favorite book of the series

[O.o Jack K5 o.O]

note to mods: if this thread already exists please kill this one and message me of the location of the original.

 

so, of all the 11 books out so far which is your favorite and why?

 

personally mine is tEotW. i just love the beginnings of things. after the first passage or so i was addicted. RJ hit the nail on the head with what it is that i want in a series. desctiption that isnt unnecessarily wordy. just enough of the right words. and characters. boy do i love characters. i really realized that fact while reading Rath and Storm, the compliation novel that is the weatherlight block from MTG. Ertai is just so damn consceded it makes me giggle.

[Guest Wynne Jessal]

I'm re-reading right now (just started LoC) but unless my memory mistakes, Fires of Heaven is my favorite. Things are really getting rolling, and all the characters are hitting their strides and doing some cool things. Rand is starting to take charge but is not yet an arrogant butthat. Mat has stopped being so whiningly annoying and has started to kick A. Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne are by turns irritating and sympathetic. Birgitte becomes a more prominent character. We also get to enjoy more of the Aiel. And we get a drastic increase in Forsaken-ness. And I always liked the Siuan/Leane/Min/Gareth Bryne sub-plot. Best all, Faile is not even present!

 

By the next book, RJ starts throwing in more chapters devoted to characters we don't give a rip about (Whitecloaks, Darkfriends, etc.) and the pace starts slowing down. Rand and his harem starts being more unbelievable. Things start to go downhill, in general...

 

So yeah. TFoH. Fo' shizzle.

[Kadere]

Like Wynne Jessal my favorite book is The Fires of Heaven. I love the political intrigue of that book. The Forsaken plotting, Morgase realizing she's been enslaved, Rand's move to take Cairhien, Mat's fight with Couladin, the battle with Rahvin, and of COURSE Moiraine's battle with Lanfear! By this point in the story all the introductions are over. RJ isn't teaching much about how things in the world work, he's moved on to give us plot development, and harden the characters. I feel that in many ways the story doesn't even start until this book.

 

Of course putting this at the top is a little innacurate as I love every book in this series (yes, including CoT). At the end of the day I see this whole series as one giant book, therefore love every minute of it. So whenever I make a list of my favs, you kind of have to imagine that the first 6 or 7 all tie at 1.

[edman]

The Shadow Rising.

[Gentled Ben]

I agree with Kadere; the first four books are really laying the foundation for the story which begins in TFOH. However, I think because of the Emond's Field stand against Isam and the trollocs, the history of the Aiel revealed in the ter'angreal (not to mention Rhuidean itself), and the battle with and taking of Asmodean, I have to go with TSR, but only because the thread makes me single out one book. It's really a 3-way tie for me between TSR, TFOH, and KoD.

[Leopoled Boothe]

It has to be a tie between "The Shadow Rising" and "The Fires of Heaven."

 

In tSR I liked that we finally go to see the Aiel Waste, to see what he Aiel are really like and even found out where they came from. I also loved the sequence where Perrin returns to the Two Rivers to defend his home against Slayer and the Trollocs, and how it all cumulated with this marriage of Faile (even if Faile didn't turn out to be everthing I'd hoped she would be it was still very sweet at the time).

 

TFoH was full of exciting moments such as the Moiraine vs Lanfear fight, when Rand and co. storm Camelyn to take down Rhavin, and when Nyneave leashed Moghedien. I also like the fact that Asmodean was a prominent character in this book and how we got to share in his delima. Not to mention that this book introduced to the biggest mystery in the entire WOT universe.

[Jonn]

The Shadow Rising.

[Lacey]

I really can not decide which one I like best. And honestly, I have a hard time breaking the information down into individual books. It all just blends together in my brain as one magnificent story. I know that sounds cheesy... but it is the truth. I can tell you my least favorite book... if it counts....New Spring. I love the book...but it is my least favorite from the series... I think it was just too short. It did not quench my WOT "thirst".

[DemandredFO]

Three way tie; tDR, tSR and KOD. But really I like all the books, even Crossroads. However, I hate to say this but I do think the rescuing Faile subplot gets a little tiresome.

[Asgard Thorin]

One, because it got the whole bowl rolling, with a kind of legendary quality that the others have not matched, and Six because to me, that was the pinnacle: "Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt."

[DisOrder]

Personally my favorite is Winter's Heart because i love the whole planning of and actually cleansing the True Source. I like how Cadsuane plans on making Rand have feelings again. You start to notice when he kills Rochaid and tells Min, how shes says she felt nothing through the bond and he says he had no feelings that he just needed to be killed, that he can not be hard like that and fight the last battle.

[vegetattack15]

If I could only reread one after the series is finished I think it would be TSR because you get the feeling that it will be a very, very, long time before this story is finished. Whereas, for me, reading the first three I wasn't sure if it would just be a trilogy or be finished in four or five. After TSR I was pretty sure it would take at least a total of 10.

[Dantalion]

My favourite has always been 'The Eye of the World', because it contains my favourite chapter of the series ('Dragonmount') and also because I really like how the Two Rivers' folk are astounded at seeing an Aes Sedai, a Warder, a Gleeman and a Peddler all at the same time, and yet in the not-so-distant future, one of them turns out to be The Dragon Reborn, another marries the Empress-to-be of an as yet unheard of continent and the other ends up talking to wolves.

 

Oh yeah, and the future Amrylin Seat and the woman who discovered how to Heal Stilling come from there too, just for good measure.

 

It's funny how things turned out.

[Red_count]

The eye of the World of course.I like the way the Force things are not explained.Everything is dark and mysterious.Rand and co are being chased by Evil Creatures,terrible nightmares...It`s fun! :twisted:

[El Dude]

I can't remember the name of the book if someone could post the name I would appreciate it. But it is the book where Mat, Elayne, Ny, and Avi are trying to find the Bowl of Winds and Mat and Brigette get drunk and he slaps around the Sea Folk women. I just always loved the scenes in this one.

[Leopoled Boothe]

I can't remember the name of the book if someone could post the name I would appreciate it. But it is the book where Mat' date=' Elayne, Ny, and Avi are trying to find the Bowl of Winds and Mat and Brigette get drunk and he slaps around the Sea Folk women. I just always loved the scenes in this one.[/quote']

 

That would be book 7, "A Crown of Swords." I'm glad you can call it your favorite because I think it is the most underrated book in the series.

[Guest Wynne Jessal]

I can't remember the name of the book if someone could post the name I would appreciate it. But it is the book where Mat' date=' Elayne, Ny, and Avi are trying to find the Bowl of Winds and Mat and Brigette get drunk and he slaps around the Sea Folk women. I just always loved the scenes in this one.[/quote']

 

I think that mostly occurs in Crown of Swords. I really liked those scenes as well. Mat and Birgitte make a great team!

[El Dude]

Thanks for giving me the name of the book. I was pretty sure it was the seventh book but I couldn't remember the name. The really cool scenes with Mat are always my favorite. Like in DR when he beats Galad and Gawyn in a sword fight with a quarter staff.

[Guest Wynne Jessal]

The really cool scenes with Mat are always my favorite. Like in DR when he beats Galad and Gawyn in a sword fight with a quarter staff.

 

That's a favorite of mine too! It also symbolizes the point' date=' to me, from which Mat stops being a whiny useless burden on those around him to being a cool lead character in his own right.[/color']

[Asgard Thorin]

Mine hath always been Lord of Chaos, Book Six. Those of us who've been reading the series long enough will remeber that that was the last of the a-new-book-a-year books that the early series had. Crown of Swords was nearly two years later, and was rather disappointing (nothing like book Ten though,). Plus, Lord of Chaos had a very-centered-on-Rand ending that was absolutely britchin'ly cool. "'Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon. Or you will be knelt.'"

I think the series peaked there, at least until the newest two books, and enough has happened since then to change how I view the world, so mine enthusiasm for the series is tempered or perhaps disciplined. Back then, it had virtually no restraint

[Caar One-Hand]

Mine is the 6th book, Lord of Chaos.

 

It starts slow but builds quickly.  This is the book where Rand truly has to deal with Aes Sedai other then Morraine.  He makes a strong stand and sees them as I see most AS at that point as arrogant and ignorant. 

 

In the first 3 books they hold themselves above and separate from everyone else and the reader believes it because they use the one power, they are seen by most as almost god-like.  But by book 6 we have been introduced to Aiel Wise Ones, Sea Fold Windfinders, and have had PoV from various forsaken so we know how ignorant and misinformed the AS really are.

 

I think Rand can see this too so he stops fearing them and seeing them as a threat.

 

And of course the battle at Dumi's Wells is simply amazing.  In chapter 2 and 3 Taim comes to Rand and begins teaching the Ashaman.  But by chapter 55 we see how fast they have become a deadly force.

 

It's funny though how after this book there is very little written about whats happening in the Black Tower.  We only get snippets here and there from now on.  Only enough to wet my appetite for more, and give me an impression that something dark is going on there.

 

So for these reasons Lord or Chaos is my favorite followed closely by The Shadow Rising.  The story of the Aiel as told through Rand's ancestors and Perrin returning to the Two Rivers to defend his home.  In TSR Perrin really comes into his own and becomes a character that I really love to this day.

[TheBeerPatriot]

Mine is the Great Hunt.  I love the sections on the Portal Stones, the discovery of the Black Ajah, the blowing of the Horn, Rand's fight with Turak and the fight with Ba'alzamon is epic.  My favorite scene is the redemption of Ingtar...powerful scene!

[bronnt]

I really liked tDR.  This is where we begin to see Mat and Perrin growing as characters because we don't get very much of Rand's POV.  Until this point, neither of them had very strong roles in the series-not compared to the central roles they have now.  I loved the entirety of their visit to Illian-the city was kind of creepy at the time.  It's the first time we see Gray Men and DarkHounds, and they come right on top of each other.  Plus, Moiraine turned into a total bad-ass.

 

It also has my favorite line in the entire series.  Mat takes the purse from Gaebril to give to Gill, and Basel asks him what it is.  "Stakes.  Gaebril doesn't know it yet, but he and I have a wager."  Mat then picks up his dice and rolls 5 sixes.  "And I always win."  I didn't care for Mat, much, after the first two books, but in tDR, he really burgeons into a great character.  Beating up on the Lion Brothers, fighting half a dozen Aiel on the rooftops of Tear, and then charging straight into the Stone.

[Saguin Venart]

Lord of Chaos. Dumai's Wells was easily the best ending in the series thus far.

When the Asha'man step out and just rip the Shaido to shreds, literally. Read the ending maybe 5 times.

 

The lions sing and the hills take flight.

The moon by day, and the sun by night.

Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.

Let the Lord of Chaos rule.

[JediMindTrick]

Its hard for to pick out of The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, and the Lord of Chaos.  This is where the series was at its best and each book has strong points.  I'd probably lean to Lord of Chaos since it had the best ending.

 

No doubt though which is #4 on my list: The Gathering Storm.    I liked Brandon's other books but given his near impossible task of continuing I was afraid he might whiff but instead he gave the series a much needed shot in the arm after four or five mostly dull books in a row.