Author Topic: Sanderon's WOT without reading the series?  (Read 4084 times)

Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: Sanderon's WOT without reading the series?
« Reply #15 on: July 06, 2009, 03:55:42 AM »
Book 10 got a raw deal from Amazon reviews. That was the mass frustration of people who had waited years to read it. But if you read it right after you read book 9, and then go straight to book 11, you'll have a much higher opinion of book 10 than that.

I also recommend the audiobooks. They're a good way to spend your commute if you've got one of any length.
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Publius

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Re: Sanderon's WOT without reading the series?
« Reply #16 on: July 06, 2009, 04:07:14 PM »
Was afraid of that.  But considering book 10 got 1500 1 stars out of 2400 reviews, and he is a known padder, it just doesn't make sense for me to waste my time reading 1000s of pages of description just to enjoy more sanderson books.

Oh well. 

I don't want to be one of those people who get insulted because someone doesn't like a book that I do, but I think that these books are worth giving a shot.  Don't worry about what people say about book 10 because you'll know long before that whether or not this story interests you.

Robert Jordan did a great job of writing a large story that won't overwhelm you.  In book 1 your introduced to all the main characters, and they stay together for a few books then gradually separate into their own POV's.  Each character then meets other characters and by around book 7 or 8 there are so many POV's that not all the character are in each books.  That's about the time that the story appears to slow down a little  Brandon talks about the change in writing style and why it was made somewhere, but I have no idea where I read it.  Perhaps someone out there knows, and will link to it.

I was able to read books 1-10 straight through, and I didn't notice most of the complaints that people had with the later books.  But then I didn't have to wait 3-5 years for the next book either, and I suspect that was the major reason for the complaints.  Other than the change in writing style, the story as a whole, moves along pretty smoothly if your able to read all the books one right after the other.

I strongly suggest going to your library and reading a little of Book 1: Eye of the World.  It won't take you 1,000's of pages to find out if your interested in the story or not.  Actually, the prologue in EotW is what hooked me on the series!

Of course if you're not interested then you're not interest, but I thought I'd post this just in case I could persuade you. :)
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Shard

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Re: Sanderon's WOT without reading the series?
« Reply #17 on: July 06, 2009, 05:54:22 PM »
I agree Publius75, it's the waiting for the next book that really hurts the books. When I first read the later books, after having to wait 2-3 years I really didn't care about the minor characters, I saw them as keeping me away from the characters I DID want to read. Now with that waiting out of the equation it IS alot easier to appreciate books 8-10.

shadow9d9  your really going to miss out on a good series and it's a shame you don't have enuogh faith in Brandon's judgement to complete this series. Do you think Brandon would waste his time on a series of books that he didn't think worth finishing?
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Rrikor

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Re: Sanderon's WOT without reading the series?
« Reply #18 on: July 06, 2009, 09:07:57 PM »
Seems how it is one huge story with character development from book 1 through the end it would be impossible to read.  If you just picked up one of the later books and read Rands parts you would be very confused.  I have known alot of people who are not into RJ because of his winded style.  If you don't like to read the style I would suggest audio books of them.  The detail tends to fit in better with the audio books. 

As for having to wait for his books to come out after WOT, you don't have much to worry about there.   He stated he is going to try and keep releasing his own books at the same time.  I know his site currently states he is 90% done with revisions for Way of Kings.  Last week that was at 75% so he is actively working on that.  I think he will finish that before diving heavily into Shifting Winds. 

Wolfstar

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Re: Sanderon's WOT without reading the series?
« Reply #19 on: July 07, 2009, 03:11:05 AM »
I agree Publius75, it's the waiting for the next book that really hurts the books. When I first read the later books, after having to wait 2-3 years I really didn't care about the minor characters, I saw them as keeping me away from the characters I DID want to read. Now with that waiting out of the equation it IS alot easier to appreciate books 8-10.

There are no minor characters in WoT, just people that readers pay less attention to.
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