Current Events > Started the wheel of time series

(+) Yeah! (+)

Good idea?

Should I document my progress?

Be prepared for lots of braid tugging and sighing.
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Dunno. I read the first book and it was a slog. Couldn't be asked to read on.
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Dang really

Funkydog posted...

Be prepared for lots of braid tugging and sighing.

Oh lord I just finished...book five? The one where Rahvin gets taken on and the amount of Nynaeve's issues with having to be the leader oh boy causes so much issues with me. Still enjoy it but this comment is spot on.
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I still don't get how balefire works exactly. I understand what they meant by what it does, but I mean...it kind of gets spammed and I'm not sure I realize the consequences of it.
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Worth reading but be prepared that books 6-10 (maybe 11 too) are pretty much a pain to get through. The final book was one of the best books Ive ever read, with a truly epic ending. So I think its worth getting through. But as someone else mentioned, theres a lot of repetitive things and so much attention to detail it can get very dull to get through at times.

It starts off slow. But it picks up towards the end. I liked the series and i can't wait until the tv series comes out.
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Finished book 1 chapter 1

I think what happened was 2 dudes brought some booze to the town for a festival, a cloaked figure on a horse made an appearance before disappearing, and they want fireworks.

Definitive lotr influence Im feeling.

There was mention of the wheel which is a nice touch considering I dont know what it is or how it works. Makes me wanna keep going.

He hits you with a pretty steep learning curve, or at least it feels like it

It's worth giving a go. A lot of people love the series. I read the first book and dropped it, though, it was...not enjoyable.

have fun
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I love the series. I snagged the first book a couple years ago on a whim; halfway through it, I ordered the complete set off Amazon, and binged all 14 books in roughly a month.

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Great series.

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it really seems hit or miss

i dont read a lot of fantasy ...I'd say the game of thrones books were the most recent

Senta posted...

I love the series. I snagged the first book a couple years ago on a whim; halfway through it, I ordered the complete set off Amazon, and binged all 14 books in roughly a month.

Wow. It took me two years to finish lol. I got to about book 8 and just couldnt get through the middle part. I gave it up for a year before picking it up again and trudging through the next few books.

that's good shit.

are you doing it in preparation of the show?
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ROBANN_88 posted...

that's good shit.

are you doing it in preparation of the show?

no! I didn't even know there was a show

I read to my wife and kid every night and we usually do high paced thrillers but she loves game of thrones (the show) so I wanted to give a fantasy series a go...haha...im reading ahead a few chapters to see if she'd even like it but may also note down stuff I see in this thread for fun

Romes187 posted...

no! I didn't even know there was a show

i think they started filming just a few weeks ago
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Nice. Overall the series is really good if you can enjoy the slow pace. It has a huge drop in quality for like 2 books then significantly improves for the finale.

Please tag me if you ever post more threads, I love the series.
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Like 80% of the female characters are slightly different versions of the same character. The whining in either direction about the opposite sex takes up about 15% of the dialogue. If you can get past these things, it's pretty decent.
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MC_BatCommander posted...

Nice. Overall the series is really good if you can enjoy the slow pace. It has a huge drop in quality for like 2 books then significantly improves for the finale.

Please tag me if you ever post more threads, I love the series.

Right on!

I did a small amount of backstory reading to kind of get my head around the large scale premise and it seems like quite an expansive world.

Why does the quality drop so much? That seems to be a common thread

The same thing was told to me about a feast for crows and a dance with dragons....and on my first read of them, I agreed. But on second reads, I felt it was just more fatigue of having to learn MORE names and people...then once I finished and re-read, it was much much better

it is an amazing series. as others have said a few of the books are kind of a slog but overall it is very good
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Summarizer posted...

Like 80% of the female characters are slightly different versions of the same character. The whining in either direction about the opposite sex takes up about 15% of the dialogue. If you can get past these things, it's pretty decent.

There was a focus on the females in the first chapter so it looks like they have more dominance than the dudes

and Rand is afraid of getting some or something...or just doesn't want the hot chicks to throw their fat friends onto him

Funkydog posted...

Be prepared for lots of braid tugging and sighing.

And don't forget the sniffing!
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*smooths skirt*

well every writer has their quirks haha

seems like some are posted already

Romes187 posted...

Why does the quality drop so much? That seems to be a common thread

Idk what might have caused it in Jordan's plan or personal life, but the pacing just slows to a crawl and most of the main characters spend their time doing nothing. I really wouldn't want that to deter you tho, that's many books away from where you are
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Quality drops in the middle because it becomes like 5 books of filler and unnecessary detail. And you get tired of 0 character progression.

Rainbow_Dashing posted...

I still don't get how balefire works exactly. I understand what they meant by what it does, but I mean...it kind of gets spammed and I'm not sure I realize the consequences of it.

So the basic thing about balefire is that it wipes something out of existence. But if something gets hit with too much balefire at once, the balefire starts killing wiping it out of existence backward in time, to a degree proportional to just how badly it got zapped. This has the consequence of undoing its most recent actions, since it didn't exist to do them, though the person who cast the balefire still remembers what happened "before" the casting.

The effect is very dangerous, because WoT does not follow the many-worlds interpretation: there is only one timeline, and so the Pattern must be unravelled and respun to rewrite history every time balefire is used. Every time this happens, there is a risk everything could simply fail, and the further back in time the balefire has to go, the greater the risk. Fortunately, nobody has managed to balefire something back very far.
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Funkydog posted...

Be prepared for lots of braid tugging and sighing.

And wool-headed fools and men not understanding women and women not understanding men
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EvenSpoonier posted...

because WoT does not follow the many-worlds interpretation: there is only one timeline

not counting the Travelin Stones or whatever they're called
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EvenSpoonier posted...

Rainbow_Dashing posted...

I still don't get how balefire works exactly. I understand what they meant by what it does, but I mean...it kind of gets spammed and I'm not sure I realize the consequences of it.

So the basic thing about balefire is that it wipes something out of existence. But if something gets hit with too much balefire at once, the balefire starts killing wiping it out of existence backward in time, to a degree proportional to just how badly it got zapped. This has the consequence of undoing its most recent actions, since it didn't exist to do them, though the person who cast the balefire still remembers what happened "before" the casting.

The effect is very dangerous, because WoT does not follow the many-worlds interpretation: there is only one timeline, and so the Pattern must be unravelled and respun to rewrite history every time balefire is used. Every time this happens, there is a risk everything could simply fail, and the further back in time the balefire has to go, the greater the risk. Fortunately, nobody has managed to balefire something back very far.

sounds cool

Cleo_II posted...

Quality drops in the middle because it becomes like 5 books of filler and unnecessary detail. And you get tired of 0 character progression.

dang...is there a plot at least? haha

Rainbow_Dashing posted...

I still don't get how balefire works exactly. I understand what they meant by what it does, but I mean...it kind of gets spammed and I'm not sure I realize the consequences of it.

It burns the pattern. If you use it on say a person, then their thread gets burned. How much of it gets burned depends on how powerful the balefire was. This causes the target to effectively be destroyed in the past. When it is just a small thing, the pattern can easily put itself together into its new form, but if enough threads are destroyed, then the stress put on the pattern would be too great and the whole thing would fall apart and destroy the world.
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My favorite book series. I read the whole thing once a year, including the prequel.
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I literally just started it two days ago.

Weird.

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Cleo_II posted...

Quality drops in the middle because it becomes like 5 books of filler and unnecessary detail. And you get tired of 0 character progression.

Thats not what I wanted to hear. Lol.

Halfway through eye of the world so far and its probly the best fantasy series Ive read thats not lotr. Small sample size though.

Either way I managed to keep going with the sword of truth series and thats just genuinely painful at times so Im expecting this to be better.


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Funkydog posted...

Be prepared for lots of braid tugging and sighing.

I planted fists on hips when I read this post.
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Dont listen to the haters. While the series does get worse for a while, only one book is truly bad. And even then, you dont have the same years long wait for the one after it like those who were reading along.
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Appreciate the feedback everyone.

Chapter 2 is getting read today and Ill post my thoughts. Probably a good way to get immersed

CanuckCowboy posted...

Cleo_II posted...

Quality drops in the middle because it becomes like 5 books of filler and unnecessary detail. And you get tired of 0 character progression.

Thats not what I wanted to hear. Lol.

Halfway through eye of the world so far and its probly the best fantasy series Ive read thats not lotr. Small sample size though.

Either way I managed to keep going with the sword of truth series and thats just genuinely painful at times so Im expecting this to be better.

If you're already loving it while reading the first book you'll probably not mind the worse books.
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Pretty much everything after a certain character gets hanged was boring as hell.

I draw the limit at 12000 pages of bullshit.
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Honestly, I had to give up half way through the first book. I enjoyed Lord if the Rings, but I didnt have a desire to read it again, except an even longer version. I got halfway through the book and it was just a lot of traveling. I cant do it.

I need Joe Abercrombie style shenanigans and funky characters in my fantasy books at this point in my life.

Oh and the hair tugging is totally overstated by people. I dont recall any of it in the half a book I read. I dunno maybe he does it more later or something.
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i dropped it about halfway through book 3. didnt like where it was going

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spanky1 posted...

Oh and the hair tugging is totally overstated by people. I dont recall any of it in the half a book I read. I dunno maybe he does it more later or something.

Some mad lad actually went through and made stats on things like that.



I think the first "smooths" is maybe meant to be sniffing. idk

Always surprised at the dislike on this series. I was pretty good with it. I liked Jordan's writing style and didn't mind that events were drawn out...it's a fucking book series...I'm not in a big hurry here. Though I should also note I read them as they came out so it was one or two books every year over the course of 10 years or so...I sure as fuck wouldn't binge-read them all at once.

Obviously the only dropoff is Jordan dying and Sanderson writing the last three books. He's not bad and is a bit more direct in descriptions but is missing a little of that Jordan style.

Oh and the hair tugging is totally overstated by people.

It's really only Nynaeve and that's kind of her gimmick when she's frustrated. Just a character quirk.

the skirt smoothing, hair tugging and sniffing aren't problems.

only reason people bring it up so much, is cause they've basically become memes in the WoT community
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ROBANN_88 posted...

only reason people bring it up so much, is cause they've basically become memes in the WoT community

Pretty much.

I love the books though, but they do drag at times and from what I remember (having read them over a decade ago at this point) that some of the more inane stuff is easily skipped over and the good stuff more than makes up for it.
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Hotel_Security posted...

Always surprised at the dislike on this series. I was pretty good with it. I liked Jordan's writing style and didn't mind that events were drawn out...it's a fucking book series...I'm not in a big hurry here. Though I should also note I read them as they came out so it was one or two books every year over the course of 10 years or so...I sure as fuck wouldn't binge-read them all at once.

Obviously the only dropoff is Jordan dying and Sanderson writing the last three books. He's not bad and is a bit more direct in descriptions but is missing a little of that Jordan style.

Oh and the hair tugging is totally overstated by people.

It's really only Nynaeve and that's kind of her gimmick when she's frustrated. Just a character quirk.

is the switch to Sanderson noticeable? Love the dudes lectures online for craft

but Ive tried to start a few of his books and didnt make it past chapter 1 (I def need to give him more time I think)

Books 8-10 are very dry. But 1-7 are pretty consistently good and once Sanderson gets involved with book 12 it picks back up nicely.

I really like how incredibly detailed the magic system is.

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Romes187 posted...

is the switch to Sanderson noticeable? Love the dudes lectures online for craft

but Ive tried to start a few of his books and didnt make it past chapter 1 (I def need to give him more time I think)

Honestly, he did fine when he took over, and in fact, the female characters were written a lot better by him than Jordan. In my opinion anyway.

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