Author Topic: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?  (Read 15297 times)

Andrew the Great

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #15 on: October 15, 2009, 04:27:26 AM »
Personally, I like book 11 the best so far. I read the series shortly after Knife of Dreams came out, and I didn't notice many of the problems people complain about with the later books, so I agree with the assessment that the wait contributes.

Books 1-6 are awesome, book 7 is good. I had a little trouble with 8, but it was still fairly interesting, and there were always 2 or 3 plotlines that I was particularly interested in. 9 was one of my favorites in the series (I think I'm in something of a minority on this one), 10 was the worst in the series. It still was ok, but this was the only one that I really ever didn't want to read. I continued on the advice that it got better, and it did. 10 actually finishes pretty strong as well, I just had a hard time with the first part of the novel. And 11 is just amazing.

If you notice that Eye of the World seems a little bit like Lord of the Rings at first, it's because it was intentionally written that way. Robert Jordan wanted to give his readers a familiar starting place. Don't worry, it moves into more original story fairly quickly.

WoT has its faults, but despite them, I'd say it's at least in my top 3 favorite fantasy series of all time.
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Patriotic Kaz

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #16 on: October 15, 2009, 04:36:22 AM »
9 and 10 are good....during your reread after eleven so while it's not my favorite, Andrew, i now appreciate both books much more.
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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #17 on: October 15, 2009, 05:33:54 AM »
ok, thats exactly the oposite for me. I work at the produktionline so i can spend 8 hours a day to lissen to audiobooks :) It would be hard to keep that pase with reading every night :)

Dustinthewind2

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #18 on: October 16, 2009, 06:52:11 AM »
I agree with most people here. Don't bother with the Sanderson WoT books (even if you are a big fan) unless you read the first 10 Jordan books. I also agree that 1-6 are great, 7 is good... I'd go as far to say that 8-9 are decent (a particular section in 9 is, in itself, worth reading the entire book for... most will agree with that I think), but ten is the only book I haven't read more than once. I probably never will. But for me drudging through book 10 was worth the rest of the series, and I agree with someone else who said that 11 is great (not just "good"). I'm (re)reading through book 11 right now and I'm enjoying it every bit as much as I enjoyed books 1-6 (4 and 6 are my favs).

To put things another way: These books are worth reading if you want to get invested heavily into a very big series. Jordan is an excellent (if long-winded) author, but he's not for everyone (namely people who can't stand very wordy novels with sometimes very slow pacing). If you're a patient reader who appreciates a lot of details, go for it. There are plenty of thrills here, as long as you're willing to stick around through the slower parts, the character point of views are usually very intimate, and you come to care about a lot of them.

As for myself, although I've had troubles with the waiting in between and the disappointment of some of the later books, if I had to go back, I'd read it again. Because to me all the frustrations with the series are pushed aside by the amazing, breathtaking end result, which hasn't even been fully realized. Jordan was a master, and the Wheel of Time series is this generation's Lord of the Rings.

As someone else suggested, your best bet would be to read through Eye of the World, then decide. Once you've finished it, ask yourself whether finding out what happens to these characters (and many more yet to be introduced) is worth the time (and a little boredom in the later books) to find out. Keep in mind that A LOT happens to these characters, some of it's awesome, some of it the average reader won't care about... in the end, it's quite a journey, if you're okay with a few potholes.

FireArt

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #19 on: October 28, 2009, 03:25:43 AM »
Because to me all the frustrations with the series are pushed aside by the amazing, breathtaking end result, which hasn't even been fully realized. Jordan was a master, and the Wheel of Time series is this generation's Lord of the Rings.

I agree and that being said, whenever you can get around to reading it please do cuz it will be well worth it.

And don't forget A New Spring. I really enjoyed that book too. Actually I read it first so I had a completely different perspective of some of the characters than my husband, who started with book one. Just a thought.

yakumo fujii

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #20 on: October 29, 2009, 02:15:55 AM »
You're gonna be completely lost.

Brandon's agent read it cold. By the second half of the book he could enjoy it because it was a good story, but he spent a long time before that confused, and even after that there was no way he could appreciate the significance of many events.

As for summaries, I haven't read through any of them so I can't say whether they'd do a good job catching you up. But even if they do a good job getting you up to speed on the plot, plot is only a small part of a book. Why you'd care about what's happening to the characters is something you can get only from the books themselves.

I personally have experienced all but two of the books as audiobooks. It's something I recommend if you have a few hours of mindless activity each week (such as driving or Photoshop work).
Encylcopedia WoT has good chapter by chapter summaries, but reading that would be the equivalent of a small book in and of itself.

So, yeah, it's pretty much impossible. It would be like jumping into the middle of a history of the Napoleonic Wars without knowing anything about the history of Europe.

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #21 on: October 30, 2009, 02:58:35 AM »
Ugh. I guess that means that my pretty, numbered TGS will have to wait on my table, gathering dust, until I've read over 1,000 pages of prequel. Sigh.
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Hobbun

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #22 on: October 30, 2009, 03:18:04 AM »
Ugh. I guess that means that my pretty, numbered TGS will have to wait on my table, gathering dust, until I've read over 1,000 pages of prequel. Sigh.

I guess I don't understand the frustration. I mean the main fun and experience of The WoT is to go through it all. To see the epic story unfold and the characters move forward and grow.

I mean if you don't want to read the story, that is certainly your choice. But my question is if you aren't interested in the story of the series, why do you want to read TGS, then?

yakumo fujii

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #23 on: October 30, 2009, 03:41:05 AM »
Ugh. I guess that means that my pretty, numbered TGS will have to wait on my table, gathering dust, until I've read over 1,000 pages of prequel. Sigh.
More like over 7,000 pages. Still, the journey is the fun part.

Ogge

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #24 on: November 03, 2009, 03:19:30 PM »
and miss 11 great books, are you nuts??!
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squirrelbee

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #25 on: November 04, 2009, 07:50:20 PM »
I am currently in the middle of a different 1000-pages-per-book series (Masters of Rome) and I am not sure if I have the inclination to start another one.

Very much worth your time to read all of the other books first. I love the Masters of Rome series. Wheel of Time reads very differently and should not take as long.  I don't think you'll have a difficult time putting aside the Masters of Rome and then going back to finish.

Squeakle

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #26 on: November 05, 2009, 07:48:52 AM »
Somebody pointed out that the reason the later (8,9,10) books weren't so well recieved is that they were very political. Which is something not many fantasy readers are probably after. Whilst not my favourite books in the series, I liked them and never had trouble reading them. My wife, who is well into political type stories likes that part of the series the best.

As far as reading TGS without the rest of the series... no. Having read TGS now and reading Brandon's accounts through the authoring process, the book is necessarily abrupt and concise, with no long winded lead-back-ins for characters. The series is my favourite though, well worth starting from EotW.

Korwin

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #27 on: November 05, 2009, 11:40:17 AM »
I didnt like book 11 at the time I read it.
Not because it was hard to read, but because of the end...

I hated the cliffhanger. The whole book nothing new happened until the end.
But after I read book 12 I can forgive book 11...


John UK

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #28 on: November 09, 2009, 12:34:46 AM »
Yes
Read the books and you'll find it worthwhile.

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Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
« Reply #29 on: November 15, 2009, 02:14:27 AM »
To be fair there are 2 books you could skip completely, and about 2-3 more where a page or two summary would get you up to speed