Where to start the series?

[kutie_pie]

Ok so I am trying to get my younger sister to start reading WoT. She has just turned 16 and I think it is time for her to start reading WoT. So should I have her read NS and tell her it probably wont make to much sense until later on or should I have her start with tEotW and tell her she wont understand the prologue until part way through it?

Thanks for you input.

[havoc110]

I would say EotW so that your sister starts off with Rand and Co. rather than Moiraine/Suian. (So in case she really likes Moiraine/Suian she won't be disappointed when she gets a different set of central characters in the main arc.)

[Zyrshnikashnu]

New Spring works well to tie together threads that are revealed in the main series. It's nice to read it after you've read some of the series and say, "Ah, it's all coming together now!"

[Jonn]

You can have her read New Spring right after Moiraine and Lanfear disappear in Fires of Heaven. We don't see Moiraine after that point until the final book.

 

It might take the sting out of it. ;)

 

Yeah, but always start with Eye of the World.

[Guest cwestervelt]

Definitely Eye of the World. New Spring: The Novel, while it fills in Moiraine's back story some, just doesn't give you a feel for the story is all about.

[Kadere]

Got to go with Eye of the World, New Spring isn't necassary and doesn't make as much sense without having read the first couple books. Though all rereads should start with New Spring.

[Graendals favourite]

And reading NS first might take a lot of the AS mystery out for her, her already knowing about their internal workings. There was even the point where Moiraine and Lan might have been Black. Perhaps you should suggest to her she should have a few months between books, so she will have time to "wait for the next book" like the rest of us :) .

[Laurenna]

I would say EotW. I would have been totally lost if I started with New Spring. :lol:

[TaeaDawn]

Agrees with everyone else :P

 

Mostly because I made the mistake in another series of reading a Prequel without realizing it. Loved the book and the characters, but they weren't a part of the actual series. I came to love the series on it's own, but it took me a while to stop being mad that they weren't in it :P

 

[Samitsu]

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I would say EotW. I would have been totally lost if I started with New Spring. :lol:

 

i would say it dosent really matter. i begun with new spring and was not lost or anything

[Ludmian]

I join most of the other people here, saying that she should start only with EotW. She should read New Spring when she's already read at least the first five books, IMO.

[kutie_pie]

Thanks everyone for all of your help. Now I just need to put the book in her hands and force her to read it.

[Guest cwestervelt]

Please don't "force" her to read it, persuade and encourage. Forcing would be the best way to make her hate without even giving it a chance.

[kutie_pie]

Don't worry I wont "force" her I don't want to turn her off the series (besides shes a teenager and you can't make her do anything).

[loki redfern]

tEotW is probaly best to start with mostly because of the prologe, although you can really start any where tDR hooked me and i didnt even have the first two

[joeybsmash]

i started before NS was written, and i have to say that begining with the prequel isn't a bad idea. what i really hated was having a new book to read that was out of order. i only read NS once, but i think if you tell her that a lot of the story in NS will make a lot more sense after books 2 and three, and that reading NS first will make the first 2oo pages of eotw really boring shee'll be able to enjoy it. it's not like the first 200 pages of any of the books aren't boring anyway.

also, FORCE her to read it. stand behind her with a stick and hit her if she doesn't read a page a minute.

[mike]

i first read these more than a dozen years ago and when i reread the whole series i have to begin with NS.

 

it is great to read how siuane and moraine witness the foretelling of the birth of the dragon and while kept in her confidence, are dispatched by the amyrlin to find the baby (rand) in much the same way that egwene, nynaeve and elayne are by siuane. their times in the tower as whites is similar and their experiences of running afoul with other sisters that are at odds with them.

[Kaznen]

I'd say EotW. When I first read it there was a whole "are Moriane and Lan good guys?" kind of thing going.

 

And when the boys first started talking about AS I pictured warriors like Lan wearing scary armor and carrying scary swords with scary magic powers who were borderline evil. When I found out what AS were I was surprised. Same thing when Rand dreamed himself in TV. When I first read the book I didn't know where this city was, if it even existed. But NS takes the TV mystery away.

[Zardi]

For a reread it might make sense to start with NS. But for a first reading, I think you'd want to start with EotW for the same reasons as people have already stated.

 

I think it's nice to wait to read NS until after at least book 5. That way, there will still be some sense of mystery left about Moiraine while she's still directly involved with Rand. And also, if your sister misses Moiraine, she has more of her to look forward to. I read NS after book 6 or 7, and I'm glad I waited :)