I Can't read the last Book

[B-Honcho]

For many - many years the Wheel has been an anchor in my life... Something I could always return to when I needed to re-focus on all the day to day dramas of Work, Family, and all "that other crap" that I sometimes wish would "Just Go Away".

 

The LAST BOOK is on my bookshelf... (Print and CDs)... and I've read the first few pages but I "Can Not" bring myself to actually read it.

 

There are reasons... RJ died...Despair...     BS picked up the story... Elation...     The day that my pre-ordered copy of Memory of Light arrived...    My Best Friend (35 years) died of brain cancer... Probate, estate sale, lawyers, judges, bureaucratic nonsense, and here I am...

 

So Many Endings...     but I don't want WOT to end.

[Rudrah]

Hey there B-Honcho.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your best friend. Did your friend enjoy the WOT too?

 

This series has been part of my world for many years also. I found the last book very emotional and also very enlightening. Some of the main characters really suffer thought there conflics, but in the end they have very interesting realizations.

 

The serises might have ended, but the wheel keeps on turning. After reading the last book you will be left wanting more, because we really don't get any closure , The original plan was for RJ to write some out riggers, and because of that the series feels 98% finished. And there are plenty of theories here at Draginmount to feed our WOT appetite.

 

Read it when you are ready.

[Rhienne]

If its any consolation I felt the same in the run up to the release of AMoL.  I just wasn't sure that I actually wanted to put an ending on this series.  Looking forward to the next book has always been something nice in my life, never mind all the theorising!  After finishing the AMoL, the first thing I wanted to do was re-read the whole series again, so it really didn't feel like an end to me, just another opportunity to reread the series in a slightly different light now that I know the fate of all the characters.

[Thornan]

I didn't read my copy for a week after I bought it, and it took me over a month to read the book. I would read a bit here and a bit there, which is far fro m usual for me when I get my hands on something the magnitude of WOT's conclusion. I just was not ready for the end. For all that I couldn't get enough of the book, and couldn't wait to see how it ended, it was almost as if the pages got heavier as I went along. I was incredibly satisfied with the conclusion, so I would encourage you to wait if you feel the need. Condolences.

[MarkDiLillo]

If it makes you feel any better, the last book is more fan fiction than a real ending.  Almost the entire book is Brandon Sanderson following barely any notes at all other than some vague (so and so lives, so and so dies, result of Rand and DO confrontation is this, etc.) guidelines.

 

Even though the series has officially ended, I still feel like it is unfinished.  We have a great ending couple pages (and I really mean only a couple pages) by RJ himself, but the rest is really just a fans interpretation of the ending using some unreleased information.  So go ahead and read it and enjoy it as best you can IMO; there are actually some great parts.  The series will forever be unfinished in my mind and the mind of many others though.

[Pralaya]

I would say, just go ahead with the ride and bask in the ending. I found it pretty good. Even though this may not be the story that RJ envisioned, Brandon Sanderson did a great job bringing together all the loose ends and meaningful use of all the small things that RJ used in the previous books. While WoT ending is definitely sad, it is still at a position where you can create new stories yourself :)

[csarmi]

Just don't read it, you'll be better off. Imagine some sort of ending for yourself.

[ratswot]

I felt emotional reading the last book as well. Not so much because TWOT was coming to an end but each book for me is like a time capsule of the last 20 odd years of my life. All the way from my first years in medical school, to an internship, travel around the world, residency, marriage and finally becoming a surgeon. And in all that time only two TWOT years passed! ;-)

[Suttree]

And in all that time only two TWOT years passed! ;-)

 

Uhhmm no. May be time for you to look up a timelime.

[ratswot]

 

Uhhmm no. May be time for you to look up a timelime.

 

 

998 NE

    The Eye of the World

    The Great Hunt

999 NE

    The Dragon Reborn

    The Shadow Rising

    The Fires of Heaven

    Lord of Chaos

1000 NE

    A Crown of Swords

    The Path of Daggers

    Winter's Heart

    Crossroads of Twilight

    Knife of Dreams

    The Gathering Storm

Other

    Towers of Midnight

    A Memory of Light

 

2 - 3 years? Am I missing something here? TOM and AMOL were pretty much back to back, weren't they?

[Suttree]

You claimed two and the books were 3+. We don't know exactly how much because even an expert like Steven Cooper who had dedicated a huge amount of time to his timeline project threw up his hands in disgust after TGS.

[ratswot]

You claimed two and the books were 3+. We don't know exactly how much because even an expert like Steven Cooper who had dedicated a huge amount of time to his timeline project threw up his hands in disgust after TGS.

 

How much time do you think passed between TGS -> AMOL?

[Suttree]

Honestly if Steven Cooper couldn't figure it out I'm not sure it's possible.

[ratswot]

Honestly if Steven Cooper couldn't figure it out I'm not sure it's possible.

 

You really think so? I'll help you out. When did Elayne and Rand have sex?

[jack of shadows]

rand and elayne did have sex in winter heart,in a memory of light she is approximately

six months pregnant,so roughly,the timeline between winter heart and a memory of light

is 6-8 months.

[Suttree]

 

 

Honestly if Steven Cooper couldn't figure it out I'm not sure it's possible.

You really think so? I'll help you out. When did Elayne and Rand have sex?

He nice, but that wasn't what I meant. Looking for a bit more detail.

[Barid Bel Medar]

It's not the period of time that passed (although the warped time in AMOL makes that a tricky one) overall. 

 

It's putting events in chronological order and in relation to other events. 

 

On a very basic level, there is a general timeline, but if you start to look at it, things get very confusing. 

 

Now, apparently Team Jordan have the timeline down and it is completely accurate, but nobody else has accurately recorded the timeline. 

 

There have been timelines - like the one by Steven Cooper - created throughout the series which actually put dates to events and accurately recorded 90% of tEotW - KoD. (I believe RJ/Team Jordan may have said that some of these timelines are accurate) This is including CoT, which is similar to ToM in that the first half covers characters before the Cleansing like Perrin and other characters are pre-VoG for half of the book. 

 

Most of the people who have kept very detailed and accurate timelines for the past 11 books have given up on 12-14. 

 

I'm not blaming anyone here, nor am I saying that there are mistakes (although there are many questions about this). I've not studied the timeline and I'm not particularly interested in it. However, there is no doubt that the timeline - for whatever reason- is very confused and impossible to accurately track. 

 

Dozens of some of the most hardcore fans have attempted to put the last 3 books in chronological order and none have succeeded in doing so without huge question marks and guesses. 

 

Again, I don't know who's fault this is, or if there are mistakes etc.. However, there is no doubt that the chronology is impossible to accurately track. 

 

I'm open to the possibility that it can be, but until someone actually manages to do so, the chronology will remain a mystery beyond very general timestamps like Pre/post VoG, Pre/post Fields of Merrilor Meeting etc... 

 

Granted, personally, I wasn't much bothered by it. The general timestamps were good enough for me and I don't need to know how things fitted exactly, which I'm sure is true for many readers  - however, just because I don't care, I can't deny that the confusion is there. 

[ratswot]

I'm not so worried about where each event sits in the TWOT timeline as much as how much time has passed since EOTW and AMOL. I was a wee bit flippant when I said only 2 years had passed in TWOT while I'd spent almost 2 decades reading the books.Mind you I am not too far off. If Elayne conceived in WH then this would be around the middle of 1000 NE. As "Jack of Shadows" commented Elayne is around 6 - 8  months pregnant in AMOL which would mean the book finishes early 1001 NE i.e. 3 years.

[B-Honcho]

So... an update. I still haven't started AMoL but I pulled EotW back off the book shelf and I'm starting from the beginning (again). Maybe I'll build up enough momentum that I can just coast through the last book when I get there.   :-)

[redarm]

Good Luck!   This is what I did as well.  A complete re-read followed by moving directly into AMoL.  That book sat on my shelf for several months before I even cracked the binding.  That was HARD.

[Guest rand.al'thor]

My feelings truly echo those of B-Honcho.  I had the last book for two months before starting it.

 

I began the Wheel of Time when I was 12.  It has been with me these last twenty years through so many different parts of my life.  Through good and bad, I could always lose myself in the pages of the Wheel of Time.  If times were tough, I could always journey to Caemlyn or the Borderlands or the Waste and become lost in the incredible world that Robert Jordan had created.

 

As I read the Last Battle (the most epic chapter ever!) I was emotionally gripped in the way that only Robert Jordan books have gripped me.  I wanted to know what was going to happen the same way I wanted to know if Rand was going to be freed at Dumai's Wells. The same way I wanted to know if Mat would escape the Tower of Ghenjei.  The same way I wanted to see Egwene reunite the White Tower.

 

The Last Book, like the Last Battle, was an emotional rollercoaster.  It is a ride that I will never forget.

 

No series or book has ever touched me as deeply as this one.  It has changed my life.  It will always live on inside of me, and I will carry it with me wherever I go.

 

Remember, there are no beginnings, and there are no endings, to the Wheel of Time.  If you are feeling sad about the end of WoT--I have tears in my eyes as I write this--find a kid in high school.  Find a kid in middle school who likes fantasy.  Give him or her the Eye of the World.

 

And let the Dragon ride on the winds of time.

[Rudrah]

rand.al’thor, that was nicely written & 100% true.

[ratswot]

As I read the Last Battle (the most epic chapter ever!) ...

Nicely said!

[Los Mandril]

MY feeling was the in the same line with OP. 

I have alot of going thru my life not sure if this is the right line of work for me...or if FL is where I really want my family to be.

BUT I can always go and open these series and go to a familiar place with familiar characters. I finally got around to reading the final book.

It was  a sad and a bitter sweet feeling. 

 

Knowing that I can always go back and re read the series is something that am going to again. There is always little pieces that I miss the first time.

I read from book1-book7 three times and each time I found a new piece of story that I had missed.

[Myrelle Green]

^{I read the last book as soon as I got it. It took a few days, and it was the roller-coaster others have already mentioned. My problem is that after I read it, I needed to distance myself from the whole series. I've put all the books on the shelf and have gone on to other books. I'm not really sure why, but maybe it's because, like the others have said, the series has been such a huge part of my life, I wasn't really ready to accept it's end. It's starting to feel about time to re-read it again. Maybe.}