but I gave up around book 5 if I recall.
I think the authors changed at one point and Danielle Steele took over the writing duty.

Gwen Rockpounder · 10-23-2006, 01:55 PM

Knife of Dreams (Book 11) was finally back to the form of the first few books. I'd made myself trudge through the previous 4 or 5 almost reluctantly but I felt I'd made it that far along, I might as well see it through to the end. KoD for the first time in years made me think I might actually enjoy the ending!

He had got himself stuck in a rut for too many books where he would, for example, take five pages to tell us, again, that Perrin was full of sorrow. It got very old, very quickly. In book 11 he started getting to the point in a reasonable amount of time again and although at times part of the story has had "Lost" levels of unanswered questions, he is starting to wrap some of the 812 ongoing story thread up at last.

Forgive the slightly bitter tone of my reply, five or six books of tripe means he has some serious making up to do before the end which allegedly is the book after next.

p.s. Will the Asmodean question ever be answered?

Chinaman889 · 10-23-2006, 02:33 PM

Knife of Dreams finally had our old RJ back. My favorite scene had to be with Nynaeve and what she does for Lan. I have to admit that the best parts were with Mat especially near the end.

My main concern now, is that RJ lives long enough to finish off the last book. If he doesn't, I think alot of people are going to kill themselves.

Ham n Cheese · 10-23-2006, 02:40 PM

I read book 1 and enjoyed it, had someone spoil the ending and was still interesting enough to keep going. Book 2 started off great, but then slowly became one of the most boring reads. I stopped there, most everyone I know who was reading it gave up around 7 or 8 or something. I have no patience for a story being drug out

Hateyou · 10-23-2006, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwen Rockpounder

Forgive the slightly bitter tone of my reply, five or six books of tripe means he has some serious making up to do before the end which allegedly is the book after next.

The next book is supposed to be the last one.

I'm also pretty bitter about this series. When I first started reading it there were 5 or 6 books out. I faithfully bought and read each book after as soon as they were released. Finally, books 9 and 10 pissed me off so bad, I've decided to wait until he's completely done.

It's sad that he drug it out so long, books 7-10 are so fucking pointless. It's really made me not like Jordan, as a person, or as an author. I doubt I will ever read anything else he's done/will do.

Nebuchadnezzar · 10-23-2006, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hateyou

The next book is supposed to be the last one.

I'm also pretty bitter about this series. When I first started reading it there were 5 or 6 books out. I faithfully bought and read each book after as soon as they were released. Finally, books 9 and 10 pissed me off so bad, I've decided to wait until he's completely done.

It's sad that he drug it out so long, books 7-10 are so fucking pointless. It's really made me not like Jordan, as a person, or as an author. I doubt I will ever read anything else he's done/will do.

Again I have to wonder if it isn't the "Lost" effect where you (plural you not YOU) want the answer right now and since its not given to you, you take an instant dislike about how it "went nowhere". When I went back and watched Lost Season 2 I was really hit by this and rather liked some episodes that I remembered hating at the time (2.2) because I want to know about the freakin Hatch!

It might almost be better for epic writers that are established to write for 6 or 7 years on their new series and then publish it as a whole set. Because the other way you're just going to get burnt out writing that much.

Hateyou · 10-23-2006, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nebuchadnezzar

Again I have to wonder if it isn't the "Lost" effect where you (plural you not YOU) want the answer right now and since its not given to you, you take an instant dislike about how it "went nowhere".

No. It's more of a "Stop introducing completely new plot lines-redoing old resolved plot lines-dragging shit on pointlessly" effect. Have you read the entire series? Books 7, 8, 9, and 10 were complete bullshit. There was no fucking reason to be opening up completely new plot lines that late in the series.

He has been dragging this series on for 17 years now. 17 years. Every one is pissed because they can see it for what it is. Money grubbing. He could have ended this by book 8 or 9 easily, and I bet he would have dragged it out another 2-3 books if he wasn't on the verge of dying.

There's no "instant dislike" when I've been reading this series for well over 10 years.

Jaytee Bushwacker · 10-25-2006, 08:52 PM

Two years ago last month we had decided we were moving from Tampa to Cincinnati. On a trip up to Cincinnati I picked up book one for something to read on the plane/while travelling. In the space of three months I read books 1 - 7. I got aout halfway through 8 when I started my new job and just haven't had the time to return to it but I have book 9 and 10 on the shelf waiting.

I think I may have to go back to book 7 and re-read just to catch up to where I need to be. 1-7 was a trip but middle of 8 started to get to me and halted my progression.

Kuro · 10-25-2006, 09:22 PM

books 5-10 were, for me, not the same series as books 1-4 and 11. 5-10 were the "joy" of 9 million characters with 9 million different plots, including the ungodly boring "Perrin <3 Faile, Perrin lose Faile, Perrin Smash!" series (to think I really really liked Perrin, and grew to loathe reading anything about him), the "Elayne being whiny and uppity over and over again" arc (Thank god that was finally resolved, except now she just spends every appearance complaining about how out of control her emotions are ~sigh~), and Egwene's "brilliant manipulations!" that were mostly hamfisted and groaners.

Srsly, when I reread 5-10, I find myself skipping anything that doesn't involve Mat, Rand, or Logain. It's just...blah. Also, needs more Loial yo.

I still lurv the Rand/Mat stories enough to buy the books tho lol

Dom Devore · 10-25-2006, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuro

books 5-10 were, for me, not the same series as books 1-4 and 11. 5-10 were the "joy" of 9 million characters with 9 million different plots, including the ungodly boring "Perrin <3 Faile, Perrin lose Faile, Perrin Smash!" series (to think I really really liked Perrin, and grew to loathe reading anything about him), the "Elayne being whiny and uppity over and over again" arc (Thank god that was finally resolved, except now she just spends every appearance complaining about how out of control her emotions are ~sigh~), and Egwene's "brilliant manipulations!" that were mostly hamfisted and groaners.

Srsly, when I reread 5-10, I find myself skipping anything that doesn't involve Mat, Rand, or Logain. It's just...blah. Also, needs more Loial yo.

I still lurv the Rand/Mat stories enough to buy the books tho lol

I could not agree with you more about Elayne, she is easily the most annoying female character in any book I have ever read. I really like Perrin though, but I've always been a sucker for "inner struggle" oriented characters.

My biggest gripe about the series though, is that I like to re-read series once a year or two, and with W.O.T. it ends up feeling more like a chore by book 5 or so than something that's fun to do.

But yeah, he needs to start wrapping things up, if it goes for more than 3 additional books, it will have gone WAY too far.

Grimmlokk · 10-26-2006, 01:37 AM

I originally hated Mat because he seemed like the typical idiot sidekick who always does something stupid to get the hero in trouble. Loved the way he got fleshed out and he became by far my favorite character.

I loved the whole Perrin storyline right up until Faille got nabbed at which point it became an absolute fucking chore to slog through.

When he has Rand *doing* something it's great. When he has him sitting around suddenly acting like an impetious little fucking child until some female or other sets him straight it's tedious.

The females are wretched to read almost constantly. The story of setting up Egwene to be Amyrlin was moderately interesting at first and then boring as shit. I did somewhat enjoy her role in the Knife of Dreams though, so that might be looking up. Nyneave's too if they stick with the Malkieri angle.

In general the same gripes as most, 6-7 straight books of stringing along really put a damper on the series.

Quote:

But yeah, he needs to start wrapping things up, if it goes for more than 3 additional books, it will have gone WAY too far.

That's being just way way too generous. It should have been wrapped up 3-4 books ago.

I really have no problem waiting a long time for a series to finish up if the series stays fresh and interesting. With half the WoT books it feels like RJ himself is reaching into my pockets and clawing at every cent until my thigh is raw and I have an erection. You know, because he has those soft writer's hands....

Dom Devore · 10-26-2006, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grimmlokk

That's being just way way too generous. It should have been wrapped up 3-4 books ago.

I really have no problem waiting a long time for a series to finish up if the series stays fresh and interesting. With half the WoT books it feels like RJ himself is reaching into my pockets and clawing at every cent until my thigh is raw and I have an erection. You know, because he has those soft writer's hands....

I agree, but the reason I said 3 additional books, is that with the new plot lines he introduced, it really can't be properly wrapped it in only 1-2 more books. I meant that if it goes longer than that to deal with new/old plotlines, then he would be going too far with what has been introduced so far.

Kuro · 10-26-2006, 07:59 AM

He's said there will be plot lines that aren't resolved in the last book of this series. He had plans to continue writing in the setting and world, but not necesarily part of this series, but who knows how that'll go with his illness.

10-23-2006, 01:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
Tabris Registered User Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 1,295 +0 Internets	Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (Spoilers!) SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD! You guys knew the thread was coming. I admit it's a guilty pleasure. I haven't touched a book in the series since the abortion that was Book 8, vowing not to read or buy a new book until the entire series is entirely released. How is Jordan doing now, especially with his disease? Will he finish the final book or is it going to be ghost written by someone else? Last edited by Tabris : 10-30-2006 at 06:54 AM.

10-23-2006, 01:17 PM	#2 (permalink)
Nebuchadnezzar Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 1,467 +0 Internets	With Jordan i think you have to view book 8 and 9 as one novel and 10 and 11 as one novel as well. Why it was released like that people can assume what they want. Either he wanted more money or he got old and it took him longer to write, with greedy publishers and selfish fans hounding at him to release every year. Sad thing is, the same thing is happening to Martin slowly but surely. __________________ I eat grass like an ox and shat like a fox.

10-23-2006, 02:40 PM	#6 (permalink)
Ham n Cheese Productive, fully-charged, cocked and pointed Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Houston Posts: 8,412 +19 Internets	I read book 1 and enjoyed it, had someone spoil the ending and was still interesting enough to keep going. Book 2 started off great, but then slowly became one of the most boring reads. I stopped there, most everyone I know who was reading it gave up around 7 or 8 or something. I have no patience for a story being drug out __________________ Xeph Caito Clow Hunky Dory

10-25-2006, 08:52 PM	#10 (permalink)
Jaytee Bushwacker FoH Member with a rod in his pants Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Forest, MS Posts: 233 -1 Internets	Two years ago last month we had decided we were moving from Tampa to Cincinnati. On a trip up to Cincinnati I picked up book one for something to read on the plane/while travelling. In the space of three months I read books 1 - 7. I got aout halfway through 8 when I started my new job and just haven't had the time to return to it but I have book 9 and 10 on the shelf waiting. I think I may have to go back to book 7 and re-read just to catch up to where I need to be. 1-7 was a trip but middle of 8 started to get to me and halted my progression. __________________

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10-23-2006, 01:41 PM	#3 (permalink)
Buckaroo Banzai Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 169 +1 Internets	I love the first one, but I gave up around book 5 if I recall. I think the authors changed at one point and Danielle Steele took over the writing duty.

10-23-2006, 01:55 PM	#4 (permalink)
Gwen Rockpounder Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Ing-Ger-Land! Posts: 361 +3 Internets	Knife of Dreams (Book 11) was finally back to the form of the first few books. I'd made myself trudge through the previous 4 or 5 almost reluctantly but I felt I'd made it that far along, I might as well see it through to the end. KoD for the first time in years made me think I might actually enjoy the ending! He had got himself stuck in a rut for too many books where he would, for example, take five pages to tell us, again, that Perrin was full of sorrow. It got very old, very quickly. In book 11 he started getting to the point in a reasonable amount of time again and although at times part of the story has had "Lost" levels of unanswered questions, he is starting to wrap some of the 812 ongoing story thread up at last. Forgive the slightly bitter tone of my reply, five or six books of tripe means he has some serious making up to do before the end which allegedly is the book after next. p.s. Will the Asmodean question ever be answered?

10-23-2006, 02:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
Chinaman889 100% Banana Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 646 +0 Internets	Knife of Dreams finally had our old RJ back. My favorite scene had to be with Nynaeve and what she does for Lan. I have to admit that the best parts were with Mat especially near the end. My main concern now, is that RJ lives long enough to finish off the last book. If he doesn't, I think alot of people are going to kill themselves.

10-25-2006, 09:22 PM	#11 (permalink)
Kuro Support Beam Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 1,362 +10 Internets	books 5-10 were, for me, not the same series as books 1-4 and 11. 5-10 were the "joy" of 9 million characters with 9 million different plots, including the ungodly boring "Perrin <3 Faile, Perrin lose Faile, Perrin Smash!" series (to think I really really liked Perrin, and grew to loathe reading anything about him), the "Elayne being whiny and uppity over and over again" arc (Thank god that was finally resolved, except now she just spends every appearance complaining about how out of control her emotions are ~sigh~), and Egwene's "brilliant manipulations!" that were mostly hamfisted and groaners. Srsly, when I reread 5-10, I find myself skipping anything that doesn't involve Mat, Rand, or Logain. It's just...blah. Also, needs more Loial yo. I still lurv the Rand/Mat stories enough to buy the books tho lol

10-26-2006, 07:59 AM	#15 (permalink)
Kuro Support Beam Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 1,362 +10 Internets	He's said there will be plot lines that aren't resolved in the last book of this series. He had plans to continue writing in the setting and world, but not necesarily part of this series, but who knows how that'll go with his illness.