Another ReRead Topic!

[Starla Yilmaz]

Going to start rereading the series today. I haven't read The Eye of the World since middle school, so I am very interested to see how different this experience is 25+ years later. I never finished the series my first time around for many reasons, but I have motivation this time around. Sort of. We will see if it is enough to carry me through. Anyway, I shall return to this thread with my thoughts, and, hopefully, I don't drop too many unpopular opinions.

[Andra]

I always wish someone good luck when starting back on this adventure.

Happy reading.

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

Good luck with your journey 🙂

[DojoToad]

Be ready for a wild and enjoyable ride!

[Starla Yilmaz]

Haven't had much time to read because of work and Halloween stuff (I have two kids, 9 and 7, holidays can be a lot), so I am only a hundredish pages into EOTW and...I remember why I loved this series so much. Normally, when I get into a great book, it consumes my life, and I push everything to the side so I can find out what happens next. However, I am enjoying taking a slower pace with WoT. Maybe because I already know what happens next and I know this is a LONG series, I am able to slow down and truly appreciate the writing in a way I wasn't able to as a middle schooler.

[DojoToad]

I enjoy running across stuff I forgot during re-reads.  There is usually better understanding as well.  I also change my mind on on things I liked/didn't like.

[Starla Yilmaz]

About 500 pages in, and wow, did I forget a lot of stuff. Like Rand channeling lightning at the Dancing Cartman, but remembering the innkeeper smiling at the flute and sword. I always thought that was a great detail, so why did I forget how they got out of that situation?

 

It's nice running across these scenes I don't remember because it is almost like reading it for the first time again.

[Starla Yilmaz]

Just finished EotW!

 

This book was incredibly well-written. Solid worldbuilding and set up for the series conflict. Lots of mysteries and unanswered questions to look forward to in the next book. While I was planning and taking a break between books, I think I am going to jump right into The Great Hunt because I am that excited about the series.

 

This series was my introduction to fantasy, and right now, I am feeling like I am the heroine in a second-chance romance novel with it. I remember exactly why I fell in love the first time, and now I can truly appreciate things about it I didn't before (like the descriptions and lieel tricks to sneak in things that the character wouldn't technically be able to "see"). The only thing that is slightly disappointing is that I remember the women being much more developed and stronger characters. I am sure they get there, but adult me, who has an MA in Professional Writing, is a little sadface about it. Still leagues above Tolien's feminine representation, though.

 

I just hope that when this renewed love affair goes through its dark night of the soul with the later books that I pull through this time...

[WoTwasThat]

On 11/16/2025 at 9:53 AM, Starla Yilmaz said:

Just finished EotW!

 

This book was incredibly well-written. Solid worldbuilding and set up for the series conflict. Lots of mysteries and unanswered questions to look forward to in the next book. While I was planning and taking a break between books, I think I am going to jump right into The Great Hunt because I am that excited about the series.

 

This series was my introduction to fantasy, and right now, I am feeling like I am the heroine in a second-chance romance novel with it. I remember exactly why I fell in love the first time, and now I can truly appreciate things about it I didn't before (like the descriptions and lieel tricks to sneak in things that the character wouldn't technically be able to "see"). The only thing that is slightly disappointing is that I remember the women being much more developed and stronger characters. I am sure they get there, but adult me, who has an MA in Professional Writing, is a little sadface about it. Still leagues above Tolien's feminine representation, though.

 

I just hope that when this renewed love affair goes through its dark night of the soul with the later books that I pull through this time...

Lol. Agree. EOTW is criminally underrated by a certain segment of the fan base. I think some people have forgotten how masterfully it establishes the principal characters, the lore, and the magic system. If only the show had more faithfully adapted it, what might have been??

 

One thing that’s interesting to me in my reread is how my impression of the female characters changed quite a bit. Nynaeve has risen considerably in my opinion, whereas Egwene and Elayne have diminished. 

[Starla Yilmaz]

Think of it as a blessing.  You can reread your favorites like it's the first time over and over! What I would give to reread some of Agatha Christie's novels without knowing whodidit.

[Starla Yilmaz]

That’s an incredible amount of dedication! And you’re very welcome.

[Starla Yilmaz]

I imagine lots of notebooks and computer files.

[Starla Yilmaz]

Marrying an editor certainly helped things.

 

About a third of the way through The Great Hunt and...like I don't remember this book AT. ALL.

 

I mean, I know at the end Mat blows the horn, but everything before that is like a blank slate. So I guess my reading recommendation is to wait over twenty years to give things a shot again, because you will be pleasantly surprised.

[Starla Yilmaz]

Just finished The Great Hunt.

 

Holy crap, Egwene and the Seanchan. Once Liandrian showed up in her room at the Tower, I remembered Egwene got captured, but man, my preteen mind protected itself by not remembering ANY of it. That's some dark twisted stuff. What's fascinating is how none of the sul'dam are darkfriends. It is a very telling lesson about evil and how good people are convinced that evil actions are right. Robert Jordan explores this theme in many ways, like the Whitecloaks, but I think the Seanchan are the most poignant example of it.

 

It's a weird feeling reading these books, almost like deja vu, but not. It's hard falling back in love with WoT again, because I know that, at some point, my writer's heart will break, and it will only be duty that carries me onward through the books. 

[Figs and Mice]

Seanchan are a weird lot all round , are they not  ?  Their society is based on some appalling customs - the enslavement of the damane being only one example . Look also at the way da'covale are treated ; and the cheerful expectation that members of the royal succession will constantly try to murder each other  🙂  To say nothing of the barbaric punishments handed out to opponents who fail to yield ...

 

Yet on the other hand , once the invaded peoples accept their conquest , they allow them to go on with their normal lives unmolested and free to act as they wish (as long as it isn't rebellion) ; and don't demand they take up Seanchan ways at all.  Of course they still seek to collar any potential channelers  ; though since they believe marath'damane  are a threat to society if let loose you can see why they think this is reasonable. (And this has some echoes on this side of the ocean too with the way Aes Sedai treat wilders - and of course the compulsory "gentling" of any unfortunate male who has the power)

 

And as the story goes on we encounter Seanchan who are clearly both honourable and very decent people : Egeanin of course ; but also several military types we get to know through POV s and various meetings with our heroes. And Tuon is OK...

 

Guess no society is without its flaws (even today , no  ?) though some are more obviously lacking in what we would regard as appropriate. It is still not far off a medieval period...

[Starla Yilmaz]

That's something Robert Jordan did very well...no one was purely good or purely evil (except the Creator and the Dark One), everyone had their good points and their flaws. He made you fall in love with characters in spite of their imperfections.

[CatsRBest]

Having read WoT three times and during my life (and currently on a fourth) it always amazes me how my perceptions and opinions of characters change over time. 

As a late teen that started reading and now as a man in my late middle years, the changes of my life make me see the growth and changes in the characters life from a different perspective too. 

 

From a dreamy youth to a pragmatic/cynical middle aged man, WOT continually pleased all stages of my own growth and perceptions through life. And will continue to do so.

 

Happy reading! 

[Starla Yilmaz]

Halfway through The Dragon Reborn, and this one I remember more of. Although I have to admit I thought Tear and Callandor happened a book or two later, so not only have I forgotten a bunch of stuff, I also jumbled up the order of events. I am surprisingly missing Rand's POV. Mat is fun, and I am down for anything WT related, but Perrin...idk, the wolves have so much fun potential that I feel is being wasted, but already his POV is starting to seem like filler to me. I mean, I get why we are getting his perspective, and I'm not saying it doesn't have valuable plot stuff, but his POV feels more like observation as opposed to direct action. Maybe that's why I forgot the first few chapters of this, but I can remember Mat's POV and Egwene getting the ring ter'angreal and all of that pretty clearly. I didn't remember the Accepted going off to Tear, which it looks like they are about to do (I thought they met up with the Sea Folk and did the Aiel stuff first), so this is going to be a fun ride.

[Starla Yilmaz]

Just finished TDR!

 

I love, love, LOVE the Aiel. Curious as to why I never RP'd as one...maybe because there's a lot of shade and water tags I can't keep track of? I don't know, but it's definitely something to think about for the future. Was pleasantly surprised to see Perrin and Faile fall in love. I didn't remember their courtship at all. I knew who she was when she showed up, but I guess for some reason I thought she and Berelain showed up at the same time, and it was more of a choice on Perrin's part instead of him being already in love with Faile? I'm happy with these misremeberings, though, and at this point I just need to accept this is not a reread. My brain is stubborn, though, and continues to insist I have read ten of these books before in spite of the evidence showing otherwise.

[nsmallw]

Thoroughly enjoying seeing the series through your eyes, Starla. 

 

I hope your joy continues. Keep plugging and you'll love the ride. 

[Starla Yilmaz]

Almost two hundred pages into The Shadow Rising, and Rand just tried to save the unnamed little girl's life with Callandor. I have been waiting for this scene! For some reason, I thought it happened at the end of TDR and have been really confused/impatient to get here. I love it for many reasons (including how it makes me tear up). It's a very important reminder that, despite all of their power, people who can use the One Power are still powerless over death, just like the rest of us.

[Kalessin]

I'm getting into Yet Another Re-Read, and am enjoying it. 

[Starla Yilmaz]

I think I am starting to see the problem that happens in the later books…it was in the opening chapter of The Shadow Rising. I didn’t meantion earlier because I didn’t know how to puzzle it out, if that makes sense. The obvious thing is we wind up with too many POVs and it’s like he loses track of whose story this is, but each scene and chapter needs to have conflict (conflict being defined as an obstacle to what the character wants). Robert Jordan gets away with it a bit in the earlier books with worldbuilding stuff, but the opening chapter in this book made me ask “Is this needed?” once or twice. My hypothesis is this will get worse as time goes on and is why certain POVs are a struggle to get through.

 

If not, well, it’s just more evidence that my MA in Writing is worth about the same as frame it sits in.

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

I think for me (though I admit I've not thought about this a lot so maybe I'm being a bit hasty) but the issue often is not that each story arc needs an obstacle, it is more that the story due to its scale (or Jordan's preference perhaps) resists overcoming the obstacles so the arcs seem to often hit dead ends when they come up against something that cannot be solved until the last battle or is an important story element like the machinations of a particular forsaken, for example. 

 

Like for example how Couladin is fairly quickly dealt with but the Shaido linger for quite some time as they are needed for the general plot of chaos being wrought across the Westlands. Or how some nations continue through rebellion/forsaken control/Rand-skepticism for so long, because if Rand too quickly gets their support the story runs out of obstacles for the main narrative. 

[Starla Yilmaz]

Pure spoilers ahead, although without how long the books have been out, uh, no apologies here.

 

Light burn me if I didn't start crying at the final battle of Two Rivers! I think the only thing I remembered out of this book was Nyneave getting the best of Moghedien. Now THAT scene was a joy to reread. Everything else is a mix of the usual fuzzy half-remembered plot points, but not the details (The White Tower schism happening and Siun getting stilled, but not how it was with Min, Laras, AND Gawyn's help that they escaped).

 

How Robert Jordan handled revealing Lanfear's birth name is the perfect example of how to reveal information without it being an info dump. It's also such a nice detail that Lews Therin is reincarnated as a descendant of someone who served Lanfear before she bored into the Dark One's prison. That was definitely a detail my friend and I missed when we were young teens. I think what I'm noticing now is that Lews Therin clearly did care for her, which is an interesting perspective I never considered before. I always had it fixed in my mind that it was more of an obsessive stalker situation, not him stepping away because he genuinely had feelings for her, and she just cared about his power and how it could elevate her/them.