Which book impacted the series most for you?

[randomh3r0]

17 years ago when I first started reading the series in 6th grade, I didn't have access to book 1, so I start with tGH. I had a friend to fill in some holes for me story wise when I had questions, but really I didn't get to read book one until after I'd finish tDR. Then I missed tSR and had to skip to tFoH, and finished LoC before reading book 4. It was a mess, but the characters and story had me hooked.

 

So my question is this: which book in the series could you NOT imagine missing? OF course all are crucial, if you had to nominate one book that kinda helped define, turn, develop or entangle the series for you the most, which would it be?

 

I'm nominating tSR (book 4) for anything before ToM. The way you get such a look back with the Aiel, even glimpses at the AoL, the way Rand really assumes his mantle and transitions from scared farmboy to the Dragon Reborn, I think it was pivital once I finally got to read it. Obviously, some of the questions, plotlines and developments in ToM make it equally impactful, but I wanna know what everyone else thinks too, and why?

[Treebeard]

i would say the first , as naturally the whole series builds on what happen there.

[condonmc]

Ya it has to be the first book for me.......When I finished the last chapter in the EoTW i was like " O boy, Im in trouble"

[Diamondmask]

The Eye of the World is my favourite - it introduces the characters and what they will become. I love the innocence and sweetness of Rand, Mat, Perrin and Egwene and their relationships. I also wanted Rand to end up with Egwene so I was gutted when they split in later books. And of course, it introduces us to the awesome twosome; Moiraine and Lan. I don't like Nyneave to start with but she really grows on me over the series, and I'm glad their families are brought back into the stories.

[Luckers]

The Great Hunt. It's not my favourite book, but it had the biggest impact. Read Rand's arc the way a 13 year old kid just coming to terms with being gay and you'll see why--a young guy suddenly finding out that he's something hated and feared through no choice of his own. That, without making any form of moral decision he comes to be judged as being morally wrong--men's sin, men's pride. And finally the scene with Mat and the 'it's different now. Your different. You have to see that'.

 

Potent stuff.

[Barid Bel Medar]

Hmmm, a difficult question. Really, none of the books can be skipped, even the "boring" ones have heaps of stuff in them.

 

But if I had to choose, I would have to say the Great Hunt and the Dragon Reborn combined, I can't separate them. It is in these books that we really get a sense of where the main characters are going, their transition from what they were, to what they would become.

 

For Rand, these two books mark his transition from a simple farmboy into the Dragon Reborn, a man who can channel. He really does a lot of growth in these two books. I couldn't separate them, as, while his journey starts in tGH, with the stuff that Luckers said, it really comes around in the Dragon Reborn, when he takes Callandor.

 

Perrin we see him in tGH getting pulled into connecting with the Wolves, doing a bit of leading and he is prepared to do his duty. It continues on with the Faile plotline in tDR and the Blacksmith chapter in Tear, where he finally comes to grip with a lot of things.

 

Mat we see a lot in tGH, even though he has no PoV. Most obviously when he sounds the Horn of Valere. Then tDR, well, most can agree that Mat is finally developed as a main character here, as opposed to a side-kick comedy backup role.

 

Nynaeve - A lot of her comming to terms with using the Power in tGH, her struggle with Egwene in tDR etc...

 

Egwene - most important would obviously be her time as a damane, which shapes so much of her character even up to aMoL. You do not understand Egwene if you don't read her damane chapters. Also, in tDR, she starts to gain independence as a grown woman, not a child under Nynaeve's care.

 

Moiraine/Lan/Elayne/Min: They are no longer just side characters that Rand meets. Each of them becomes something more than just a token character.

 

If i had to choose, I would go tDR as the most impact and important to read, but I think the combination of tGH and tDR are the most vital parts of the series .

[Sasha Grayes]

I love Asmodean TSR. Everyone probably would say EotW, but after reading TSR, I said to myself, I'll finish reading all the books even if I am blind in the future. That is why I soldiered on reading the books even in the lull of books 7-8-9-10.

[Hyronimus]

I have to agree with The Shadow Rising, I've probably reread it the most, and it's the book that seemed to really seemed to kick it up a gear.

 

Rand was really marching on to the world stage, it's a pivotel moment in his growth as a man, for good and bad. Perrin became much more interesting(I rererereread those chapters of the two rivers folk truely coming into their own-a great revisit). The introduction of the Aiel resonated through the rest of the series. I was actually a bit surprised at how...apart from the Aiel Rand was in some later books. All in all some great world building (the glass columns etc), and looking back the last stages of 'early' Mat and the bones for the Mat we love. Oh and Lanfear was still very much in the game.

 

Strangely (considering the number of 'moments')TGH is the one I pass over the most, I do love how tEotW began everything but i'm always in a rush to get on with the story with TGH.

 

I'd just like to add, the thing with 7-8-9-10 is not so much they dragged but that they are hard to seperate.

[Vardar]

Gotta agree with Luckers and Bel here. TGH was amazing for Rand running and fearing anyone finding out about him. The Dragon Reborn, I love Crazy Rand, Rand always on the run, yet kicking ass when he needs too. It also has some crucial Mat and Perrin (Before I started hating him) moments in it for me which make the boys. In the DR they stop being boys, and become men (Although who the hell calls 20 year olds boys anyway I'll never know)

[Mario Cole]

Gathering Storm. I'd written the series off not just because of Jordan's death but because I was getting tired of the " A Week in the life of Randland" type books post Crown of Thorns. Truly I was happy that I was finally going to get payoff for something that I had kept in my headspace for the last 16 years. Plus Egwene finally gets to kick a lil ass.