Actually yes. I do. The later books, after 4 or so, fit in better with the rest of the books. Any magical items from the first two books seem more shoehorned in later than something that would happen organically. So yes, I would go back and tame down the magic and mysticalness in the first 2 or 3 books and make it a consistent story.

fwiw my quick take. Up until the later books they lost the ability to make circles. They also seemed to lose or not train with some powerful weapon weaves that we see later. So sure, it'd make sense they would be around being healers, but it doesn't seem like later where a small circled group of them could fend off a lot. There also were comments that they didn't have the numbers... Also a quick morning take. Aes Sedai evloved in the stories from this female Gandlaf figure into an inverse to the Seanchan. Not inverse being one is good or bad morally, they both are pretty grey or equally bad. But, reading the tower chapters, Aes Sedai are pretty much every bit as restricting and "bad" as the Seanchan. I think as the story goes on this is built up (either on purpose or by accident) so when we get to Tuon (I think it was her) explaining the damane and how they were looked after more like fond pets than what we saw from the other perspective of those who were collared. So looking back I don't think that "The Tower" must mean "good", they are as bad as everyone else. Anyway to me the whole point of these books, again be it happenstance or on purpose, is what happens when people stop working together. The Aes Sedai focused on internal bickering and power moves, and it almost cost them the tower. They come together later, and they (in my current book position) are stronger than ever and in a good spot.

Oh I don't know. He was busy trying to give us a complete world, and exploring that world within the series. It may get long, but we eventually learn about every people and faction, and most of their motivations. Doing it this way meant that there wasn't as much of a need for any companion books or long appendices. We get to read about all of it in time with the characters, and there is something to that. But, if we want to go and label anything inferior. I think the first few books are more out of place and should be updated, and I'd mostly leave the middle and later ones alone. But that's just me.

Just speaking for me, I'm not "dissatisfied", it is what it is and it's been a pretty neat and wonderful time going through the audio books. What I am though is realizing that the world isn't as tight as it could be, and seems to change a lot from a really fantasy mystical type place to more of a regular, maybe 1700's, type world with a magic system and items. So it'd be nice to go back and make it a little more consistent and polished. It's still a great series, and I'd still recommend it.

Just to add to the discussion. I don't mind them that much, and generally I default to taking the position that its the way RJ wanted to tell or evolve his story. That said, I think Egwene and Nynaeve would work better in a short story, like the 3 books planned, than they do in what this all turned into. I get the "old blood" but do we really need 5 main characters from the Two Rivers area? It just seems much, and I'd have rather them fell into more of a Harry Potter style of friendship or band with them all meeting at the White Tower. Thankfully RJ seemed to drop some plans with the other girls from there that came way later, they were seeming to be being propped up for something. I can live with what seems to be the later superpowers of them rediscovering things and stuff. I mean Rand is doing what he is, so it makes sense there are others in this time that can achieve great things.

I guess nothing really specific, just some thoughts as I'm turning the corner into the Sanderson books. I like the Perrin arc in the early books, and the Wolf Dream and stuff is fun. We're in this magical world, dreaming is different, and there are different ways to access those dreams. It's also a fun take on wolves. However, after the first few books I'm not sure how much it adds, and the whole character of Perrin could be re-written to remove the wolves and I don't think much would be lost. I never really liked the Padan Fain story arc and never thought he really added anything. I have to wonder if he was kind of an in-between before the idea of the forsaken really took off, or what. Mat can have the cursed knife, and then it can stay in the white tower - or later turned into a different type of a magical weapon when the Aes Sedai go visit that room and notice it. In hindsight, we don't need the Green Man or a mythical place that appears when you need it most. I can't remember much else being magical like that later in the books. It is fun, and it fits in with the world of the first few books but we really don't need it. That can be written as some town or magical holdout in the Blight, kind of the inverse of Shadar Logoth. Not sure we need as much about the Whitecloaks as we get. No need for those waystones or whatever was in the first book. It was never revisited as far as I can remember. I'd do the ways a waygates a little differently. I don't need two types of traveling, plus the ways, plus the waystones... The dark ones seals could be more or less built in around his prison rather than these quest items that are all over the place. I wouldn't have Loial be a main character, or the Ogier be included as much. They can still be in the world, the Steadings can still be a thing, but more like the Circus rather than main characters. In a way I'd have the story more focused on Rand meeting all these different legends and prophecies about the Dragon Reborn. Him, Mat, and Perrin along with an one or two Aes Sedai can have the adventures that the girls did. Then lastly on my mind or now, and maybe I glossed over this in the audio books. I get why Caemlyn and Andor are important, but we spend all this time on what seems like a side story. I'd treat them more or less like the other city states, or maybe have them associated with a prophecy that Rand can fulfill (I can't remember if there was one, but it wasn't a spinning sword that's not a sword type thing). Whatever the crystal jewelry piece that held one of the forsakens souls or whatever it was. That seemed odd when reading it, also seems out of place, and I'd get rid of it or maybe include it earlier and more. Then I forgot. We have all kinds of different Dark One beasts and creatures, maybe we don't need as many. RJ was a discovery writer, and seemed to wander off the main plot a lot. That's fine, it has it's moments, and it's entertaining. But, the first few books are different than his middle books, are different than 7-9 and then Sanderson picks things back up as best he can. So the above is to get more contentunity and consistency throughout the series. [edit] since I forgot there was a TV show... For TV I'd change the above and then limit the main characters and maybe even limit their scope. I wouldn't try to do to much at once, that works in a book, but not on the screen. I'd also maybe just do something like a Northern Exposure that focuses on the Two Rivers area and run with that for a while.

I guess I can't edit my previous comment, so I'll put this here. I just started The Gathering Storm, and being newer to books (audio) it's my first real transition into both Brandon Sanderson and now a shared authorship over a series or property. Anyway, Brandon does a great job when he is on the ball and good, but yeah, some of it in chapter 15 and even 16 (I'm a little past that now) in my opinion isn't all that great. When he is on it doesn't seem that different from RJ, so I'll overlook the bad parts. Point being is that when I re-read this (well audio book) I'll pay more attention to the slog and RJ's attention to detail within it. Because the books do change a little later when Brandon takes over.

So I'm past the slog in audio books, and I think I can put a finger on why those previous books were a little long. To me there was no sense of time. I thought before because there wasn't a sense of urgency, but it's time. Book 10 talks about the big event from 9, and aligns everything on that time frame. Book 11 carries that on and we see events somewhat immediately after with those characters involved. Plus now we regained the push to the last battle which is starting to loom out on the horizon. I can mentally keep track of where this is going and how everyone fits in. That was missing from books 5 to 6 to 9 or so. Imo

I've been listening to some of the lectures and classes Brandon Sanderson has up. One of the comments that stuck with me on characters was that protagonists aren't always heros. The books, for better or worse, pretty much follow Rand, Perrin, and Mat around. The focus around them and who they interact with is through their perspective and because they ran into whomever. The story could have just as well treated Rand like Logain and focus on the point of view from the Seanchan. Then we'd pick up on Rand and friends as they interact with the Seanchan and then we'd see the Aes Sedai from a different point of view and different opinion. Point being, it's all about perspective on who we may frame as "good" or "well intentioned", because as I said before, none of them are really all that great. For instance the way Aes Sedai treat some of the tower sisters isn't all that far removed from Seanchan and their Damane. I'm not even sure we're meant to like Rand at times... In a way, to expand on my working together comment, it's also the Cowboy BeBop thing of "carry that weight" only in "death is light as a feather, duty heavier than a mountain" (or whatever if that isn't exactly it). On top of that, as we've read with Ta'veren, that they are drawn together by the pattern. In a way we're not even really reading a heros journey with any of them, they are just moving and living towards what the pattern predestined for them and fulfill however the pattern has things turn out, or at least it seems that way sometimes. IMO and an audio book person so apologies if I get name spellings wrong.

I'm going to have a really boring take on this. Perrin has Faile, and it's presented as a pretty strong relationship. Matt has Tuon, which isn't a typical courting or marriage, but it's pretty entertaining to read (for me) and there seems to be a pull there. After all of that, Rand, for the story, needed something more than Min and something more than a strong normal relationship. Earlier RJ expanded the warder bonding to include Elayne & Birgitte, and then did this sister bonding with Aviendha. I think from there he thought the idea of one of them getting married would be interesting to explore, and at that point why not both of them marry the same person and then that person should be Rand. It makes some interesting setups when the marriage happens, and some of the comments from Birgitte were pretty funny. So I think it's all setup to explore the warder bonding, sister bonding, and then to elevate Rands relationship beyond what Perrin and Matt have going for themselves. At least where I'm at a little over or around 3/4 of the way into the books. As with most things I don't think there is any "there" "there" beyond it just being a means to explore the world and magic RJ created.

IMO fwiw... The books, to me, are about men and women working together - which is also expanded to people working and living together - to accomplish great things. The flashbacks we see of the 2nd age are of that, people working together for the benefit of each other. The fall of that age happens when no one trusts each other and does their own thing. This is even at a micro level in Emonds Field. There is a mens group, and a womens circle, both think they are running the town. The Aes Sedai aren't meant to be likeable, in fact no group really is meant to be all that likable. They think they alone know what's best for the world, and they are trying to do that themselves. Nynaeve, Egwane & Elayne included with that. They, now as women channelers, feel that they know what's best and are out to do that. Eventually that does come around, I guess, in the last few books that I haven't got to yet. But, in the meantime, no one trusts each other, everyone thinks they are right, and at parts of the book the challenge is to work together to accomplish something.

So just my thoughts, and maybe taking a different look at this than others. TLDR I think for the grander story RJ eventually got to there were too many main characters and he could have not had a few. It seems like the first few books were a LOTR type adventure set in that kind of magical world where there are strange magical things. We see this in the first few books, places are just there, or things happen, because of magic. For the most part it works well, and for the most part we follow along as the group is split to explore this world more broadly than they could together, and then reunited. I won't get into all of them, but there are a ton of parallels to LOTR, even someone writing a book... Then the 3 of them in the battle at the end of book 2, and it's pretty obvious why they had 3 to start. Then we get into more of a soap opera and grander story that explores what seems to be a more toned down world. We don't really see any more of these Green Man type places or beings, the portal stones take a back seat, the ways take a back seat, among other things. By this time he had a cast of many, and it would have been (I'm guessing) hard to write some out or start over. So we get to see each character go out and explore the world on their own, and the main story is there to kind of move things along but it's really about world building and sight seeing. I also think that along with this we don't see a main religion or belief system that's identified. Other than the wheel spins, and the wheel pulls in people, etc. So in a way it's all predetermined, or it all will be in another wheel spin or another spinning (or whatever the portals explored). I kind of get the reluctant hero, but to me that all ended after book 2 and then we get into world exploring mode. So the characters kind of just do things, and the most we get in some of the later books 7-9 or so is "because they are Ta'veren" and that's that. So getting back to badly written. I just think they are what they are and that RJ may not have had this grand plan getting into the books after 1 and 2. So they kind of go through things and evolve, some come and go, and some of those coming and goings are better than others. One of my complaints, is that what "should" have happened is the books should have been re-tooled and re-written after either the ending or some of the later books. Then the early ones could have made a lot more sense in the later stories, and I think the characters earlier on could have fit in with more where they were going. IMO and I'm just going through the audio books for fun, and they have been fun so far.