How it all began...(for you)

[Chel Vanin]

When/Where/How did you begin reading WoT?

 

I first read EotW in 1999 when I was ten when I saw it on a bookshelf at a friends house. I read the prolouge, asked to borrow it, and finished it at about midnight two days later (I was a wierd 5th grader...). I then waited very impatiently for the second book to arrive via library request, and eventually became smart enough to request two or three at a time so I didn't have to wait to read the next book.  ;D

 

Now I've re-read them all 6 times (halfway through the 7th) and get on here to discuss random things nearly daily.

 

If this isn't proof RJ is Ta'veren I don't know what is...

[Great Lord of the Dark]

I started about a year ago and I finished the first one in about a week only because we had the gay TAKS test (hint hint) I've read all of the books since. I don't reread the entire book....i just read the good parts.

 

  [glow=red,2,300]SPREAD THE WORD OF WHEEL OF TIME!!!! INFECT YOUR FRIENDS!!!!REVOLUTION!!!![/glow]

 

I like the Wheel of Time, and this is not a stupid post.

[Lews_Windu]

My first exposure to the series was when I was in 6th grade back in 2000. My best friend was deep into the first book, but I never looked into it because I judged it by the rather crappy cover. Second time was around two or so years later, when I got those "young adult" editions of Eye of the World, where the split it into two books. Got to the part just after Taren Ferry and threw the book down as man-hating trash (I wasn't a fan of men not being able to channel, and had read greatly exaggerated spoiler of Rand, my favorite character, going insane). I randomly gave it another chance about a year later, loved it, and proceded to read all the others through my school library. However, I was still a total idiot, and as of tFoH, I started skipping parts to get to scenes with a Rand POV. I am now in the process of rectifying the mistake, and kicking myself for ever making it.

[mothersmilkinacup]

I grew up in a small town and I started reading fantasy books in Grade 4... around 1988.  I really liked the works of Weiss and Hickman... eventually the Dragonlance books got boring - most aren't really worth a re-read (Chronicles and Legends definitely are).  On one of my mom's trips into the BIG CITY (no book stores in my tiny little town and the library just didn't have that much stuff I liked) she went to a book store and bought me a couple of books recommended by the clerk (thank you nameless clerk, I owe you big time): Eye of the World and David Eddings Belgariad Book 1.  I arbitrarily read the Eddings book first - and managed to procure the other books in the series... they were quite good.  A year or so after I received EoTW I finally read it (in 94 or 95 maybe??).  I LOVED IT more than anything I had ever read before... 20+ re-reads later I find myself lurking but rarely posting on fan sights, shoving TEoTW in front of anyone who can read and defending myself from my wife's attacks "Aren't you getting tired or reading those books over and over again - you are freakin' OBSESSED"...

[Guest leebarr]

back about '01 maybe '02 I was at a party and a group of people was talking about the books {4 or 5 people) The next day i went to the libiary and checked out the first book and re-read all books about 3-4 times. I still find new things each re-read.

[TurboZ]

A friend of mine had long been interested in the books. he passed it off to other friends and I didn't think much of it. Awhile after KOD came out he finally just threw EoTW at me. It took me close to six months to read it. Mainly because I only had like half an hour a day to read. When I was finished I picked up the rest of the books and am now on a second read-through.

[Vambram]

In December of 1991, I was already well immersed into reading fantasy and also science fiction novels. Books by Terry Brooks, Eddings, Heinlein, Aismov, Clarke, Steven King, and many others had already filled up my personal library. However, in that month all those many years ago, a waitress at a Mexican restaurant in Springfield, Missouri where I was working highly recommended to me tEoTW. After reading the first book, I knew that I was hooked, and by the time I finished tGH after it was published, I KNEW that this would be the greatest epic fantasy series ever written!!

[Sila Darklover]

A friend gave me TEotW about six years ago, when I was in eighth grade.  It took me more than two years to get halfway through it, mostly because the prolouge was so confusing.  But one day I got sick, with no other books around...and the rest is history. 

[Shaidar]

I read EotW sometime around 2000. The only fantasy I had read prior to that was Tolkien. (This remains the case today).

 

I suppose I was attracted first by the 'epic' artwork on the cover, and after that I just liked the prose in the Prologue, so I bought it.

[Leopoled Boothe]

For me it happend back in 1993.  I was about the embark on a 20 hour bus trip and I decided that it would be nice to have a book to pass the time so I went into a Walden Books and pretty much picked out "The Eye of the World" at random.  WOT is what got me interesting the the fantasy genre, I really wasn't all that into fantasy or even much of a reader before WOT so its guite possible that if not for this random event I would never even have heard of this series.

[cheyjade]

My friend's mom was cleaning off her desk, and handed me a stack of games to sell on half.com. WOT wouldn't sell for more than a couple bucks, so I kept it. While playing, I ran into Mashadar, and couldn't for the life of me figure out how to kill it. So, I went to the library for book 1, and stopped playing the game for a couple months in favor of reading all the books that were out at that time. Then buying them all. Then reading them again..

[adamn]

i cleaned up one day to find an old unused book token in a bunch of paper i was about to chuck. so when i next went to town i saw all 11 books lined up and thought wow this guy must be good lets see what his first book is like.... that was 6 months ago. i have just finished springs and all 11 books. i also have lost a lot of my social life...

[The Dragon Champion]

I've always read fantasy, since around 5th grade. My mom bought me EOTW at a book fair, and immediately i fell in love... I'd read most popular fantasy series (Dragonlance, JRR Tolkien, Darksword, etc) but I'd never encountered books like TWOT, I burned through them, and as soon as I finished the last written in the series, I would start reading them again. I've gone through 5 times (just started the 6th!) and I keep finding new stuff, picking up on hints and foreshadowing. I personally believe that RJ is the greatest author of our century, I've read most of his other books, and many different fantasy works, but I don't think we'll see another author of his caliber in our lifetime.

[flippinaces]

I've been a fan of fantasy since i was sick all winter in the 5th grade and couldn't go outside.  I started with R.A. Salvatore and the Drizzt books.  After reading them a dozen times, usually with a new book at the end of each reread, i went to the library to find something new.  By this point i was interested in long series, as you grow attached to characters and want to know what's next. 

 

That's when i found the WOT (at this time was only 8 books) and started reading...and reading...and reading.  Maybe one day i'll stop, but after a dozen read-throughs (at least half after KOD) i'm still finding things i've missed and more evidence to support or negate my theories.  For me, that's the best part.  Each time i read i'm coming away with a different impression of what exactly is happening, and who killed who. 

 

Just last night, as i was rereading LOC, i got to Rand's second visit to the farm, the one where he warns Taim to stay away from Caemlyn after getting bonded by Alanna.  A dozen times i've read this book, but this is the first time i actually caught it when Taim said "so-called Aiel".  REVALATION  that's what the forsaken call Aiel today because of how different they are from what they used to be.  Up til last night i was totally against the whole "Taim is Demandred/other forsaken" theories, and here it is, evidence i've overlooked a dozen times.  Until now i figured he was just an agent of the forsaken, being used by one, and now i'm CERTAIN he is one.

 

Anyway, this turned into a rant, but i agree with the previous poster who said RJ is the best author of the century.

[Ahaz Flagg]

It was some time in 1992, I had just finished reading the mission earth series, I generly wait until the series is done before picking up any books.  well I was walking through the Library and came accross these 3 realy fat books, and thinkin that, hey a complete series!!  Well, as I got through the 2nd book, I relized that there was no way he could complte this in 3 books, I was quite miffed!!

 

Well needless to say, I was hooked like bass.

 

The bad thing is, Robert Jordon makes me expect a hell of alot more from my books, some books that I used to love, well they just seem empty to me now. 

[Jelly]

Umm...Summer last year, I think. I went into WHSmith and saw a longgggggg row of BIG books and thought: that's it. Exactly what I've been looking for. Oh yes...they'll last a while. With a big grin on my face I bought the first one...and then I got the rest. ;D I had never seen such detailed descriptions..I was amazed...I truly was.

[Dragon21]

I didn't read EOTW till Feb. 2004. I saw it all the time in the bookstores, but always thought, man that is just too much to read (the whole series). Finally one day, I just thought, what the heck, it kept calling to me every time I was in the bookstore. lol.

I read it in about a week (I do have a full time job and family) lol.

The others followed just as quick, and before I knew it, I was eagerly awaiting KOD to come out.

I listen to the audio CDs of the books all the time at work too. Over and over.

Glad I finally took the chance to read EOTW.

[Vidarr]

Well for me it all started about 7 years ago, I had gotten quite a few books for X-mas. Can't remember what books they were except for The Eye of the World. All I remember was that they had interesting covers but TEotW had this feel to it that just said it was so much better than they were. I'm now on my sixth reread.

[Zarfol]

Started for me about 5? (2003 about) years ago for me, when I was in High school. I worked at a Target as a cashier (it's like a Wal-mart) and I saw an awful lot of people buying a book called "Crossroads of Twilight." I asked what the book was about and stuff like that and it sounded interesting so I bought TEOTW. It sat around on my shelf for about 6 months until I went on a trip to India. The flight pretty long so I figured I'd read TEOTW... Got hooked. Bought TGH, TDR, and TSR all in a bookstore in India so I had something to read on the way back to the USA.

[bjclinton]

when The Great Hunt was released in paperback.....i got TEOTW and TGH in paperback for Christmas. Since then, i've had to wait for EVERY STINKING BOOK to come out : ) its been a long 17+ years!!!!!!

[melbell1206]

I picked up softcover copies of Eye of the World and The Great Hunt in late 1990 at a used book store, and have bought each succeeding book in hardcover almost as soon as it was released.  I just started a re-read from EOTW forward, I'm currently on Chapter 15 of TGH.  So I guess I'm sort of an "oldtimer"  :D.

 

 

[42Bonzo88]

    I have enjoyed reading what everyone else has read (other authors) I can see a lot of things that I have read and would like to.

    I taught myself to read at the age of 4. I have read David Eddings, Stephen King, Tolkien, Weis and Hickman, Orson Scott Card, Agatha Christie, Mercedes Lackey, and too many others to mention. I usually walk around town (I don't drive anymore because of Epilepsy) with a book in my hand. My boy called me Ichabod Crane from Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

 

    In 1995 one of my wife's friends was giving away a bunch of books and my wife gave me TEoTW. She has regretted it ever since (ha, ha). I have had to wait for Books 8-12 and the wait though long has been well worth it. I agree with one of the others who have responded. Addict your friends to the Wheel of Time. I have with a couple of mine.

[trakand_01]

My parents, my mother in particular are huge fantasy/fiction readers and we had several bookshelves full of very well-worn books. I had started with the Shannara series at the age of about 8, then went on to Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, the Belgariad and the Mallorean and then wanted something a bit more meaty. At 14 my mum brought into my room tEotW, as it met my criteria (lovable characters, a bit of romance and some excitement) and has ever since been slightly bewildered by my obsession with all things Randland :-D

 

[Rockie]

First Post

 

*waves*

 

;D

 

My cousin recomended it to me about 4 or 5 months ago.(Incidently the same cousin who recomended Dragonmount)I finished it 6 weeks ago and i have already started rereading over my favourite parts.

 

Sorry if this is a dumb question but when is the last book out?

[Quibby]

Well, lessee here...

 

One of my friends shares a similar interest in reading as I do.  About 7 1/2 years ago now, he loaned me EotW.  I read the prologue and about four chapters, put the book down, and forgot about it for a month or two.  While cleaning my room, I stumbled across the book and started reading it again.  This time I finished it.  Then I found the second one at the library.  Then the third.  Within a month, I'd read the entire series that was available and started over again.  About then, I also began looking for information about any possible movies, and I stumbled across DM.  I've been here ever since.

 

Incidentally, I mentioned that I was an active member at a forum about two weeks ago to said friend and a few others.  The first thing he said was, "Please tell me it's not a Wheel of Time forum.  I'd feel guilty."  Funny part of this: the guy never finished the series because he was afraid of getting addicted to it.