Your Favourite Books in the Series

[Sanity's_Theif]

Wow, it was tough for me to choose just 1 because I love so many of them

 

I REALLY don't get the dislike of ToM, I loved that book, I loved Mat's saga in there so damn much, I also don't get the love for tSR, in all honesty it was the first book in the series that bored me a little, keep in mind I had no idea this series existed until 6 months ago, I've read all 14 books in these past 6 months

 

here's my list:

 

1. Lord of Chaos

2. Towers of Midnight

3. The Great Hunt

4. The Gathering Storm

5. A Memory of Light

6. The Dragon Reborn

7. The Eye of the World

8. Knife of Dreams

 

These I consider the very best, the Wheel of Time is my favorite story now, the best I've ever read, and to me it's shown through these books

 

these I consider great but not as great as the above mentioned:

 

9. Fires of Heaven

10. The Shadows Rising

11. Winters Heart

 

These were the lowest point in the series for me, when I re-read the series, these books are going to be trouble, but I can get through them because by this time I was hooked on the series:

 

12. Path of Daggers

13. A Crown of Swords

14. Crossroads of Twilight

 

 

Also can someone tell me what exactly about Mat was off in tGS?

[Suttree]

Also can someone tell me what exactly about Mat was off in tGS?

Almost everything? Sanderson took a rogue and turned him into the court jester prancing about in motley. The humor was forced, his voice changed and the characterization fell off a cliff. He said it best...

 

BS

I realized I'd missed large parts of what made Mat into Mat—the tension between what he says and does, the constant little quips in narrative (which tend to be more clever than the actual things he says out loud), the complaining that isn't really complaining. I didn't understand Mat. I tried so hard to make him funny, I wrote the HIM out of him.

Couple of examples of the forced humor would be the inane side stories he thinks up going into Hinderstrap and the beyond cringe-worthy.

 

TGS

Mat said, shrugging. "I figured you . . . you know, saidared it."

 

As for ToM, while there were some good scenes(the Mat ToG sequence like you mentioned) the overall quality of work was just far too uneven. Unpolished prose, timeline problems, structural issues and mistakes riddled the work. Even worse plot decision were based on deadlines not what was best for the series.  It was rushed out far too quick, it's almost embarrassing in retrospect to publish a book in that form.

[Sanity's_Theif]

 

Also can someone tell me what exactly about Mat was off in tGS?

Almost everything? Sanderson took a rogue and turned him into the court jester prancing about in motley. The humor was forced, his voice changed and the characterization fell off a cliff. He said it best...

 

BS

I realized I'd missed large parts of what made Mat into Mat—the tension between what he says and does, the constant little quips in narrative (which tend to be more clever than the actual things he says out loud), the complaining that isn't really complaining. I didn't understand Mat. I tried so hard to make him funny, I wrote the HIM out of him.

Couple of examples of the forced humor would be the inane side stories he thinks up going into Hinderstrap and the beyond cringe-worthy.

 

TGS

Mat said, shrugging. "I figured you . . . you know, saidared it."

 

As for ToM, while there were some good scenes(the Mat ToG sequence like you mentioned) the overall quality of work was just far too uneven. Unpolished prose, timeline problems, structural issues and mistakes riddled the work. Even worse plot decision were based on deadlines not what was best for the series.  It was rushed out far too quick, it's almost embarrassing in retrospect to publish a book in that form.

 

 

Hmm, well I guess I'm different because I loved Mat in ToM, he just seemed a little more outspoken and hilarious which I didn't mind, he seemed to complain too much in RJ's writing, I still love him in all of the books though, every time I read a part with Mat in it it had me smiling or laughing(particularly with the last 3 books) so what I guess I'm saying is I see the change, but I don't find it a big deal even though Mat is my favorite character, I don't think he was SO out of character in the last 3 books

 

As for ToM generally, I noticed the timeline problem, and it bothered me a little, but not much, I've read all 14 books in the past 6 months, that is, this is my first read of the series, so there was no time gap between books for me, I could see how it might have bothered people if they had to wait for the book though. Other than that I loved every other part of it, the ToG and Mat's face-off with the Gholam(I don't know how to spell it) especially

 

There were quite a few times reading the other books where I felt I needed a break, or could put it down because I hit a boring spot, or some even made me want to quit reading the series altogether, with ToM I never hit one of those moments once, I couldn't put the damn book down, and that's the rating factor to me, the more I can't put the book down, the more I like it, and this is coming from an extremely picky reader, as an example, other people have said books like Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Game of Thrones, Enders Game, or even Harry Potter are all amazing books, I found them OK/not great/kinda boring

[clu7ch]

There will never be a scene in ANY (yes, I'll say that) other work of fiction as personally powerful as Mo's story about Manetheren in Eye of the World. 

 

I can read that, get goosebumps (or goose pimples, bird zits, whatever) and immediately reread it, and have the same thing happen. 

 

"The men of the mountain home stood, their backs to the terendrelle" 

 

like. yeah.