Well of course my experience is colored by my family situation.  That is exactly my point!  I see the books in a new light today...one that I did not in a different situation.

Yes, I think that the severing of connections leads to the withdrawal from the world that we see in the books.  I think Joran presents the Aes Sedai to us the way he does not in admiration but as an example of what happens when things lose balance.  The Aes Sedai are not effective.  They do not lead.  They are feared, but not admired or respected by most.  In the age of legends they lead the world in peace.  How far they have gone from that....and I think it is because they spend more time worrying about internal politics and status than they do about making the world better.  They look in...not out...and I think the loss of their connections to the world are a big factor in that way of thinking.

They have sacrificed...sure...but should we admire them for it?  And, what are we to take from the fact that multiple societies exist where they actively hide channelers from the Aes Sedai?  The Kin, the Windfinders, the Aiel Wise Women...and I've got to think there are others that just don't come up in the books.  How hard do you have to fail that entire nation states refuse to admit they have people who could join your magic club as a birth right?

Well, I'm way off topic.  Perspective.  I missed all of the above as a 14 year old boy.  At 43, I do see the books differently and I'm very surprised you do not.  I love the books no less and I'd say I respect the skill and extreme effort of creation even more.  But, it is a different story today.  I'm very much looking forward to this most recent trip through.

Yes, and the scenes with Min are much more hilarious, and the things she sees have so much more meaning.  And Thom....wow, I empathize so much more with him.  It's so clear to me now that he's an old guy full of regret and trying to make amends for his failure to support his family.  I guess from 15-30 when I was reading these books every year or so as new books came out I just thought of him differently, but now his reason for standing up for the guys makes so much more sense.

I've started listening to Eye of the World through Audible recently and am sharing it with my sons.  Its just been such a weird experience to re-experience this story at this point in my life.  I read the book in the early 90s while in high school.  Over the years as new books came out I read them all again and then the new one....much like many of you.  But, as life demanded more of me I read less often.  When Sanderson finished the series I couldn't keep up.  I finished the series in late 2013 while my second son slept in my lap and I cried.

I identify more with Tam than I ever did and understand so much more of his perspective.  Lan and Moiraine and Nynaeve in these early scenes just seem to represent me more this time through.  The first time I felt like one of the boys along exploring the world and wondering why everyone kept telling me to watch out and be scared.  Such is life I guess.

How has the series changed for you over the years?  What didn't make sense that now does?

To me the Aes Sedai look weirder than ever at this age.  They look unhealthy.  They abandon normal connections to the world and hide away to scheme with each other. I guess I didn't understand how much they'd left behind before I was a parent and had a wife sharing her view with me so much.  Their sacrifice seems to lessen them rather than enable them.  I would have never thought that at 20 though.  I guess they feel like some weird stereotype 80s movie career woman...a bit lacking in depth.  Wow, probably not a popular opinion.  I just wish they maintained connections to their families....sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers...so weird that they just become so apart from their past.

I guess, I'm posting because I love this story and world so much.  And, I just want to know if others who share that love have had this experience of changing the way the story is felt as life has been lived.  I love it no less now...I just feel it in a different way.