What book did I last read?

[Sharpe103]

Greetings! 

 

I'd like to finish the Wheel of Time series. I got a bit tired of it around the same time the dead big bad guys started getting replaced—that was also around the time when critics started to wonder if Jordan wasn't milking the series for financial gain. Not that I agreed, but I decided I was going to quit reading until he finished. I wasn't going to read 30 massive novels that were all largely the same. Neither when he died nor when I heard that the seies had been completed did I return. I honestly didn't miss the series. 

 

If you couldn't tell, I'm not the biggest fan, but I do want to finish what I started several years ago. 

 

Is there a good list of the books with spoilers? 

 

I seem to recall that Matt had a wall fall on him right at the end of the last book I read. Again, it's been years since I picked one up, so that could be crazy talk. If not, in what book did that happen?

 

Thanks!

[Sharpe103]

Greetings! 

 

I'd like to finish the Wheel of Time series. I got a bit tired of it around the same time the dead big bad guys started getting replaced—that was also around the time when critics started to wonder if Jordan wasn't milking the series for financial gain. Not that I agreed, but I decided I was going to quit reading until he finished. I wasn't going to read 30 massive novels that were all largely the same. Neither when he died nor when I heard that the seies had been completed did I return. I honestly didn't miss the series. 

 

If you couldn't tell, I'm not the biggest fan, but I do want to finish what I started several years ago. 

 

Is there a good list of the books with spoilers? 

 

I seem to recall that Matt had a wall fall on him right at the end of the last book I read. Again, it's been years since I picked one up, so that could be crazy talk. If not, in what book did that happen?

 

Thanks!

[jack of shadows]

your last book was a crown of sword.

[Sharpe103]

Thanks. I'll pick up reading with The Path of Daggers. 

[Basel Gill]

I think that's Book 7.

[szilard]

Is there a good list of the books with spoilers?

 

http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/

 

 

Sharpe103,

 

why would you want to 'finish' it? This 'task' is not assigned by school/uni/workplace, so why is that so important to you? You have to read more than a million words (2* LOTR/War and Peace) + the fanfictions (I do not recommend them) but after all these years I don't think that you could recall anything except the names of the main characters, ergo there will be no build-up, you won't feel/understand the subtle (or not subtle) references etc etc

 

Read other books; I don't know:

 

anything by Schnitzler (Fräulein Else,unfortunately many of his best stories are not available in English),

anything by Zola (The Kill, The Money , Masterpiece, Belly, Fortune, Thérèse Raquin, Germinal, Nana, Pot-Bouille, The Beast Within, The Earth, The Conquest of Plassans, L'Assommoir, The Drinking Den),

Delta wedding by Eudora Welty,

The Light that Failed by Kipling,

The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides by Johnson and Boswell,

The Gods Themselves by Asimov,

Cranford by Gaskell,

The Barbarous Years by Bailyn,

Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376 - 568 by Halsall

 

etc etc

 

Or, you could finish a series which has nothing to do with you.

 

It's your life, it's your free time.

 

 

edit: sanderson's fan fictions do not belong to the series at all

[Guest]

I recommend that you finish the series. Contrary to what some on these forums think, a majority of WOT readers enjoyed the final four novels of the series.

[szilard]

I recommend that you finish the series. Contrary to what some on these forums think, a majority of WOT readers enjoyed the final four novels of the series.

 

OP is clearly not interested in WOT, so why would they do it?

 

If you dig up a few threads about them just in DM (readers on other fantasy sites practically despise them even more than WOT sites), you will see that your statement is not true. Look, your are a fan of sanderson, I get it. But you have to see beyond your fanboyishness.

[Guest]

The OP stated that he is interested in finishing the series. I recommend that he do so. And yes, I participated in those old threads here on DM where people trashed Sanderson. However, I believe that those who don't like the last three books are a minority amount of people compared whom actually did read the entire WOT series and did like the final three books.

 

Also, you are wrong in saying I am a Sanderson fanboy. In fact, I have never read the vast majority of Sanderson's books. So, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from snide remarks that are untrue, please.

[szilard]

Vambram, just a long rant, do not read it


A 15-20-year hiatus is not a sign of that.

Most people read a WOT novel for weeks/months, so why would I tell them that "you must finish the series

even it takes a year or more", and pushing them into a false direction, when they could read other books?


Facts are stubborn things:  hardcover sales in their first year (USA)

KOD:   514 000
 
tgs:       437 000

tom:     406 000

amol:   387 000

Even if we take tgs as a base you will see a steep decline.

 (TOR hyped the **** out of them, the discounts were insane etc. TOR wants him to be Jordan 2.0, but even after a decade long constantly hype he will never reach even Goodkind's figures; it looks like his popularity has reached its plateau years ago)

amol (and tgs before that) got such a savage backlash that this forum became a graveyard almost immediately (2 m onths after its release)

And we did not feel Schadenfreude - I will not vouch for myself - at all when fans gave voice to their severe disappointments here/on theoryland etc. (There weren't any TOLDJA! by us - I will not vouch for myself) when other fans told us that they will sell the books written by sanderson, or won't touch them anymore, or they just skimmed through the last two books because they wanted to know the 'ending' but they will not re-read them.

It's rather a bad feeling when you read posts from people who trusted in sanderson or in 'Team Jordan', who were like "Cut him some slack, this is his first WOT book", then 2 books later they could say nothing except bad things about his books.  

On your fanboyishness: I use that word because iirc you defend him at any cost. His fanbase has a very bad reputation, because they are rabid about him (being young doe not give them acquittal), and they will not see any faults in his products.

There is nothing wrong with being a fan, just ... idontknowhowtoexpressmyself ... you have too see your favourite writers as not perfect beings.


I will write my own opinion, which you may find harsh; the mods will decide that they will delete it it, or modify it, or leave it alone.

[Finnssss22]

Hardcover sales? Really?

You know this is the 21rst century and that Ebook sales make up a large percentage of any book sales today right?

 

Using how many hardcovers were sold in the first year compared to non-Ebook years is quite simply a terrible argument.

 

Also, from what I understand (easily googled) aMoL was the 13th highest selling book period of 2013. That's not what one would call a poor showing by any stretch.

[Guest]

Hardcover sales? Really?

You know this is the 21rst century and that Ebook sales make up a large percentage of any book sales today right?

 

Using how many hardcovers were sold in the first year compared to non-Ebook years is quite simply a terrible argument.

 

Also, from what I understand (easily googled) aMoL was the 13th highest selling book period of 2013. That's not what one would call a poor showing by any stretch.

 

 

Thank you.

[wheeloftimetv]

To be fair from memory the ebooks were not released at the same time as the hardcovers, but months later, so I doubt ebook sales account for the majority of the drop off.

[wheeloftimetv]

Further to that ebook percentage of the market was only 2.7% in 2009 when tGS was released which would only account for a 13000 drop not 80 000. 2010 it was at 7.2% which only account for 37000 from KoD figure not 100 000 drop for ToM.

[wheeloftimetv]

Though to be fair again you can't say the initial drop froM KoD to TGS was due to the quality of the work as people would have had no idea of that before buying. The subsequent drops for the remaining two could be put down to ebook sales to a large extent.

[wheeloftimetv]

The only thing that can be concluded from all that is Sanderson was unable to increase hardcover sales(taking into account the ebook impact) from his first book and that there was a small decrease in hardcover sales in the subsequent books. Narg out!

[BFG]

Can further discussion of sales records, or general book quality be moved to the appropriate threads

 

Think the original questions been answered

 

Cheers :)

[wheeloftimetv]

You interrupted Narg! :(

 

Anyways what Narg meant to say was the initial use of sale figures to prove Sanderson was a crap writer was flawed but so was the counter.

 

Narg finished now.

[Orderofolde]

Sharpe, if you are going to finish the series, I would recommend refreshing yourself by starting over.  Hopefully you will find it more enjoyable and pick up on a lot of small things that you missed which will make things less confusing and have a better all around go in your reread.  Some bits might grow a little stagnant at times but that depends on you and who your favorite characters are.  I find sometimes glossing over some of the political scenes with the girls can help keep the pace up, especially if on one of my many rereads I've done is following one main character's arc like Mat or Perrin which can be fun.  In the end it is up to you.  While there may be a wealth of fun and excitement ahead, not everyone likes everything so ultimately it is up to you.  Hopefully a second full reread from The Eye of The World will snag you and pull you in.  Maybe years ago you were reading in a busy place or you kept getting interrupted to come and do chores, I don't know but I have found that sometimes when I wasn't able to get into a book and a few years later I was broke and scouring my hundreds of books hoping to find something I had overlooked to tide me over and gave an old book I couldn't get into another chance most of the time I've been pleasantly surprised.  Best wishes to you, and I hope you finish it.  It is worth it!

[BFG]

Moved a reply about series popularity to the AMOL sales record thread

[Kesiera_Sedai]

I am a Sanderson fan...He said that reading TWoT as a teen is the reason he even became a fantasy fan in the first place, later an author of this genre. He himself even said he is no RJ, but it was the honor of his life to be asked to complete the series. That being said I wouldn't even consider his work to be fan fiction...I've read WoT fan-fiction on Tumblr & Wattpad that is better...I even E-mailed someone the other day and told them that their work was better than his, and asked if they had any more...I don't really think Sanderson had a good grasp of some of the finer points, such as the mechanics of the OP, and definitely didn't understand the motivations of some of the characters. Especially Aviendha or Egwene...He made Egwene (who is my favorite character) seem to be an old woman in a teenage body, when RJ portrayed her as being merely precocious, and his Aviendha had no sense of humor at all..Now that I think of it, I think that's what was missing from the books...RJ provided moments of comic relief, whereas his method of storytelling totally lacked humor, and it made everything seem dark and ominous.

[Kesiera_Sedai]

By the way, I'm reading Keri Arthur right now. She's an Australian author. Her books are "urban fantasy," and take place in a future (50-100 yrs from now) where the supernatural is a known factor, and her protagonists all work for a government agency called The Protectorate, an agency that governs supernatural creatures.

[LapisPharaoh]

A Song of Ice and Fire, Malazan Book of the Fallen and The Kingkiller Chronicles

[wheeloftimetv]

The problem with humans these days is they're so lazy they only read thread titles and not the actual post. Narg say read the first post then hang head in shame.

[wotfan4472]

Hehehe Narg :)