I LIKE Leigh Butler’s Wheel of Time Re-Read posts (up to KoD)

[szilard]

Am I the only one?

 

I don't understand the criticism she gets and think it says more about the person making the criticism than anything else.

 

Her posts are funny, informative and sometimes touching. I don't see anything bad in these posts.

 

(At least she is an honest person, I mean it really interesting to see a formerly WoT mod - on another board - badmouthing the whole saga, or read a 'famous' blogger's constantly slanting on WoT on every possible fantasy forum.)

[michellem]

Oh yeah I love her reread. It might be because her opinions on things large coincide with my own though, heh. But I always find reading her enjoyable. I ususally re-read the re-reads everytime I re-read the books, lol.

 

The last part of your post was completly uneccessary though; first you point fingers at those critizing Leigh, and then you throw out gossip and critizing yourself, that I don't see are relevant to the topic.

[Suttree]

(At least she is an honest person, I mean it really interesting to see a formerly WoT mod - on another board - badmouthing the whole saga, or read a 'famous' blogger's constantly slanting on WoT on every possible fantasy forum.)

Care to mention who you are referring to above? What would make them not honest?

 

As for the topic I don't mind the reviews. Don't love them but she has her own interesting spin on things. Only problem I have is she handles the series with kid gloves when being critical but that's to be expected. They make for an entertaining read for the most part.

[MasterAblar]

I really enjoyed the re-read. I don't necessarily agree with her on everything, but it's always an interesting read.

[Mr Ares]

I read a significant chunk of her re-read before giving up. Part of the problem is that she isn't that funny - maybe in smaller doses, but with the quantity of re-read her style became tiresome. And I agree that it says something about the person making the criticism. In this case, it says the person making the criticism understands that their comes a point when the joke just isn't funny any more. Her opinions themselves aren't too bad, my problem is solely due to how she chooses to phrase them.

[BFG]

(At least she is an honest person, I mean it really interesting to see a formerly WoT mod - on another board - badmouthing the whole saga, or read a 'famous' blogger's constantly slanting on WoT on every possible fantasy forum.)

 

I don't know either the blogger or the site, but this board isn't the place to talk/complain about them.

 

Am I the only one?

 

I don't understand the criticism she gets and think it says more about the person making the criticism than anything else.

 

Her posts are funny, informative and sometimes touching. I don't see anything bad in these posts.

 

 

I generally like her posts and comments/observations, but tend to agree with Mr Ares, sometimes the style feels a little OTT.

[Cybertrolloc]

I read the re-read and read of Ice and Fire, in WoT, she misses a lot of things. Things a former FAQ maintainer shouldn't as some of the long-standing questions are in the thing :) Additionally, there's a few "this is an important thing I want to know about" call-outs, then nothing when she gets to part or all of the revelation (granted she might answer said questions herself).

 

Her reviews are useless, can't believe what a stretch it was to come up with anything positive to say for RoS (omg it's for a good cause!!11!).

 

For the blogger, depends on szilard who I don't think is frothy at the brain...or maybe I'm thinking of someone with a very similar name here :) A real frothy uber-fan would hate Luckers of course, probably Wert (who's generally appreciative while admitting some of it is nostalgia with minor quibbles), etc...

[Suttree]

For the blogger, depends on szilard who I don't think is frothy at the brain...or maybe I'm thinking of someone with a very similar name here :) A real frothy uber-fan would hate Luckers of course, probably Wert (who's generally appreciative while admitting some of it is nostalgia with minor quibbles), etc...

 

Well yeah that is who came to mind for me as well. If so the poster is pretty far off base.

 

With Luckers for all that he could have went about things a different way, people really need to get over the how and think about the why. He has a number of extremely valid points and it's really a "if people only knew" type situation. Additionally I don't think he is even particularly active anywhere these days aside from private correspondence. As for Wert, he is about as fair as they come. Not sure what could possibly be dishonest about someone like him giving a realistic critique of the work.

[Hayward1979]

I like how anyone that doesn't automatically agree with all of the criticisms leveled against BS or the series as a whole is handling the series with "kid gloves".  That is incredibly presumptuous, and arrogant to boot.

[Suttree]

I like how anyone that doesn't automatically agree with all of the criticisms leveled against BS or the series as a whole is handling the series with "kid gloves".  That is incredibly presumptuous, and arrogant to boot.

 

In what way?

 

It has nothing to do with "not automatically" agreeing with criticism of the series. She works for Tor and doesn't really get in to her own literary critique in her re-reads. What else would you call it?

[Hayward1979]

I would call it her honest assessment of the series.

 

Now you are changing what you previously said.  First you said she "handles the series with kid gloves when being critical" (emphasis added).  Now you are saying she doesn't really get into it.  Which is it?

[Suttree]

Now you are changing what you previously said.  First you said she "handles the series with kid gloves when being critical" (emphasis added).  Now you are saying she doesn't really get into it.  Which is it?

 

Apologies if my opinion wasn't clear.

 

She doesn't really get into it. it's more of an entertaining read without much of a deeper dive aside from the occasional surface level issue, hence kid gloves. As I said though it is to be expected given the nature of the re-read, although as Cyber said above it is surpising at times the things she misses. Nothing wrong with it per se, one just needs to keep that in mind is all.

[Rhienne]

I have enjoyed reading her re-read series on the whole.  A lot of her observations have highlighted issues that I maybe hadn't noticed or had forgotten about, and the comments are often quite interesting to read too.  

 

The only complaints that I have (and these are fairly minor) is that from time to time she seems to get overly caught up on a fairly minor plot point and use it as a platform to project her political views (particularly regarding feminism/equality).  The other is that she occasionally seems to skim over the negative implications or interpretations of some of her favourite characters.  But I stress that these points don't substantially take away from my enjoyment of the re-read.

[SinisterDeath]

 

Now you are changing what you previously said.  First you said she "handles the series with kid gloves when being critical" (emphasis added).  Now you are saying she doesn't really get into it.  Which is it?

 

Apologies if my opinion wasn't clear.

 

She doesn't really get into it. it's more of an entertaining read without much of a deeper dive aside from the occasional surface level issue, hence kid gloves. As I said though it is to be expected given the nature of the re-read, although as Cyber said above it is surpising at times the things she misses. Nothing wrong with it per se, one just needs to keep that in mind is all.

 

Just want to point out here,  (and I haven't read the re-reads)

But given the fact that all but the last re-read, were before the final book was released. Its more likely than not, that she was contractually obligated to not point out those events you believe she 'missed'.

Now if she did the entire series re-read after the final book was released, and 'missed' those things.. than yea, I'd definitely be worried about her part as an FAQ Maintainer.

[Cybertrolloc]

Former FAQ maintainer. JenniferL from here currently runs it, but doesn't have much time iirc and there isn't really much to do except wait for the encyclopedia :)

 

I think it was around ACoS (her favorite) and APoD that she called out some of the smaller mysteries as interesting to her, but she might have lost interest--she seems to have a short attention span :)

 

Yah, it's the blogger + major WoT forum moderator thing...don't think Luckers or Dom blogs :) Linda maybe, but like Dom doesn't post a lot elsewhere... The Pat guy is a reasonable choice, but don't know what forums he posts on or moderate/d.

[Pokeriser]

I enjoyed using her re-read to be able to skip Crossroads of Twilight, because "I'M SENSING A LOT OF POWER BEING USED OVER THERRRRREEEE!!!!" didn't really enthrall me the first time, but her humor was a bit over-the-top. Also I didn't quite see the point when you could just read the books, because reading the books is a hell of a lot more satisfying. 

 

Except for re-reading CoT, of course.