A random's reread of the WoT

[Wippuh]

I started reading the series way back in the 8th grade, right after the trade paperback, I think that is what the larger paperbacks were called, came out for The Great Hunt. That was 17 or 18 years ago. I reread the series somewhere around '98 and this year I finally sat down to reread the series again since there's only one book left and my new Kindle was just yearning for something to be put on it.

 

It was a really interesting experience. I don't spend much time on here diving into the deepest corners of the world, but this reread has really helped me get a better grip on the story and appreciate it more. The following are my thoughts, maybe you'll enjoy them...

 

During all of this time, my biggest curiousity would be if the series really did drag, as so many others claimed, during the middle books. Never did anything just bore me to tears, but there is definitely some boring, slow books that are either 8 and 9, or 9 and 10. Those were a struggle for me. Otherwise, I could get through a book every week or two.

 

I also remember being a huge fan of Perrin and Matt's storylines, while just enjoying Rand's. Now, at 33 years old, I find myself still enjoying Matt's a lot, appreciating Rand's much more but finding Perrin a totally disinteresting character. He and Faile drag almost all of their chapters down, with the only redeeming thing about them being Perrin's actions vs Slayer. Once, I would have told you that the books would have been much more interesting if you just skipped all of the girls' sections. Now I feel moreso that Perrin's are the weakest and should be skipped. Faile is just flat out terrible.

 

Staying on the subject of things to skip, I constantly found myself wondering why the entire Bowl of the Winds storyline was even included in the series. I found absolutely 0 point to it all. The sea folk were very mysterious and characters that I wanted to see explored more, but their involvement in the Bowl of the Winds portions just hurt their potential to me. Similarly, the storylines involving the Prophet and Couladin were very weak. The way they were both dispatched left a sour taste in my mouth, especially with the Prophet. I hope the Shaido have a large role to play in the last book or I'm going to be disgusted that so much time was spent on them.

 

On my feelings about Sanderson, I was optimistic that he would do a good job when I found out he was taking over. I enjoyed the Mistborn novels but man, he has absolutely ruined one character. Not Matt, as I've read a little about on here. He is way too joking I agree, but his treatment of Lan is terrible. A really strong and stoic character was turned into a fantasy cliche in my mind. Where Sanderson had really impressed me in his other books, where he avoided all of the cliches, he just destroyed Lan with them. Combine that with all of the exclamation points he seems to have a quota to meet on and his prose and I feel like I'm reading a paint by numbers author sometimes and a true artist at others.

 

The story is still great. The Band rocks, the Last Battle build up is great and the way I'm finding my way to hate Egwene like only an Amirlyn should be hated keeps me coming back for more.

 

Sorry for any grammar mistakes, etc... If this place is like most of the other forums, where I am deeply involved, I'm sure the nazis will jump asap :p

[Wippuh]

Also, how can you have such beautiful artwork for tEotW and the ebooks, but the rest be beyond bad?

[FarShainMael]

There are a lot of undeveloped storylines, especially, I would agree, the whole Sea Folk line. I suspect that once the series got beyond 6 books, RJ decided to continue and develop it over many more years.. but his plans were scuppered by his terminal illness. BS stepped in to wind up the main storyline, but has neither the time nor the inclination to do more than that. He's got his own books to write!

[jsbrads]

ah, is BS dumping this after next book? Silly, really. He has some good stories, but nothing with the following, clout and depth. I think if he continues it after the last book, he can become a partner rather than slightly more than a footnote at the end of the series.

 

Wippuh, What problem did you have with Lan?