Sell me on the books

[dcat]

King_Killer0: It seems to me that you are asking if Moiraine has a reason beyond "didn't think about it" to not get a detailed account of the boys' trip. The short answer is yes. The long answer is a little bit spoilery for the next couple books:

 

First, Moiraine has NOT been clear about her motives and intentions towards the boys. They are right not to buy the "I'm just protecting you from the Dark" story. However, at that point in time she absolutely cannot afford for them or anyone to figure out her true motives. She knows the boys are suspicious of her and further knows just how much of one's own motives a person can give away by asking questions. Like if a cops asks you "Where were you at 10:00pm last Thursday?", you know that in all likelihood 1) a crime was committed at 10:00pm last Thursday, 2) it involved someone you know, and 3) you are a possible suspect. What it boils down to is that Moiraine is not going to ask a question unless she is sure it is of absolutely vital importance that she have the info immediately. Is she taking it a bit too far? Possibly; being overly intriguey is one of her character flaws. However, whether or not she's right, she does have a reason.

[NoGuessing]

Its an awesome story, though it can get slow and there's always one or two characters you'll hate. There's a fair few personalities around, so there's always one or two you don't like.

 

I felt books 2-6 were the best (4 and 5 are purely amazing. its where Perrins line peaks too, so you'll like it), then 11 and 12 took things to an even better level. The series does have a dip where Elayne sits around doing jack and RJ follows bloody Morgase around, which imo slows down things considerably (Rand, Mat and most of Egwene's scenes were fine in all the books. I even liked the Perrin you-know-what plot :p).

[Dagon Thyne]

I was hoping to try and get into this series, but a few things worry me.

 

I don't know how much of what I'm about to say is common knowledge, so be wary if you have not read all the books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, I should say that I have absolutely no knowledge of the books except for what I gathered from the Suvudu contest. I know the main character is Rand, that he lost a hand, and that he is a prophesied warrior, and great sorcerer, and seems to have his own harem, special sword, and some wounds that never heal yet he can go on fine. Now, I heard ALOT of good things about this series, but this seems to be a HUGE mary sue from where I'm standing. I can tolerate mary sues, but they have to be really well written, and few authors can pull that off, especially when a series goes on for so long. I'm just here, hoping that someone can tell me on why the WoT series is worth reading without spoiling much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to warn you, if you don't find hours reading about the built up wax on a table or the color of a door, don't read this series.  RJ is horrible about spending pages on mundane details that don't make a single different in the story.  But he is a great storyteller and his books are amazing.

[Graveyardhag]

The second biggest issue I have with the story is that no one ****ing communicates. I really, really don't understand this. I mean, I get it. You don't blab things to a Aes Sedai when she just told you she was gonna kill you if you didn't come with her. However, that threat eventually disappears.

 

As others said, its an important underlying thread in this series. Nobody tells anyone anything, and everyone believes whats bobs brothers wifes uncles dog tells them.

 

Why is it that Moraine didn't ask for a full account after they met up again in Caimlyn? Even if they didn't want to tell her, it makes no sense that Moraine wouldn't want to see what they've been up to. ESPECIALLY after she just discovered they hid Mat's dagger from her.

 

I don't know why she doesn't ask, maybe because Aes Sedai are secretive, and asking would reveal too much she wanted to keep hidden? who really knows.

Rand does however tell her about the darkfriends and the fades. It's not like he just sits with his mouth shut.

 

And Rand comments on Perrin's eyes like 15 times but never bothers to go and ask him, "Hey, wtf happened to you back there?" You'd think that he'd ask even if he didn't notice the eyes, out of concern for his friend and lover.

Perrin does tell them about the Tinkers and the Whitecloaks. But remember how there is no communication? Yeah.

 

However, romances seem to be a bit out of the blue. Nynaeve is the best example. She meets Lan and she obviously has a crush on him because he's very capable. She enjoys that he acknowledges her capability as well, and compliments her on it. Beyond that, there is no interaction between the two, and then near the end she's asking him to MARRY her?! I am admittedly no expect in romance, but it seems pretty sudden. I realize they had more offscreen time than most, but if anything significant happened in that time period that would make her fall in love with him, then it's never mentioned. I'm not saying anything COULDN'T have happened, but it's bad writing to leave significant bits of character development out like that

So, romance really isn't RJ's strongest writing. He tends to leave out all the lovey dovey bits. I don't wish to spoil anything for you so I will just go on to say that when reading you have to remember that things happen differently in this world/time. Dating is for all intents and purposes non-existent, Girl meats boy, girl gets crush on boy, boy notices girl, girl and boy get married. The one exception to this that I can think of is the 2 rivers custom, where "wait one year" is placed between points 3 and 4 there.

 

Like that random guard outside the Caimlyn's innkeeper's door. He got this lengthy description about how he looks like he's never paying attention but he always is (How can Rand can tell this?) and...what? He never did anything important. There was this one time where he kicked a guy out, but that's like, basically what any guard should do. I don't get it. What was the point of giving him all this space in the book if he wasn't going to do anything important? Maybe he'll make an appearance in the later books.

 

This was already addressed but I'll just say again. Most characters like this make more appearances. The reason for the character description is pretty simple, when you read about them again, you think "oh hey! thats that guy!" just like the major characters, you feel you know them, just that little bit.

 

 

I guess one detail that I'll add in is that young men would probably have it instinctively buried in their heads to avoid connecting themselves to odd and unexplainable supernatural occurrences, due to massive amounts of superstition (for good reason) about those types of things, and the stigma that being a young man with a remote possibility of being able to channel would bring.

This is actually a good explanation and I WOULD buy this, but if rand thought that he channeled the one power, why wasn't he thinking about it more. When he realized he did channel it, he was panicking. If he thought it was remotely connected to the one power, how can he shrug it off just like so. But you said it's instinctive, so that he wasn't thinking about it may be the point, but that still doesn't explain why Moiraine didn't ask for a full report and if she did, he'd be forced to consciously think about it. Either he'd lie or omit it, but then his thoughts should be plagued with worry because he was conscious that he may have used the one power. Or he'd tell the truth, thinking it was pure luck and Moiraine would catch on to what it really was.

 

3000 years of social stigma is a pretty powerful thing. As you yourself say, its instinctive. I already addressed the moiraine thing, but i'd like to point out that at this point, i'm pretty certain she already knows Rand is the one she wants. Rand however, doesn't. He knows its a possibility, but is denying it.

 

There are lots more points to address, but really, understanding comes after reading the first few books. And then bewilderment. and then WTF?! moments. and then a bit more understanding. Seemingly unimportant things become significant. Lots and lots of forsahdowing clues and hints.

 

also

 

infodump

 

Ho-boy!I can see your just going to loooooove some of the later books!