[RgAscendant]

Picked the first book up, The Eye of the World, a couple of days ago, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far, even though I'm only up to chapter 16. It's a really interesting book so far. Anyone else read it/have any thoughts on it?

[Chris]

Books 1-5: Badass
Books 6-10: Plot, plot, plot. You'll spend a lot of time thinking "When the hell is something going to happen?"
Book 11: Badass

I love the series, having read it twice. The second time around you're really able to absorb all the plot, but people often accuse Jordan of milking his cash cow. The thing is, the guy will probably die before he actually finishes the series, and the fact that he released a prequel before releasing Book 11 really pissed off a lot of his fans.

It's a fantastic series, but keep in mind that all the awesome combat in the first 5 books goes away for just about 5 more books, in lieu of politics and 1,324,234 different plots going in all directions.

[RgAscendant]

Yeah, I heard the same kind of stuff on a book forum. There was also some complaints that after the first 3 books he spends far too much time describing objects and the like. I don't think this would bother me too much though. I'm really looking forward to reading all of this series!

[Drew]

I hope he finishes it. In the meantime, I refuse to pick the series up until it's done, because I don't want to wade through the middle five books again until I know they go somewhere.

The Wheel of Time rules, though - it's one of the most involved and engrossing fantasy worlds I've ever read.

[The Dark Wolf]

Originally Posted by Chris

Books 1-5: Badass
Books 6-10: Plot, plot, plot. You'll spend a lot of time thinking "When the hell is something going to happen?"
Book 11: Badass

I love the series, having read it twice. The second time around you're really able to absorb all the plot, but people often accuse Jordan of milking his cash cow. The thing is, the guy will probably die before he actually finishes the series, and the fact that he released a prequel before releasing Book 11 really pissed off a lot of his fans.

It's a fantastic series, but keep in mind that all the awesome combat in the first 5 books goes away for just about 5 more books, in lieu of politics and 1,324,234 different plots going in all directions.

x 1,000,000. Chris summed it up exactly.


Great series, though.

[sakeido]

I couldn't stand it. I read all the way up to book 6, and realized that the story had suddenly bogged right down and there is no way something that is taking so long to complete will ever reach a conclusion worthy of the time I put in to read the books leading up to it. Then I read the chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever instead, an old school series from the late 1970s early 1980s that kicked way, way more ass with a far more interesting main character and lots of complex allegories and whatnot in the rest of the story.

[RgAscendant]

I know this thread's a bit old now, but I'd like a couple of answers.

Is Lews Therin Telamon the name of the Dragon in the very first Cycle, or in the Cycle previous to the current one? It's been bugging me for a while now, and I want to know.

Also, is there an Age Of Legends in every cycle? I only ask this because it ends with the Age of Madness, and if this occurs in every cycle, then Shai'tan must have tainted saidin thousands of times, but I thought he was imprisoned at the moment of Creation, meaning it must be a pretty shit prison. I also don't understand how a cycle ends, as if Shai'tan is defeated at the end of one, then he will be destroyed and won't be in the next one, but if he defeats the Dragon Reborn at the end of one, then he says he will be ruler until the end of time. So how the fuck can all the cycles in the Wheel end with Tarmon Gai'don? Or don't they? Is the story we are reading taking place in the very last cycle? This also can't be true, as Rand is told that he has fought thousands of times before, and will fight thousands of times again. So what the fuck? Am I missing something totally obvious here, or does something not make sense? Does every Last Battle end in a draw or a truce or something? And at the end of a cycle, is everything destroyed and rebuilt exactly the same at the beginning of the next (e.g. angreal, sa'angreal, ter'angreal, the Stone of Tear, Tar Valon, the steddings, etc.)? Also, does the Pattern weave the exact same story through every cycle, albeit with people named differently, or do taveren affect it too much to be the same everytime? Is this why Moiraine keeps moaning that Rand can't die, or they'll lose the battle? Have other Reborn Dragons been defeated before?

And are the heroes of old (Artur Hawkwing etc.) in every cycle, but under different names? And are Seanchan really Artur Hawkwing's armies?

Also, does Perrin start kicking ass any time soon (I'm still only on the fourth book, close to the beggining) and does Mat stop whining and thinking "If he hasn't already gone mad" every time he thinks about Rand?

And why does Faile come across as such a self-absorbed ignorant bitch?

So many more questions I can't think of right now. What a fucking fantastic series.

[Vegetta]

I got about half way through the first book. Did not like it at all - and honestly don't see what all the hubub over it is from.

I generally find most fantasy novels to be derivative and unoriginal but there are a few that make up for this and keep the genre fresh...

Bob mentions "Milking the Cash Cow" this is probably my biggest beef with fantasy authors today.

Once someone writes a half interesting book you can rest assured there will be eleventy million sequels in the works. I noticed this trend first started with Anne McCaffrey/ Pern Novels, Tho I suppose if you go back far enough the Cthulu stuff and even the Burroughs stuff (Tarzan especially) would fall in the same trap.

[Volsung]

I love it so far. I'm half way done w/ the second book (The Great Hunt). As far as Jordan 'cashing in', I'm sure there is a method to his madness. One he finishes (which I'm positive he'll live long enough to do so), it'll all be worth it.

RgAscendant, Chris could probly help ya out with your questions. Or someone else who's up to book 9 million (and there should be a good portion of em' on here). I'd like to help, but I don't want to read half of your questions in case I spoil something for myself.

[Krunch]

I read the series twice up to book 9. It used to be one of my favorite stories. Going through 9 twice and after 10, I lost a great deal of interest in it. I felt a lot of the magic of the story is just gone in the later ones. The best books are 4-6. That's where the series really shines. 7 and 8 were probably the worst 2 books. 9 was really good, but 10 I felt was terrible. In fact 10 was so dissatisfying to me that I never made it past the 80 page prologue in book 11.

There's a lot of really good things about the story, but post book 6 the separate story threads for each character really started to get out of hand, and his thick, wordy description (which was one thing I liked about the series) stopped being awesome and thorough and started being overly repetitive. He started using the same words, terms, and phrases to describe things every time, so the 50th time you read the same description of a particular Aes Sedai's behavior when she is annoyed was just tiresome.

It's been a while but I'm going to try to answer a couple of your questions.

Originally Posted by RgAscendant

I know this thread's a bit old now, but I'd like a couple of answers.

Is Lews Therin Telamon the name of the Dragon in the very first Cycle, or in the Cycle previous to the current one? It's been bugging me for a while now, and I want to know.

Also, is there an Age Of Legends in every cycle? I only ask this because it ends with the Age of Madness, and if this occurs in every cycle, then Shai'tan must have tainted saidin thousands of times, but I thought he was imprisoned at the moment of Creation, meaning it must be a pretty shit prison. I also don't understand how a cycle ends, as if Shai'tan is defeated at the end of one, then he will be destroyed and won't be in the next one, but if he defeats the Dragon Reborn at the end of one, then he says he will be ruler until the end of time. So how the fuck can all the cycles in the Wheel end with Tarmon Gai'don? Or don't they? Is the story we are reading taking place in the very last cycle? This also can't be true, as Rand is told that he has fought thousands of times before, and will fight thousands of times again. So what the fuck? Am I missing something totally obvious here, or does something not make sense? Does every Last Battle end in a draw or a truce or something? And at the end of a cycle, is everything destroyed and rebuilt exactly the same at the beginning of the next (e.g. angreal, sa'angreal, ter'angreal, the Stone of Tear, Tar Valon, the steddings, etc.)? Also, does the Pattern weave the exact same story through every cycle, albeit with people named differently, or do taveren affect it too much to be the same everytime? Is this why Moiraine keeps moaning that Rand can't die, or they'll lose the battle? Have other Reborn Dragons been defeated before?

And are the heroes of old (Artur Hawkwing etc.) in every cycle, but under different names? And are Seanchan really Artur Hawkwing's armies?

Also, does Perrin start kicking ass any time soon (I'm still only on the fourth book, close to the beggining) and does Mat stop whining and thinking "If he hasn't already gone mad" every time he thinks about Rand?

And why does Faile come across as such a self-absorbed ignorant bitch?

So many more questions I can't think of right now. What a fucking fantastic series.

Probably some spoilers here...so here's some space.

All of this is completely debatable and represents my opinion based on what I read and what I've seen since. Lews Therin was the name of the previous version of the Dragon's soul from the cycle before the current one. As far as I can tell every cycle plays out differently. The basic plot is the same, but the paths to get there are unique. Is there an Age of Legends in every cycle? No, because things play out differently. The last age of the previous cycle was the Age of Legends, in which people in the world had a higher technology level, a more fundamental understanding of magic, and a higher standard of living. When the world was broken at the end of that cycle, they entered into something of a dark age, where civilization regressed considerably. The current cycle is nearing it's close in the story, but civilization has not yet progressed to the point of the Age of Legends, which is why it is clear that each cycle plays out in a unique way. The souls of all of the important players return over and over with new names, most of them return multiple times per cycle. The Dragon only shows up once, at the end. On the Dark one, you're thinking too literally. The Dark One is actually outside the pattern (reality itself). His prison is a place outside of reality. The physical location in the world that they say he is imprisoned is just a place where reality is not completely formed, they describe it as feeling "thin." Since they're always using a woven garment as an analogy, you could imagine it as a seam in the universe or something. He's not going to break through and rule the world as an evil god. If he manages to break into the pattern, he's going to destroy the pattern and unmake reality, so that everything that has ever been ceases to be and the record of all time, all the repetitious souls will be unmade. Yes the heroes of old are in every cycle, often showing up more than once. The Seanchan are the direct result of Hawkwing's son if I remember correctly. In a way, they are indeed Hawkwing's armies. By book 7 and 8, Perrin and Mat do indeed begin kicking more ass and taking more names, so look forward to it.

Hope that helped. Tried not to give any real spoilers. Keep in mind, a lot of that is theory not fact.