Print Error - tEotW Ch. 33

[alThorWannabe]

**Hi, this is my first post on Dragonmount so I thought I might start by saying hello! These books have probably been the most consistent thing in my life other than my family. I have read and re-read them for almost half of my life, ~11 years of reading and atleast 8 re-reads of books 1-4. I remember getting on to this website when it was probably only a year old and I remember getting on here to see when the next book(TGS) was coming out, and crying when I heard the news. Anyway, I wanted to say hi and even though this is my first post, I have been coming here for info, news and pleasure reading on the WoT for a long time. So thanks to the founders and members here for keeping it going.**

 

I recently started reading through the series again and found a section in tEotW that bothered me with the way that it flowed. I remembered reading this section before and thinking it was really weird how the events unfolded, but I had never actually gone through to see exactly what was wrong (I was usually too excited to keep reading to stop and re-read the section). This time I did stop, and what did I find? Five pages are out of order. The end of chapter 32 ends with Rand and Mat raggedly escaping from The Dancing Cartman after the attack from Howal Gode. Mat is blind after Rand calls some lightning. The beginning of chapter 33 has the duo in the back of Hyam Kinch's wagon with Rand recovering from some mystery sickness (touching the power without guidance) and Mat is getting his sight back. Five pages later there is a couple of line breaks signifying a change of time/perspective (you know what I mean), and they are running through the night again, blind and not sick. Chapter 33 ends with the line, "Well, climb on up, then. Your friend in the back. If he's sick again, best it's on the straw, not up here. Name's Hyam Kinch."

 

So basicly, my copy of tEotW has pages 487-491 out of order. These five pages belong at the beginning of the following chapter(34) with the section after the line breaks being the real start of chapter 33. My questions for you all is:

• Has this error been brought up before? If so where?
  
• Is this an error in a particular print addition of the book? If so which printing?
  
• Does anyone know of any other major errors (like this) in the printing of the series?
  

[seanzor]

I'm pretty sure this was on purpose, I took it to be a little misdirection to make it a little more difficult to figure out that Rand had channeled. My book had it in that order and I'm fairly certain it was a plot device of some sort

[dapianoplay3r]

It confused the hell out of me listening to the audio book. It fell on the break between two files and I thought I had it on shuffle so it was my fault. then I remembered it was like that in the book (which I read while sick as anything the first time so I thought it was me skipping and catching up wrong)

[mb]

I recall one of my copies of one of the books having a number of pages out of order. Do not remember the exact book or the edition. But do remember that it was not Eye of World; also that it is not Gathering Storm.

I bought a second copy of the book some time after. I think I burned the former copy; though do not remember whether I did or not. The second copy is/was fine.

Also remember that both were/are paperback.

 

If your current copy is/was store bought and was bought in last 90 days, there might be a chance of either a refund or a replacement if receipt is shown.

[alThorWannabe]

I'm pretty sure this was on purpose, I took it to be a little misdirection to make it a little more difficult to figure out that Rand had channeled. My book had it in that order and I'm fairly certain it was a plot device of some sort

Unfortunately, I have to disagree. If this were something that was on purpose it would probably be used again, at least again in this book. All of the other times that choppy or repeated sections occur have a distinct quality to them and a clear reason. This one just doesn't fit with that. Maybe another question to ask is, do any other printings of this book have it in a different order? I am not really sure how to tell the differences between printings, but that would be the most definitive way to tell if it was an error or on purpose.

 

My book is the paperback with the original illustrated cover (attached) and a copyright date of 1990. It says on that page:

 

First edition: February 1990

First mass market edition: November 1990

[alThorWannabe]

I recall one of my copies of one of the books having a number of pages out of order. Do not remember the exact book or the edition. But do remember that it was not Eye of World; also that it is not Gathering Storm.

I bought a second copy of the book some time after. I think I burned the former copy; though do not remember whether I did or not. The second copy is/was fine.

Also remember that both were/are paperback.

 

If your current copy is/was store bought and was bought in last 90 days, there might be a chance of either a refund or a replacement if receipt is shown.

 

First, burned?? Why did you burn it?

 

Second, this is the copy I bought when I was 12. I would never exchange this copy in my life, I think I would die if I lost it. I have read this exact copy somewhere between 8 and 10 times, it is well worn with age and better than an e-reader could ever be.

[Terez]

I'm not sure why people always assume this is an error. Yeah, it's confusing, but it's made fairly clear that the story is being told in flashbacks.

[mb]

First, burned?? Why did you burn it?

Do not remember whether I did. Though I do remember tearing out the mismatched pages.

Also remember that the pages were also upside-down.

Part of the reason for burning might have been because of the prior tearing out. Tearing out to make the pages more read-able.

 

All this was a number of months ago; within last several years.

[Luckers]

This is not an error. Jordan went on record saying he was trying to develop a form of flashback technique in this scene, which ultimately did not work--and that's why you never see a similar event.

[he who comes with a bong]

for a flash back it is rather confusing the first time i read it i had to go over it more than once till i got the whole idea of it being a flash back

[Luckers]

for a flash back it is rather confusing the first time i read it i had to go over it more than once till i got the whole idea of it being a flash back

 

Yeah Jordan admitted it went wrong.

[he who comes with a bong]

its almost like a choose your own adventure type of thing immagine if the books were in that format turn to page 134 if you want rand to go to fal dara hahahahahah

[Terez]

I think he did it partly to challenge the reader, in a manner that he would have found interesting to read. I think he overestimated the average reader in that, though. RJ was smarter than we were, and wouldn't have found such a thing difficult to understand at all. But I tend to think that it wasn't all that confusing when compared to other confusing stuff in popular literature. We had this conversation at Theoryland a while back (I brought it up as a counter to the confusing timeline of TOM which was of course all Brandon's fault and something RJ would never have done), and at the time I made the comparison to Stephen King's Desperation-The Regulators (one of which was written as Bachman - I forget which). If you manage to read those two books back to back, you'll never be confused about anything in a book ever again.

[FarShainMael]

I recognised it as a flashback (after a couple of double-takes!), but I can't say I liked it. It was quite confusing. Glad he didn't try that one again!

[Red2111]

yeah i recognized it as a flashback as well once the scene with the farmer repeated again. i do agree it was confusing though. thanks for clearing that up Luckers! and i'm also glad he never tried that one again; though it might have made Perrin's hunt for Faile alot more entertaining

[coolpool]

When i read it through the first time (i had a very recent british eddition btw) i thought it was weird too like, as it never happens again and cos it whips back and fore without much indication its gone back, but i thought that it wasn't that confussing like, it just seems a little jumbled. And like Terez said, there are alot more confsing books out there like and it puts things into perspective.. It probally would have been a good idea like if RJ made it more clear it was a flash back such as.. "rand thought about what happened the last few days" ect or something else like that to indicate flashbacks, but as it has been said above, it was intentional, not a mistake like.. it just didn't work out right.. lol

[alThorWannabe]

@luckers, Thanks for clearing that up.

 

I am also glad that he did not continue to write in that style. Also, I agree with bookworm, if he had just written a line indicating the coming flashback it might have worked. This is exactly why I posted this here, I couldn't find any documentation of this in a quick search so I figured some experts might chime in. Thanks again.

[Grig]

OB-WOTFAQ link (not in current version): http://www.steelypips.org/wotfaq/2_nondark/2.7_generalities/2.7.7_scarves.html

 

My favorite part:

 

I always have to smile when I read Jordan's smartass comment at the start of chapter 34: "[Rand] wondered if his whole sense of time was getting skewed." [TEOTW: 34, The Last Village, 431] Whatever Rand is feeling, the reader's sense of time should definitely be tied into a knot by this point.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

wow. i can't count how many times i've read that book, and i never once thought it was anything but a printing error.

 

i still can't quite fathom it.

[jemron]

Confused me too at first. But wasn't that the point? Rand and Mat are confused/hungry/lost/sick/etc... They are having a hard time telling the days from the weeks. RJ wanted to evoke that same sense of insecurity in the readers. Worked perfectly for me.

[Barid Bel Medar]

Confused me too at first. But wasn't that the point? Rand and Mat are confused/hungry/lost/sick/etc... They are having a hard time telling the days from the weeks. RJ wanted to evoke that same sense of insecurity in the readers. Worked perfectly for me.

 

I have to agree mostly. I realised the point of it, and understood what it meant to do.

 

It was a bit awkward to read though, and I wouldnt care for it to happen much. But I did get it.