Good idea to skip 8-11

[Beidomon]

My brother skipped 8-10, and read 11-13. He's totally happy. He almost gave up on the series, but his excitement for the series was re-kindled after he read KoD (book 11).

 

Just read the summaries from the encyclopaedia-wot.org site and you'll be all caught up, or...

 

spoilers:

 

the taint gets healed. I don't remember anything else important happening in books 8-10. You're welcome.

 

That's unfortunate for you. There were a lot of interesting plots in those books. Sorry you missed them :)

 

Serious question: what are the interesting plots in those books? I honestly cannot remember anything really cool happening except the cleansing of Saidin. I remember a whole lot of Shaido, and a whole of Aes Sedai plotting, the vast majority of which amounted to nothing. Honestly though, its all pretty fuzzy to me, kind of like a car wreck. What else happened?

[capuga]

My brother skipped 8-10, and read 11-13. He's totally happy. He almost gave up on the series, but his excitement for the series was re-kindled after he read KoD (book 11).

 

Just read the summaries from the encyclopaedia-wot.org site and you'll be all caught up, or...

 

spoilers:

 

the taint gets healed. I don't remember anything else important happening in books 8-10. You're welcome.

 

That's unfortunate for you. There were a lot of interesting plots in those books. Sorry you missed them :)

 

Serious question: what are the interesting plots in those books? I honestly cannot remember anything really cool happening except the cleansing of Saidin. I remember a whole lot of Shaido, and a whole of Aes Sedai plotting, the vast majority of which amounted to nothing. Honestly though, its all pretty fuzzy to me, kind of like a car wreck. What else happened?

 

Rand fighting the Seanchan with Callandor (aPoD), Rand and Lan fighting Fain and rogue Asha'man in Far Madding (WH), Mat and Tuon's courtship (WH and CoT). While the Shaido captivity does drag on, the scenes with Faile when she isn't hounding Perrin make her a much less annoying character (at least to me). And it depends what the reader is interested in. Perhaps they enjoy the politicking. There's plenty of that in books 8-10 (notice I didn't mention it in my list of cool things that happen during those books).

[francy]

I personally wouldn't recommend skipping those books. If you are bored from the boring bits, I would say to skim read through them, but don't skip them entirely. As someone else here said, its not like you need to hurry up and get through them for AOL! And there are good parts in those books that you will miss out on - some of the social interactions, that may not necessarily further the plot along, but are enjoyable all the same. You must have a really low expectation of the books if you are thinking about skipping them, so at least you won't be disappointed - you may even find yourself mildly pleased!

 

LOL

[Sleeper]

My brother skipped 8-10, and read 11-13. He's totally happy. He almost gave up on the series, but his excitement for the series was re-kindled after he read KoD (book 11).

 

Just read the summaries from the encyclopaedia-wot.org site and you'll be all caught up, or...

 

spoilers:

 

the taint gets healed. I don't remember anything else important happening in books 8-10. You're welcome.

 

That's unfortunate for you. There were a lot of interesting plots in those books. Sorry you missed them :)

 

Serious question: what are the interesting plots in those books? I honestly cannot remember anything really cool happening except the cleansing of Saidin. I remember a whole lot of Shaido, and a whole of Aes Sedai plotting, the vast majority of which amounted to nothing. Honestly though, its all pretty fuzzy to me, kind of like a car wreck. What else happened?

 

Rand fighting the Seanchan with Callandor (aPoD), Rand and Lan fighting Fain and rogue Asha'man in Far Madding (WH), Mat and Tuon's courtship (WH and CoT). While the Shaido captivity does drag on, the scenes with Faile when she isn't hounding Perrin make her a much less annoying character (at least to me). And it depends what the reader is interested in. Perhaps they enjoy the politicking. There's plenty of that in books 8-10 (notice I didn't mention it in my list of cool things that happen during those books).

That's honestly one of my favorite plots in the series. There aren't many military campaigns that are extensively covered in WoT and I enjoyed reading that one especially.

[Beidomon]

Serious question: what are the interesting plots in those books? I honestly cannot remember anything really cool happening except the cleansing of Saidin. I remember a whole lot of Shaido, and a whole of Aes Sedai plotting, the vast majority of which amounted to nothing. Honestly though, its all pretty fuzzy to me, kind of like a car wreck. What else happened?

 

Rand fighting the Seanchan with Callandor (aPoD), Rand and Lan fighting Fain and rogue Asha'man in Far Madding (WH), Mat and Tuon's courtship (WH and CoT). While the Shaido captivity does drag on, the scenes with Faile when she isn't hounding Perrin make her a much less annoying character (at least to me). And it depends what the reader is interested in. Perhaps they enjoy the politicking. There's plenty of that in books 8-10 (notice I didn't mention it in my list of cool things that happen during those books).

 

- Battle with the Seanchan accomplished nothing. Seanchan are still there, still annoying as ever. They're like hemroids.

 

- I agree on the Far Madding stuff, but this all happened in the last few chapters of WH along with the Cleansing, so I roll it all together. I distinctly remember reading WH and getting to Far Madding and thinking "wait... is something going to happen here? Oh my God, something is finally happening!"

 

- Mat and Tuon's "courtship." What's not to enjoy? Let's see, first there's the fact that Tuon is human hemroid numero uno. Next, there is the complete and utter implossibility of that relationship. Forget that there is not a single redeeming quality to Tuon that could possibly explain Mat feeling an ounce of affection for said hemroid - Mat will marry Tuon because... its Prophecy! Just. Don't. Care. And am I recalling correctly that much of said courtship occurs at Valan Luca's Greatest Show on Earth? Fires of Heaven would have been one of the best books in the series if not for the fact that half of it is devoted to Nynaeve, Elayne and Birgitte's highwire adventures. Naturally, RJ brings Luca back for another helping.

 

- Faile's Shaido captivity "dragged on?" Bit of an understatement. This entire subplot, in addition to being incredibly long (spanning 4 books?!) and boring, seems to have served absolutely no significance to the main story. Should have been carved out into a really boring outrigger novel that maybe 8 people would have bought.

 

Of course this is all my opinion, but you're wrong if you don't agree with me, so there.

[capuga]

- Faile's Shaido captivity "dragged on?" Bit of an understatement. This entire subplot, in addition to being incredibly long (spanning 4 books?!) and boring, seems to have served absolutely no significance to the main story. Should have been carved out into a really boring outrigger novel that maybe 8 people would have bought.

 

It provided Perrin with a very large army and high ranking Seanchan sympathetic to him. Finally forced him to accept his role as a leader.

[Sbond91]

Spoilers be here.

 

- Battle with the Seanchan accomplished nothing. Seanchan are still there, still annoying as ever. They're like hemroids.

 

He stopped their advance East towards Illian, but more importantly it had three profound plot effects:

 

1. Made Rand absolutely certain he had to cleanse Saidin, and fast

2. Exposed the possible second flaw in Callandor.

3. Rand has his first real defeat.

 

1 obviously sets the next book up, 2 is an ongoing plot point and 3 contributed to dark-Rand (at least in my view) with the whole "I have to do anything to succeed" mantra.

[Smittyphi]

The actual use of the Bowl of the Winds, which is cool IMHO

Elayne securing the Andoran throne.

Mat learning what Moiraine wrote to Thom

Salidar AS siege of Tar Valon and the beginning of Egwene's servitude under Elaida, undermining her.

[jemron]

 

- Battle with the Seanchan accomplished nothing. Seanchan are still there, still annoying as ever. They're like hemroids.

 

- I agree on the Far Madding stuff, but this all happened in the last few chapters of WH along with the Cleansing, so I roll it all together. I distinctly remember reading WH and getting to Far Madding and thinking "wait... is something going to happen here? Oh my God, something is finally happening!"

 

- Mat and Tuon's "courtship." What's not to enjoy? Let's see, first there's the fact that Tuon is human hemroid numero uno. Next, there is the complete and utter implossibility of that relationship. Forget that there is not a single redeeming quality to Tuon that could possibly explain Mat feeling an ounce of affection for said hemroid - Mat will marry Tuon because... its Prophecy! Just. Don't. Care. And am I recalling correctly that much of said courtship occurs at Valan Luca's Greatest Show on Earth? Fires of Heaven would have been one of the best books in the series if not for the fact that half of it is devoted to Nynaeve, Elayne and Birgitte's highwire adventures. Naturally, RJ brings Luca back for another helping.

 

- Faile's Shaido captivity "dragged on?" Bit of an understatement. This entire subplot, in addition to being incredibly long (spanning 4 books?!) and boring, seems to have served absolutely no significance to the main story. Should have been carved out into a really boring outrigger novel that maybe 8 people would have bought.

 

Of course this is all my opinion, but you're wrong if you don't agree with me, so there.

 

This is exactly why I think I have a hard time with books 8-10 besides the cleansing a few minor things. So many of the "plots" in these books don't have any resolution and/or very little gets actually ACCOMPLISHED. That isn't to say that they don't advance the plot, but they don't wrap up much in these books. The Seanchan are still around, the Shaido are still around, the Prophet is still around, Fain is still around, Taim and Luc are still mostly mysteries at this point. A lot happens, but not a lot COMPLETES. And, when books 1-4 are your favorites, these feel very lacking to me. That's why KoD was a breath of fresh air, and TGS and ToM more so; they finally started wrapping up plot lines. Even something as small as Galad becoming the Lord captain commander was awesome to me because something was resolved! Or so I thought...

[Skeeve the Great]

My brother skipped 8-10, and read 11-13. He's totally happy. He almost gave up on the series, but his excitement for the series was re-kindled after he read KoD (book 11).

 

Just read the summaries from the encyclopaedia-wot.org site and you'll be all caught up, or...

 

spoilers:

 

the taint gets healed. I don't remember anything else important happening in books 8-10. You're welcome.

 

That's unfortunate for you. There were a lot of interesting plots in those books. Sorry you missed them :)

 

Serious question: what are the interesting plots in those books? I honestly cannot remember anything really cool happening except the cleansing of Saidin. I remember a whole lot of Shaido, and a whole of Aes Sedai plotting, the vast majority of which amounted to nothing. Honestly though, its all pretty fuzzy to me, kind of like a car wreck. What else happened?

 

 

Serious plots and subplots in books 8 - 10 (beside Cleansing):

1) use of Bowl of Winds, which shows us saidin and saidar working together for the first time;

2) Seanchan attack on the Farm and unraveling of the Elayne's gateway, causing "weirdness" in both saiding and saidar and causing Seanchan to take Tar Valon seriously because they think Tar Valon has a very powerful weapon;

3) Aviendha makes a gateway to Farm from Ebou Dar, which causes a lot of fan speculation and theories about her gateways being time travel PLUS her masterful unraveling of the web which we see for the first time;

4) introduce us to the inside world of the Kin;

5) murder of Adeleas Namelle by Careane Fransi and advancing Blask Ajah plot;

6) introduction to several women on the Light side stronger than Nynaeve, one of them being Alivia and her role in Rand's future death;

7) introduction of Tuon and resolving Mat's marriage to Daughter of the Nine Moons;

8) introduction to Anath and speculations that it's Semiraghe, which later is resolved;

9) Uncovering Dashiva as one of the bad guys, in WH it was revealed that he is Aginor;

10) Attack on Rand;

11) Rand's war with Seanchan and uncovering flaws of Callandor;

12) Salidar finally moving into war with Tar Valon;

13) Healing stilled women by Asha'man;

14) Advancing several prophecies and viewings (for example, "two Aes Sedai on the scale")

15) A lot of gholam on the scene;

16) Resolving some Darkfriends fates;

17) Elayne's babies and future Aviendha's babies;

18) Advancing Logain's plot line;

19) Introduction to Borderlands rulers plot;

20) Far Madding and introduction to Fain's new powers;

21) Introduction Aran'gar plots;

22) Introduction to Black Ajahs among rebels;

23) Introduction to cool weaves and techniques Aes Sedai use (like detecting saidin, or studying Darkhounds);

 

And I could go on.

[ryanphlp2002]

Ah but in the style of books 1 - 7 all that could have happened in 1 -2 very good books, don't think anyone would seriously argue NOTHING happened, just that it was drawn out and the lowlight of the series...

[Dakota]

Go ahead and read 8-11. If you want to make it easier on yourself, you can do what I do on re-reads. Once Elayne returns to Caemlyn, skip every chapter from that point on dealing with her and Birgette. Also, skip over Perrin/Fail/Galina's plotline entirely. That right there eliminates the majority of the soul-crushingly tedious and boring plotlines that contribute little to the overall plot. I would say skip over Egwyne's as well, but that one actually does have some major importance on the overall plot, not to mention significantly improves once Sanderson takes over.

[jemron]

Go ahead and read 8-11. If you want to make it easier on yourself, you can do what I do on re-reads. Once Elayne returns to Caemlyn, skip every chapter from that point on dealing with her and Birgette. Also, skip over Perrin/Fail/Galina's plotline entirely. That right there eliminates the majority of the soul-crushingly tedious and boring plotlines that contribute little to the overall plot. I would say skip over Egwyne's as well, but that one actually does have some major importance on the overall plot, not to mention significantly improves once Sanderson takes over.

 

Good recommendation.

[Hyronimus]

the idea of skipping books....really? All the characters had such a long a necessary way to go, not to mention the nuggets of growth for groups like the Asha'man...there are shorter series. go read them. go on. after sixteen years odd years of reading and a FAN sit has people recomending skipping books. sniff. snort. phwa.

 

(folds arms under breasts. tugs braid. crushes goblet. balefires a fortress. growls. yells out in the old tongue. ears fold back. )

[Dakota]

the idea of skipping books....really? All the characters had such a long a necessary way to go, not to mention the nuggets of growth for groups like the Asha'man...there are shorter series. go read them. go on. after sixteen years odd years of reading and a FAN sit has people recomending skipping books. sniff. snort. phwa.

 

(folds arms under breasts. tugs braid. crushes goblet. balefires a fortress. growls. yells out in the old tongue. ears fold back. )

 

You forgot to sniff.

[ryanphlp2002]

Dammit I thought this site was for "discussion" not fan worship! Snort! Balefire me back to book 7!

[Hyronimus]

discussion yes but constant illogical complaining ...sigh....of course i am just a sucker for world building material. anyone else secretly wishing for book fifteen?

[ryanphlp2002]

Everyone has talents, unfortunately mine is complaining! Illogical??? how can "opinion" be logical?, it's not facts...

Anyway I'm always happy to agree to disagree. Now the plot is moving along nicely again I also would love to have seen more, we are all going to miss the various denizens of Randland A LOT.