why I like WOT

[muddasssir]

Hi, everyone This is a question that has always bugged me. I am not a fantasy fan, so i always thought may be my inexperience with genre is behind my infatuation but as a fantasy fan, which am sure most of you are what made you like these books so much. What I like about these books are the human characters. They are so real, I mean they are super heroes and super villains but still they are humans they have so many shades of greys. Everything is not blck or white. I mean look at Rand we all love him but he has his quirks. His strength, weaknesses and his love quadrilaterals and even our super girls. I mean Min and Elayne are very strong women but they are willing to polygamy. For me these little things make for fascinating read. I mean not only these, the whole line no one has lived in shadow so long part. All the heroes and the villains are humans with wishes, desires and weaknesses.

 

For me this has been a highlight of these books I'll be really interested in finding the answer to this question.

[trench]

I totally agree with you, one of the best aspects of the series IMO is that the characters are all just as prone to making mistakes as they are to succeed. Its my opinion that series like WOT (although it was definitely not the first, just the most successful) opened the door for more reality in fantasy. I dont think GRRM would have had as easy a time getting a Game of Thrones published, if not for authors like Jordan and others who opened the door for for more "gritty" and realistic fantasy.As much as the Eye of the World was basically an ode to Tolkien the rest of the series pushed the story so far past the usual tropes of Tolkien that fantasy in general was allowed to grow into what we have today with authors freely able to experiment with the genre and also still get published.

 

 

 

*edited because I can't spell*

[coolpool]

i just like big books and long series... thats what go me to pick up WoT; i get through books so quickly but why i love WoT, i just love how RJ describes things in so much detail and hides clues of what is to come. I love how the charaters develop, change grow and sometime go backwards; i really get invovled with the charaters. The story is great, leaving me wanting to read more and the actual world that has been created could easily be a real place. Ive never read anything as good as this series and thats why i love WoT. Compared to other fanacy i've read, it is definatly top or a joint first

[Rocky_Outcrop]

I agree. I do like other fantasy novels but I find most of them to be lacking in one way or another in terms of their character development. In wot each character is so well written that when I was younger I hated some of them and now that I'm older I respect their point of view more and no longer hate them and find myself liking them more and more. Brandon pointed out something similar and I agreed with him too.

 

This thread is probably going to be moved to general. I would say then that what you may also like is the tin drum by Gunter grass, while its not a series it is an epic novel with huge amounts of character development and a vast array of personalities, it's not a fantasy novel so maybe it's something to tide you over til amol is out,

 

Edit for spekking ;)

[Alric]

I'm in the same boat. When I started reading at age ~16 I was impressed by the huge world and mystery and exploration, as well as the interesting and fun characters. On my recent re-read I'm thoroughly impressed by how well constructed everything is, and the fact that practically everything has been foreshadowed and planned in advance. I'm not sure if I can think of any other authors who have managed to keep something this complex and huge together while still having likable characters and making it fun to read. I still find myself drawing parallells from real life events to these books and characters simply because I've known them for so long.   

[Guest caleb22]

This is a masterwork of literature from any perspective. Characters are so real you bleed and sing with them, places so real they stand out in your own memories, plots so convoluted yet true that they leave you always wanting more. It truly incorporates EVERYTHING that is laudable in literature. I started this when I was going to college to become a teacher of English, and turned countless students onto it, and still have conversations about theories, etc. One dear friend has passed on, and I tell him every line... somewhere he is listening, and smiling with RJ as we all await the final piece of this series. Having received some ill tidings myself, I pray I get to see the ending. If not, some dear friend MUST read it to me also. Well done Bob... Well done Branden. I am forever in your debt.

[Shimmer]

I too am in the same position. I picked up tEotW when I was 10 and the main reason I did was because I liked reading BIG books, and I remember that I struggled to get through the prologue because I had never read a 1000+ page book. Nevertheless, I am glad I persisted to find and become home at the rich, complex world that is WoT and to have the company of some of the most relatable and personable characters in modern literature. WoT is what encouraged me to become a truly avid SFF reader and try my hand at writing some of my own.

[Beccat]

This is a masterwork of literature from any perspective. Characters are so real you bleed and sing with them, places so real they stand out in your own memories, plots so convoluted yet true that they leave you always wanting more. It truly incorporates EVERYTHING that is laudable in literature. I started this when I was going to college to become a teacher of English, and turned countless students onto it, and still have conversations about theories, etc. One dear friend has passed on, and I tell him every line... somewhere he is listening, and smiling with RJ as we all await the final piece of this series. Having received some ill tidings myself, I pray I get to see the ending. If not, some dear friend MUST read it to me also. Well done Bob... Well done Branden. I am forever in your debt.

 

 

Your wonderful post inspired me to register in the forum.

[thom_merrilin]

I picked up the series due to a work colleague. She worked in the bookshop and I worked up the road in another shop owned by the same person. I was looking for a good fantasy series. She picked this for me. I love the series due the deep level of characterization, the depth of the story lines. The fact you have to keep remembering so much that has already happened. The foreshadowing that is often setup a book or two, or more in advance.

But, for me, the jewel is the sheer scope of the series. A mammoth 14 book series, 15 if you include New Spring, and the sheer number of pages. The characters all at some times make you loathe them and love them. Not many series can claim to do that mainly because most are over in 3 or 4 books. Not many go beyond 6 or 7. Another huge bonus for me really is the number of books, and the page count. I love huge books, the more pages the better. Mind you I read mine on the Kindle now. It will be a sad day when I download the last book. But it will forever be my favourite series of books of all time.