My experience with WoT thus far !

[Guest Pokebunny21]

Howdy, just joined the forums nice to be here :)

 

Now i've been reading this series coming close to almost a year now and i've almost reached the end of Crossroads of Twilight.

Thus far it's becoming one of the more mediocre novels in the series (my favorites are The Great Hunt and Lord of Chaos) and something has got into my head about the series that's been making it difficult for me to be invested into the reading, was hoping if any one of you could provide some insight into my negative thoughts so that my motivation to really read through the series increases :)

 

*PLEASE NO SPOILERS PAST THE TENTH NOVEL*

 

right, here we go !

 

In general there are two main reasons why i've been feeling a real disconnect from the series.

 

1. To many plot points that I just don't care about, and that seemingly carry hardly any significance towards the finale. Examples of these plot points so far include... 

 

 

 

[Plato]

Just keep going, Knife of Dreams (book 11) is where things really start to pick up again and start the process of wrapping things up.  The Egwene plot gets interesting.  The Rand plot gets moving in disturbing ways.  Elayne gets rolling, etc. etc. all of this leading into the final 3 books where EVERYTHING gets wrapped up. 

 

You've already crossed the main hump of the series, it's all satisfaction, smiles, and tears from here!

[Suttree]

You are not alone with your thoughts on CoT. The good thing is you don't have to wait for the next book! Just view it as the first half of KoD and it helps some. You have already made it past the mid-late portion of the series where the pace slows and things are still being set up. Of course post KoD comes the author change and that presents a whole new set of issues. Regardless if you have made it this far it is well worth finishing.

[Rhienne]

As the other posters have said, definitely stick with it!  Probably the majority of fans rate CoT as their least favourite book so you are really not alone in not enjoying it as much as the other books/finding it slow going, etc.  But its also true that most fans agree that it is worth persevering.  KoD has some really wonderful scenes.

[szilard]

1. To many plot points that I just don't care about, and that seemingly carry hardly any significance towards the finale.

 

Well, this is the wisest statement in the whole series:

 

Elayne allowed Essande to help her off with her pale green, swallow-worked robe and sank into her tub immediately, submerging herself to her neck in water just a hair short of too hot. That left her knees poking up, but it immersed most of her in the warmth, and she sighed, feeling weariness leach out of her and languor creep in. Hot water might have been the greatest single gift of civilization.

 

I totally agree with her. El rocks! ;) Plus, my hc copy (uk edition) is not acid free, so the cover is ruby and the pages are so beautifully brown from age... To quote Amanda Holden:  “J-Lo’s ass. CoT. I just wanted to bite it. It was fabulous.”

 

Oh, and before I forget, you should write more on your WoT-experiences. I like posts like this:

 

 

17th February 2013, 11:46 AM #22 (permalink) Leisha www.sjswebdesign.co.uk Leisha's Avatar Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Dundee City Posts: 2,818 Blog Entries: 2 Re: Reasons why you SHOULD read WoT (no spoilers).

 

I just wanted to add to this thread. I've just finished book four, and whoa! The things that happened in it... AMAZING! I got to see things that I never thought I'd see, and in a couple of places I had to put the book down because I couldn't take in what had just happened - I was like, "No way! That CAN'T have happened! That's singularly the best, most astounding thing I have read".

 

I will say it again: Jordan is one of the best storytellers ever. His plots so far have never slowed down or got boring. I certainly can forgive whatever's to come based on the way he's expertly handled the interwoven plots in the first four and a fifth books I've read. Actually, I feel sad that threads in some of his middle books sound as if they became a little unravelled, because, based on how annoyed they've made others feel, it's put many readers off trying Jordan.

 

And nope, I don't hate any of the females. Sure, odd times they get annoying, but that's a good character. I actually feel something for them rather than feel nothing or only a mild interest. And... I only got annoyed with them because they're doing/saying things that upset characters I love. And, yes, the women ARE true to themselves and their background. I would go so far as to say I think they're well done.

 

6th April 2013, 01:36 PM

 

Oh. That's the problem I didn't foresee with this thread. I started it by saying even *I* didn't find book one amazing, but book two was where it really becomes a serious competitor for best epic fantasy series... yet no one gets past book one. Which wasn't the point!!! Oh...

 

Quote:

Next on my list are a Daniel Abraham, Patrick Rothfuss, and Terry Goodkind, to help increase my understanding of epic fantasy.

But if you don't read a good way into the series, you'll never know what the epic was really like. For all series. I have a sense that you mean to continue the series one day, but you're not fussed about when, and so it might slip down and down your tbr pile? (I'm just trying to gauge your reaction.) Where I am - book six - I can honestly see why WoT is the biggest-selling epic series of all time. It's so well thought out, complex, imaginative, loveable, and all-encompassing. I don't know how anyone can write better! (Which makes me scared for my own writing, and I really mean that.) It really gets going and leaves you breathless after book two. And book three... wow... just wow. You get ideas about things as you read, then chapters/books later, Jordan turns it all on its head and shocks you with things you think can't have happened!

 

 

 

I don't know how I can get people to give it the chance it deserves. And I understand about people saying book one should hook or not at all. But I still think, from the pleasure, awe, shocks, surprises and love I've felt for this series after book one, it's worth people's time. I feel like size-7 shouting about all the awesome things that keep happening throughout the books!

 

 

Speaking of...

 

 

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!! Oh!!!

 

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!

 

 

I'm two chapters away from the end of book six, and I need to scream!!! What's happened to him?!?! WHOA! And I *knew* it! I *knew* that thing was real!!!

 

Them working together will be AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

 

YEEEEEEEES!

 

 

 

*cough*

 

 

So, anyway, I've read the first two chapters from Anne Lyle - I read them online the week it was released - and I did love her style. It's hard not to. It was fast-paced and, yes, lean. I even flicked through the book in Waterstones the other week, but I wasn't there to buy stuff; I was there to write in the coffee shop. Anyway, I have so much to read first. My to-read pile is taller than the block of flats I'm in, and now I don't have the money to buy books anymore, let alone drinks in Waterstones.

 

Plus, nothing will likely come close to WoT for me for a long time, so I suppose it wouldn't be fair to read other authors in-between. I need to give them their own chance once I've cooled down from WoT. I'm just so taken with how vast and epic and complex WoT is, and how the characters are nothing like they were in book one. I think of book one with fondness, now, seeing how plain, naive, and innocent everyone was. Wow...

 

 

 

Jonathan, hello! *waves* Welcome to the Chronicles! It's nice to have another in my thread. Do you love WoT, then? Have you finished them all?

 

I'd deffo say that in later books there's plenty tension and conflict - between rulers, genders, magic-wielders, tribes, races, Forsaken, Darkfriends, Ba'alzamon's creatures, other humans, and... um... inner conflicts. Not to mention the threat of... the Dark One. (I keep trying to write "The Great Lord" - what does that say about me?! )