Wheel of Time Book 11 came out...

[Mutton]

And does any one really care?

I was browsing the book store and almost forgotten at the end of a shelf was a very small stack of book eleven. Now when I started this series almost a decade ago I couldn't wait for the next. When I finished book nine I had some shred of hope that the series would regain some of it's former glory. Book ten not only destroyed that hope but it left me with years worth of rubbery apathy waiting for book eleven.

So I bought it. Mabey I'll sit down and read it sometime next month.

[Strikesfirmly]

Yeah, his publishers are really selling Jordan's name and not a lot else. I made it to book 8 and said the hell with it. Considering by then there was already two thousand+ page books with most of the rest at least 600 or more like 7-800 pages...well...detail is nice but you can take it too far. No one wants to buy a paperback for at least $8 that covers maybe a month or so worldtime.

He had some neat ideas, but when you boil it down is it really any different than LotR?

The bad guys, Lanfear etc. = Ringwraiths. They went away then came back.
Trolloc = Orcs, trolls.
Seanchan = Numenor.
etc etc.

The Wheel of Time series started kind of a bad trend IMO. Most authors used to have to wrap up even a detailed world and conflict in less than four books, preferably three, and only if you were a known author. I think George Martin's went six books but could have done it in four. I stopped after book 3 of those because it wasn't going anywhere and the whole undead thing sucked.

Nowadays it seems OK for even unknown names to do a trilogy that tends to lead to a follow on trilogy. Some have been good, but the majority.. :?

[Nekojin]

I recall reading an interview several years back - maybe a decade ago? - where Robert Jordan stated plainly that he'd keep writing The Wheel of Time (and, perforce, drawing out the main plot without any real resolution) as long as the books were still drawing a good readership. That, more than anything else, is what made me decide to never read the series.

I haven't been proven wrong in that decision yet...

With regard to long series, there's a distinction that needs to be made. There are some authors and series, like Lois McMaster Bujold and her Vorkosigan saga, where each book is a complete, whole separate story unto itself. I have no problem with these - I love a good story, and I want to see a real climax and resolution for the plot that is put forth within the book. I don't mind plot elements from one book that end up showing up in the next - that's actually a good point, as it shows that the characters are living in a real, organic universe. But having a novel series where the books trail off, expecting you to read the next... Pfeh. Trilogies are as far as I'm willing to take that, and even they should have resolution of major plot elements within each book.

[Mordican]

Its like Terry BRooks and the Shanara series. At leas he broke it down into periods with 3-4 books each. They had tie ins tot he past but were mostly stand alone. I prefer the 3 book series personally. Currently I am reading the Rhapsody series byElizabeth Hayden. Very good writer IMO. She is a musican (hence the name and feel of the books) and she has a very emotional writing style. Another good trilogy that I just read was the Black Magician Saga by Trudi Canavan. All three books cover a different portion of a girl's life from street orphan to a black magcian, but not the kind your used too. And my last recommendation is a nice little 2 series book called Changer of Days. Alma Alexander is the writer here. Again a very emotion driven writing style.

For some reason I prefer women fantasy writers these days. They tend to write with more emotion and you can feel for the characters much more IMO. The men are better at the action writting IMO O well. Enjoy those books have kept me happy these past several months

[Whytewulf]

I stopped reading Jordan after Book 4... I think.. I own 5, but it just sits there. I also enjoy the trilogy and don't mind continuation of series, where as someone mentioned there is resolution. Examples include Salvatore and the Icewind Dale Trilogy.. It had resolution, but had many books after (and before it). But then again.. Drizzt is getitng a bit old and I stopped reading it after I think the 3rd trilogy. One of the best non-trilogies was Eddings Belgariad and then Mallorean. Both were 5 books, so in all I guess you can say it was a 10 book series, but I never knew, and to this day was sad when I was done reading them, as I wanted more.

[Iiliani Seadream]

The Wheel of Time series, at it's start was well written and immersive. Then Robert Jordan started to write for the money, rather than the story, and they degenerated into 800+ pages of a book where nothing happens. Which is quite a talent in itself.
I stopped reading around Winter's Heart so I think I gave him a fair chance to pick up his game, which he did not do. Alas, fairwell Robert Jordan from my list of favourite authors.

I see Terry Goodkind starting to slide down the same path, books such as Soul of the Fire and The Pillars of Creation were completely unnecessary. I used to buy them as soon as they were released but I waited for Naked Empire in paperback and haven't bought Chainfire yet.

The only person I think is still remaining true to stories is Terry Pratchett and the Discworld series, 30 odd so far I think, and every single one a gem.

[Raxtull]

The big difference between Robert Jordan / Terry Goodkind and Terry Pratchett is that Pratchett's books are each their own story (except the first two) and just share a common setting, whereas Jordan and Goodkind are making one story that spans many books. Robert Jordan has said that book 12 will be the last book of Wheel of Time's story even if he has to make it 1500 pages. He'll likely put out more side stories like "New Spring" or start another series in a different era after he's done with it, I would guess.

I still enjoy the series, so I will still read it.

[junior]

I got a little annoyed with the previous Wheel of Time book when I realized that the entire book only covered a period of three days.

:roll:

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at all interested in the plotlines of some of the characters (mainly Mat), but I'm not interested enough to consider blowing the money on a copy of the new book.

I've heard people frequently repeat the "I'll extend the series as long as people keep buying" comment, but I've never seen it myself. What I have seen, though, is a comment from several years back where he said that he thought that he could wrap the series up in just a few more books. So I have no idea how long he intends to make things continue, although he still seems to be a bit away from the end at the moment.

[Kallysti]

I'd been told in the past that there were going to be 13. I don't know why, I didn't get past the first 3 and that was a long time ago. But I was told the 13 was significant somehow? *shrug* Or that's what they'd read it was going to be somewhere maybe.

edit: just asked my b/f. He says it's been a pivotal number in the series. That and he read it on Robert Jordan's website (that there had been a plan for 13 books)

[Strikesfirmly]

With regard to long series, there's a distinction that needs to be made. There are some authors and series, like Lois McMaster Bujold and her Vorkosigan saga, where each book is a complete, whole separate story unto itself. I have no problem with these - I love a good story, and I want to see a real climax and resolution for the plot that is put forth within the book. I don't mind plot elements from one book that end up showing up in the next - that's actually a good point, as it shows that the characters are living in a real, organic universe. Trilogies are as far as I'm willing to take that, and even they should have resolution of major plot elements within each book.

Yes, very good point and very good example. Bujold and Pratchett (although I've only read his Discworld stuff) amongst a few others very rarely leave any loose ends. Kind of like each book is another complete chapter in either the character's or world's lives. This is how I wish I could write: gripping one novel stories exploring your setting indifferent ways and at various times.

The trilogy thing can get very weird. Nothing worse than starting book 3 with entirely new threads that have to be resolved in that book, which seriously cuts out room for the threads started in book 1. Given how many books the publishers must edit you have to wonder why they would let that kind of thing stand without a major re-write.

With Jordan almost every book has some kind of new thread(s) starting, and almost no resolution of previous plot lines. It is almost like he starts each book telling whatever his main story is another way but so far he hasn't bothered to resolve much anything. We've got 11 books ~starting~ the story..and 1 or 2 to finish it.

[Wachuchuu]

I enjoy Robert Jordan's books immensely, though the last two books seem as if a single book was ripped in half then padded thoroughly.
I think that Terry Goodkind needs to step down of the soap box, out of the pulpit so that the books can return to the beautiful books the first books in the series are.
I learned so much from reading terry Goodkind that I changed my fundamental look not only in life but in every action I take.
It was as if I had not been present my entire life to listen to those who tried helping me, reading “Wizards first Rule” slapped me in the face so physically that I read it three times in a row.

One other series that I felt HAD such PROMISE was Runelords by David A Farland; he actually HAD numerous books worth of info to go on.
I really think he could have taken to the extent of Jordan's Series, I expected it from the way the first three books were presented.
Then the fourth book came out, it was as if a car set on Two Hundred miles an hour speed through the absolutely Libraries of info to congeal foully into this book.

I would like to state here what I feel about the three authors here,
AHEM….

“Tolkien could right a book describing a COLOR”
“Jordan could chapter describing how a leaf would fall”
“Goodkind would write the same chapter describing the intricacies of a thought, then repeats the same thing five times more that same book”

[john_holmes]

Well, I just finished reading book 11. Quite a bit of good stuff. Mostly followed Mat with like 2 Rand chapters only. Not alot of fluff for a change either, which definetely surprised me after the crapfest that was books 8 and 9. I would give it a read if you have followed the story up to around book 7. You can pretty much skip 8-10 and only miss one good part (when he cleanses saidin), while catching everything up in book 11.

New spring sucks, I'm reading it now because I'm enamored of the world, not RJ's crappy writing tactics.

However, I just read the 2nd book in Salvatore's Sellswords series (a spin-off of drizzt books). It owned the entire WoT series hands down.

[Follun]

I guess I am the odd one out here, because I have loved almost all of the Wheel of Time books. Maybe it's our ADD-stricken culture, but a good book should not be based on how much "action-packed adventure" it contains. Sure, Books 8-10 really didn't much many of the major encounters that the first ones did, but that isn't the point. The political machinations, character advancement, and plot development in the later books far exceed that of the earlier ones. I know many people would rather see Rand go to Shayol Ghul and poke the Dark One to death, but that isn't how it works. There are so many other plots and storylines to this book other than Good vs Evil that a lot of people miss just because they don't take the time to sit down and understand the depth of emotion and feeling behind each character. While many people agree that Book 10 was the worst book in the series (I am one of those people), it was also a necessary book to prepare the storyline for all that happened in Book 11 and will happen in Book 12. If you stopped reading at Book 7 or 8, definately start reading again, because I put Book 11 in my top 5 WoT books, and I'm sure Book 12 will be even better.

[Trumble]

Im in the same boat as the OP, I read the 1st 3 in elementary school and realy enjoyed them, especialy the first one. I don't think I ever made it threw book 4, but I couldn't tell you why I stopped, it was 12 years ago.

It was the first book that ever opened up my imagination to the abstract though, and for that I thank them.

[Trumble]

Im in the same boat as the OP, I read the 1st 3 in elementary school and realy enjoyed them, especialy the first one. I don't think I ever made it through book 4, but I couldn't tell you why I stopped, it was 12 years ago.

It was the first book that ever opened up my imagination to the abstract though, and for that I thank them.

[Zarithar]

I gave up on the series after book 6. The story just lost its flow and became too bogged down in minute details. Do we really need a page and a half describing a tapestry hanging in some castle? How many contemplations do we need about Nynaeve and her hemlines/necklines? He needs to wrap the series up.

[Cobble]

Did anyone actually read the lastest? Is there any reason to? Without saying what can someone answer if in fact anything interesting happens or is it the same multi-hundred page run-on plot.

[Follun]

I really enjoyed the latest book, as Jordan has begun to return to his old style and advances the plot more than he has in the last few books before this one. I would say definately read it, a lot of interesting stuff happens and there are definately some pretty cool battle/fight scenes for all three main characters. Many of the things you have been waiting to happen in the last few books finally happen, and many things that you never expected to happen also occur, still leaving you with the "what's gonna happen next" type of feeling that you receive when you finish the first several books.

[Tuluz]

The thing that drove me nuts in the last few books of Jordan's were the grammar mistakes. Granted I am no editor, and not a perfect writer in any way but I also don't sell what I write. It should have been gone through better and it did drag out.

As far as Martin's series goes it is only 4 books long and I am only slightly dissapointed in the 4th. It could have been longer and wrapped up a bit more. I hope the next book wraps everything up and I can walk away satisfied.

[Lepre41]

An entire book that covers only 3 days worth of happenings? Wow... he should just have an all out battle royale, and kill off like 90% of his characters. Then things could actually start happening again.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book - I couldn't get enough of it. So I read the second and third, enjoyed them as well. Around the 4th book I sort of started getting bored... and quit halfway through the 5th. I hear something really, really cool happens to Mat at the end of the 5th one (he always had a lot more interesting personality than Rand, to me at least) but I haven't bothered starting them up again.

If he actually does finish the series after the 12th or 13th book, then I'll pick the series up again. But if he keeps on trying to stretch it out, I don't think I'll ever read it.

[Pendraeg]

I started reading this series around 95 i think... thereabouts at least, and i got hold of the 4 first books by a fluke. So i read them all- and alo and behold; they where actually very good books, so I was really looking forward to the follow ups.. well Lets just say i stopped after 7.. I do have number 8 and 9, i read 8 in "the boring easter holiday of 2004 incident" and i think i started reading nine at least 3 times and never got around to it.

My single biggest problem with the series is the total lack of advancement at times. And i also feel that he elaborates alot- almost to the point where entire chapters could have been reduced to a couple of paragraphs. This makes it hard for me to motivate myself... not to mention: Mat is in the middle of some high intensity action *chapter ends, cliffhanger*... *Boom* youre in the next chapter... wich isn't about matt, but nynaeve obsessing about her dresscode and dress length for 17 pages.The contrast is to large. and several of the things he actually writes about is not interesting at all. Ah well, he lost me, I will not be coming back. Enough good reads Elsewhere.

[Zarithar]

nynaeve obsessing about her dresscode and dress length for 17 pages.

This is a nutshell is my main problem with what Wheel of Time has become. It didn't start out that way... and the first few books were very good.

[Bobthepenguin]

I'm actually still enjoying the books. Really, I am. I bought the new one and some jerk stole it and my backpack out of my car. Anyway. Yeah, Nynaeve is obsessed with her dresses, but interesting stuff is happening with Rand and Perrin. And Mat's just crazy. Anywho. I like it.

[Clareon Wolfeyes]

I loved the WOT series up to book 7, and have struggled with the next few books, but as I have already given myself to the series I intend to finish it if it kills me...and if it goes on too much longer I might die of old age before it does finish.