Should I finish reading The Wheel of Time? Need your advice.

[kiertorata]

Dear Community-

 

I began reading The Wheel of Time series in 1994, I believe. I received the first three books for Christmas and plowed through them in the next couple months. I then began buying and reading the following additions to the series that were published. Eventually, once I finished the published books, I then had to wait for new books to be released to continue reading the series. I'm sure there are many Jordan fans that have had a similar experience. I loved these books. 

 

I stopped reading The Wheel of Time series in about 1998. The Path of Daggers was the last book I read. At the time I felt the book was fine. I wanted to know what happened to Matt, how the cliffhanger from A Crown of Swords was resolved. Therefore, I was disappointed that I waited more than a year for The Path of Daggers--a slight book with little progression and no resolution.  

 

I resolved to not read another page of The Wheel of Time until they were all published for the following reasons:

• I felt my disappointment in the lack of progression was unfair and my impatience was selfish. I should wait so I could consume the books to my satisfaction.
• The books were getting unwieldy in scale and scope to the point that I couldn't remember all the characters, plots, et cetera from finishing one book and waiting for the next to be published.  
• The Path of Daggers disappointed me. Reading the prior books I was easily immersed and engrossed the world created, the story, and the characters. The Path of Daggers did not invoke this feeling in me.

So, now all the books are published and I am wondering if I should take them up again. Nevermind the difficulty of either 1) starting over from the beginning of the series or 2) trying to refresh my memory to bring my up-to-speed to continue with Winter's Heart. I think I would start over. Ultimately I read for the experience evoked in the creative work. I don't need to finish for the sake of finishing or finding out what happens to the characters. I could read spoilers and summaries and call it a day.

 

What's the community's advice? How would you proceed? How were you satisfied with the conclusion of the story arc sans Jordan? 

 

In the meantime I would also tell you my reading habits have changed a lot. I stopped reading The Wheel of Time in college where I switched to reading more literary fiction which is my preferred genre today. I don't read much fantasy now, though I do still read some. I am currently reading The Neverending Story and I periodically re-read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The last fantasy-type series I really enjoyed was the Gormenghast trilogy though the last book in the series I didn't finished given Mervyn Peake's demise and how the last book was ultimately an unfinished work. I mention this because since I don't read fantasy a lot, I set my standards high. 

 

Thanks in advance. I appreciate any advice. 

 

-R

 

 

[WolfbrotherKronos]

The Wheel of Time is my favorite series, so my recommendation would be to finish it. I think Brandon did a good job with finishing the series. I know some others have different feelings on that, and maybe some.of those will comment here as well. My suggestion would be to start over - for a refesher since I assume it has been some time that you have read them, and if it is not satisfing you, then you can elect not to finish. That may sound weird coming from someone who enjoyed the books so much, but I understand everyone has different tastes in what they like. Basically, my thought is that you should.give it a chance. Hope that helps.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

life is short. you could find out the ending without reading the books if you don't want to.

 

I finished just recently. I'm glad I did. I'm not very bothered by not finishing what I start if I'm not into it anymore, but I started reading these when rj started writing them so it would have been a little weird not to finish.

 

if you don't want to reread the first half there's a lot of good rereads like Leigh butlers to sum it up and bring you up to speed.

[Ryrin]

Here is a link to the re-read shortcut.

 

http://www.tor.com/features/series/wot-reread

[Bannakaffalatta]

I started this spreadsheet for just this reason. The earliest one I have saved goes thru POD and most of WH, so you may not want to look until then or maybe only when you have questions. I dont know

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AloVJUT1Q5IpdFhaTU1IdFNDMTJzbXpNWkNqcExIckE&usp=sharing

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

hmmm that's a great piece of work but for myself the point at which I felt like I'd need to keep a spreadsheet to follow the characters and subplots was the point where I found it a chore to keep reading.

 

I resolved the issue by not trying to follow everything. if something was written as a forgettable thread in a giant patterns it didn't fasch me to just move on.

[Bannakaffalatta]

I've been reading the series since '98, at least once a year, and I have no problem remembering most of the stuff that goes on.This was more or less to give me something to do while I read the series again, and to keep minuscule things in order. Like knowing which Shaido Wise Ones killed the other Wise One to motivate the Shaido at Dumai's Well. Or where each character started in the series, how often they were actually in it, and where they were from. Just things that don't necessarily stick through all the big things that happen.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

yeah, most ppl keep better track of those things than me, but I think you could rival terez with that doc :)

 

I've read the earlier books probably a dozen times. once it got past twenty main characters I could never keep them all in mind.

[Bannakaffalatta]

don't know what/who terez is, but I appreciate it?

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

check out theoryland, you would love it I think. terez posts here too, you can ISO her :) she knows WoT better than Brandon I'd guess, and I think he'd agree.

[Bannakaffalatta]

I definitely need to explore it more, but it seems terez puts a lot more thought into things than I do. I enjoy focusing on how the foretellings and prophecies are fulfilled, but unless something (ASMODEAN) severely thwarts me, I don't really delve too deep. RJ really does answer any questions you have if you continue to read, I feel anyway.

[kiertorata]

Wow. The spreadsheet and the re-read page are very useful. Thanks.  

[JudySonnenberg]

Hi kiertorata,

 

I resisted reading these books for more than a decade cuz I hate waiting for new books in a series. I finally caved a started reading them 3 months before AMoL came out...I got them on Kindle to minimize the back strain. ;)

 

I think it's definitely worth it to finish the series...it's nice to get the "end" of such an epic story

[dawnflower8]

Yes, you should finish it. The Path of Daggers is the only boring book in my opinion. 

[csarmi]

Don't finish it

 

Knife of Dreams is still good but after that you're better off just imagining your ending.

[willcat12]

I re-read the series and I enjoyed them again especially after knowing there was going to be an ending courtesy of Brandon Sanderson. I'm glad I finished the series. 

[kiertorata]

Thanks for all the responses. At this point, I've decided not to finish the series. Maybe one day, I will. But thank you everyone for the advice.

[dawnflower8]

Aww, why not?

[kiertorata]

I guess I'm more excited to read books that are new to me, in various ways. Currently reading War & Peace and I have to say that in addition to being a classic and carrying all that literary merit, I think it would appeal to Fantasy fans.

[dawnflower8]

Ah, that makes sense. You are missing out on a lot though. The ending of Winter's Heart is great, and so are the last 4 books.