Finished LoC! Ended this one really disliking Elayne. She's pissed at Rand that instead of him sitting on the Andor and Cairhein throne that he conquered, he is going to give them to her? Not that she can be bothered to assume that responsibility, of course. She's doing other things. I get it, she's enjoying being Aes Sedai and living life for herself, but Mother Night, Morgase raised her to be a better ruler than that. Nyneave continues to be my favorite character, and I love her as the FMC. You can argue with Egwene or whoever, but Nyneave's POV is the only female POV in EotW. Anyway, that's another tangent. It's so telling when she and Theodrin are talking, and Theodrin asks her what her 'trick' is, and Nyneave is just like, healing people, while Theodrin goes, "I made boys kiss me". I love Nyneave for many reasons, but she's also the only one with power who legitimately is not interested in using it for her own benefit. I love that she's portrayed as a prickly 'B' because it's a good dichotomy to the fact that while the rest of the Aes Sedai are 'nicer', she's the only one who would Heal anyone just because they were injured. There are reasons Rand forever trusts her even when he can't trust any other Aes Sedai. The box...T.T T.T T.T I procrastinated reading this one a lot because I didn't want to read about Rand in the box again. Luckily, it took up less page time than I remembered, but still... I did have a giant question mark, though. After the Salidar Aes Sedai scare Rand to Cairhein, he's there for ten days...doing what? That is plenty of time to meet with the Sea Folk. I remember being so confused as to why they were upset with him, but now I get it. Not only does he ghost them, but he also completely ignores them. It seems like one of those forced plot points that Rand insults the Sea Folk, because I don't see it actually happening like that. I do like that I can voice my possibly unpopular opinions about things in this series. In other fandoms, if you suggest criticism, you are 'bad', unintelligent, or not a true fan. I think part of the appeal of WoT is that it isn't perfect, and we love it anyway.

Rowling fired her first agent, but I haven't heard anything about editors. She wouldn't have had the power to do so anyway because they are/were employees of the publishing house. I will say that there is a give-and-take relationship with an editor. My tarot deck originally had a different name, but the publisher wanted to change it. Initially, they wanted something with the word 'healing' in it, which I strongly opposed. We went back and forth for a while before marketing (not me) decided it would be called The Butterfly Wisdom Tarot. When we were doing edits for the guidebook, they told me there were certain sections that needed to be rewritten, and because I had pushed back so hard on the title, I didn't have much of a choice but to do the rewrites since I would like to publish a follow up title with them and I don't want the team to think I'm a difficult author to work with or anything like that. (Good news, my editor said she did like working with me and hopes she can work on my next project). However, if I were JK Rowling's level...Then I could have just said "nope, it's perfect," and they would have gone to print since they know it would sell a bajillion copies. I know RJ's eventual wife was his at-home editor for a long time, but I can only imagine how sticky that could get after a while. And, of course, the speed pressure/issue of needing to get the books out as quickly as possible...it's not surprising and a shame.

Just started Lord of Chaos. Honestly, I don't want to see Rand in a box, so I squeezed in two books before cracking LoC open. Just read through the Prologue and...60 pages? For a prologue? Pick one POV and call it a Prologue, the rest can have proper chapters or something. And some condensing/cutting/editing. Yes, some details are necessary to create suspense, like Sevanna having the cube, but did we really need Demandred in Shayol Ghul and then a meeting with the other Forsaken with Demandred telling them his orders from Shayol Ghul? Those two scenes could easily have been turned into one. This is actually something I see happen to a lot of writers with long series (**cough Dresden Files**). Their first book gets lots of editing while it's being shopped around, then it gets picked up. Great! Now you don't have the same amount of time to spend on developmental editing, which is fine, overediting is a thing, but then the series becomes POPULAR. Suddenly, you need to pump books out as fast as you can because $$$, so what falls by the wayside? Editing, and you get lots of issues that would have been ironed out if there had been just another developmental round.

Thanks for sharing!

Finished! Why was I thinking that Egwene was the one who figured out how to make ter'angreal, not Elayne? That was a fun surprise lol. I also couldn't remember how Nyneave had captured Moghedien, so that whole scene was me going "ohssmegohfudgeOHDAAAAM". Luckily, my husband was taking a shower, so I didn't have to attempt to explain anything.

Welcome! I am currently in the middle of a reread/first read through (long story), but I could not agree more with WoT never leaving me alone. Glad to meet you and look forward to seeing your reread thoughts.

Maybe a third of the way through FoH and surprised at how I remember everything except Rand in this one lol. The things I did remember I didn't realize were all in this book, though. Like I thought we didn't join the circus until later, but I guess it makes sense because there are loads of things that I know are going to happen, and I only read through book 10 all those years ago. And I am looking forward to circus shenanigans. I remember finding them fun. It's funny how it's like I had some pieces to a thousand-piece puzzle, but no idea that I was missing so many of them. And I am loving this world (and Rand surprisingly). I want to stay here with him and Nyneave forever. It's easy to say that now I guess...

Nice to meet you and glad you found us.

There’s a fine/lone balance between prewriting and writing. I use a good old notebook and oen to keep track of workdbuilding/character development…but I also make sure I get words on the page EVERY DAY even if I have to put **City Name** or whatever other detail I don’t have sorted yet in every now and again. You can spend a life time building a world and making characters, but it won’t mean anything until you get words on the page. No one cares about a brilliant half written thing, but they are interested in an okayish finished work.

Pure spoilers ahead, although without how long the books have been out, uh, no apologies here. Light burn me if I didn't start crying at the final battle of Two Rivers! I think the only thing I remembered out of this book was Nyneave getting the best of Moghedien. Now THAT scene was a joy to reread. Everything else is a mix of the usual fuzzy half-remembered plot points, but not the details (The White Tower schism happening and Siun getting stilled, but not how it was with Min, Laras, AND Gawyn's help that they escaped). How Robert Jordan handled revealing Lanfear's birth name is the perfect example of how to reveal information without it being an info dump. It's also such a nice detail that Lews Therin is reincarnated as a descendant of someone who served Lanfear before she bored into the Dark One's prison. That was definitely a detail my friend and I missed when we were young teens. I think what I'm noticing now is that Lews Therin clearly did care for her, which is an interesting perspective I never considered before. I always had it fixed in my mind that it was more of an obsessive stalker situation, not him stepping away because he genuinely had feelings for her, and she just cared about his power and how it could elevate her/them.

Sailor Moon (any and all versions) FMA Brotherhood Demon Slayer Fushigi Yuugi Trigun (the OG, not the supposed prequel BS series)

I think I am starting to see the problem that happens in the later books…it was in the opening chapter of The Shadow Rising. I didn’t meantion earlier because I didn’t know how to puzzle it out, if that makes sense. The obvious thing is we wind up with too many POVs and it’s like he loses track of whose story this is, but each scene and chapter needs to have conflict (conflict being defined as an obstacle to what the character wants). Robert Jordan gets away with it a bit in the earlier books with worldbuilding stuff, but the opening chapter in this book made me ask “Is this needed?” once or twice. My hypothesis is this will get worse as time goes on and is why certain POVs are a struggle to get through. If not, well, it’s just more evidence that my MA in Writing is worth about the same as frame it sits in.

People hate Nyneave? Let me at those wool brained lummoxes.

Almost two hundred pages into The Shadow Rising, and Rand just tried to save the unnamed little girl's life with Callandor. I have been waiting for this scene! For some reason, I thought it happened at the end of TDR and have been really confused/impatient to get here. I love it for many reasons (including how it makes me tear up). It's a very important reminder that, despite all of their power, people who can use the One Power are still powerless over death, just like the rest of us.

I'm sure there's a discussion for this somewhere, but what about this game: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_wheel_of_time

Just finished TDR! I love, love, LOVE the Aiel. Curious as to why I never RP'd as one...maybe because there's a lot of shade and water tags I can't keep track of? I don't know, but it's definitely something to think about for the future. Was pleasantly surprised to see Perrin and Faile fall in love. I didn't remember their courtship at all. I knew who she was when she showed up, but I guess for some reason I thought she and Berelain showed up at the same time, and it was more of a choice on Perrin's part instead of him being already in love with Faile? I'm happy with these misremeberings, though, and at this point I just need to accept this is not a reread. My brain is stubborn, though, and continues to insist I have read ten of these books before in spite of the evidence showing otherwise.

Halfway through The Dragon Reborn, and this one I remember more of. Although I have to admit I thought Tear and Callandor happened a book or two later, so not only have I forgotten a bunch of stuff, I also jumbled up the order of events. I am surprisingly missing Rand's POV. Mat is fun, and I am down for anything WT related, but Perrin...idk, the wolves have so much fun potential that I feel is being wasted, but already his POV is starting to seem like filler to me. I mean, I get why we are getting his perspective, and I'm not saying it doesn't have valuable plot stuff, but his POV feels more like observation as opposed to direct action. Maybe that's why I forgot the first few chapters of this, but I can remember Mat's POV and Egwene getting the ring ter'angreal and all of that pretty clearly. I didn't remember the Accepted going off to Tear, which it looks like they are about to do (I thought they met up with the Sea Folk and did the Aiel stuff first), so this is going to be a fun ride.

Congratulations!

That's something Robert Jordan did very well...no one was purely good or purely evil (except the Creator and the Dark One), everyone had their good points and their flaws. He made you fall in love with characters in spite of their imperfections.

Just finished The Great Hunt. Holy crap, Egwene and the Seanchan. Once Liandrian showed up in her room at the Tower, I remembered Egwene got captured, but man, my preteen mind protected itself by not remembering ANY of it. That's some dark twisted stuff. What's fascinating is how none of the sul'dam are darkfriends. It is a very telling lesson about evil and how good people are convinced that evil actions are right. Robert Jordan explores this theme in many ways, like the Whitecloaks, but I think the Seanchan are the most poignant example of it. It's a weird feeling reading these books, almost like deja vu, but not. It's hard falling back in love with WoT again, because I know that, at some point, my writer's heart will break, and it will only be duty that carries me onward through the books.

HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS!!!

Marrying an editor certainly helped things. About a third of the way through The Great Hunt and...like I don't remember this book AT. ALL. I mean, I know at the end Mat blows the horn, but everything before that is like a blank slate. So I guess my reading recommendation is to wait over twenty years to give things a shot again, because you will be pleasantly surprised.

I imagine lots of notebooks and computer files.

That’s an incredible amount of dedication! And you’re very welcome.

Think of it as a blessing. You can reread your favorites like it's the first time over and over! What I would give to reread some of Agatha Christie's novels without knowing whodidit.