Timewaster's Guide Archive

I think next fall. Seems like October is in my head for some reason.

Tor will want Brandon to tour for it and the next WOT book at the same time.

So, we're speculating the first book in Way of Kings/Dragonsteel/Whatever will be available October 2010, right?

Ookla, when you said "the next WOT book" you're talking about volume 2 of AMOL, right? I just want to make sure I'm following this correctly. It wouldn't make much sense for Brandon to tour for both WOT and Way of Kings this November if Way of Kings won't be out until fall 2010.

I can't wait for Way of Kings! I don't believe I'm actually saying this (since I love WOT), but I'm a little sad that Brandon has to put so much time into finishing up the WOT. I really enjoyed Dragonsteel and think any series with some of the same concepts will definitely be AWESOME. At the same time, one of the reasons I'm excited Brandon is working on WOT (besides having an end to the story) is that he will get the experience and practice of working in such a large and complex story. I'm hoping Way of Kings is kind of like WOT, in that it is a LONG series of THICK books set in a world of rich details.

Any idea when Brandon will decide for sure on the name of the first book and when he'll announce that to us? (And the series, for that matter.)

So it IS possible for a male to successfully tap into the One Power right?  Just the Aes Sedai don't like it because they are afraid they will become the Dragon and join the Dark One?

I can tell you that there is good reason why there are no male Aes Sedai. There is a "complication" with males using the one power, and no one is immune to it.

Is the Flame and the Void a teaching of sword-users such as Warders and Master Swordsmen?

Ya, just a little hint that Tam had some serious training somewhere in his past and he passed some of the concepts onto Rand.

Things are moving too slowly for my taste.  I want something more to happen.  I'm sure it's just to build up the world and explain things in a timely manner, but I would like either A) more information on things such as Aes Sedai, Warders, Master Swordsman, etc. or B) More action.

Looks like you just barely got to Baerlon. The stretch from Taren Ferry to Baerlon is a little boring, but I think it was meant that way. If you want more info about Aes Sedai, Warders, etc ... see if there is a glossary in the back of your book. The first time I read TEotW I was just as confused as you trying to understand these new terms. When I finished the book there were still some pages left, and they turned out to be a glossary with short descriptions of some new terms. I wished I had found that halfway through the book. But, I still enjoyed the book only half figuring out what all the new terms meant. 

Yeah! Another first time WoT reader. This series is awesome. I love experiencing the WoT through someone reading it for the first time.

myabi - about your predictions. I'll only say that one of your predictions is correct, one is somewhat close (but you won't know that for a few more books), and two of them are dead wrong. I'll let you RAFO which is which.

Keep telling us what you think about the book/characters/scenes. I love it!

I should have known my last comment might not go over that well with some of the ladies. Especially you, Achren. 

But, in my defense, I'm not letting " an artist's idea of what they look like determine my opinion." I actually love that guys WoT art. It's the best WoT art I've ever seen. Practically all of his depictions of the characters match what I've always imagined they looked like. But, I'm sure many of you imagine them differently.

When I first met Berelain, my opinion of her mirrored Joe's; "a real hoochy". But,  the more I read, the more Faile grates  on my nerves, and the more Barelain grows on me. Madness had a really good point when he mentioned how Barelain earned the respect of the Wise Ones, which is no easy task. There is a lot more to Barelain than "being a hoochy."  At times I found myself wishing Perrin had chosen Barelain instead of Faile. 

And, to try and get back on topic... Joe - I think this is one of my favorite threads on here right now. I love reading your reactions to the WoT as you read it for your first time. And now that there are a few more books planned for the series you'll get to wait (at least a little bit) before reaching the end. You'll probably even get to read the books at least once more. 

I'm ecstatic about getting 3 more WoT books at 1 year intervals. I love reading WoT, so the more the merrier. One year between releases is WAY less then I've ever waited for other epic fantasy series. Heck, I won't even be done with my re-read of the first 11 books by November. I'm sure I'll buy The Gathering Storm when it comes out, but I may not get around to reading it until mid 2010.

I understand people were really excited for the series to be concluded and find out how it ends this year, but personally, I'd rather read a few more WoT books before finding out how it all ends.

Achren - glad I'm not the only one who loved Dragonsteel. I think the story has more potential than Mistborn, but that's just my biased opinion. (I love the originality and magic system in Mistborn, but for some reason I didn't LOVE the Mistborn world. Maybe because it was always dark, ash-covered, and depressing.) Maybe Dragonsteel's potential is why Brandon decided not to publish it, publish a quick trilogy instead (Mistborn), and then include some of the Dragonsteel concepts in a much larger epic series. (I think I've read blog posts and forum posts suggesting that's what Brandon was planning.)

I really hope at some point he publishes some books that are similar to Dragonsteel, because I would love them, and I'm sure they would be very popular.

I loved the idea of the Eternal War - and the fact that the war isn't even about what most of the people think it is about. The scenes of fighting over dragonsteel on the shattered plains are awesome!

What are some of my favorite parts? Hmmmm... Maybe this is weird, but I really liked the parts where Jerick was being educated and developing his character in the palace. It was kind of sad that Brandon had to skip ahead so much through that time, since it was almost 4 years. I guess I'm a romantic, but I enjoyed every time Ryalla and Jerick got to see each other. Every scene with Topaz is great. He's such a crazy character. From the very first time we meet him, everything he does just has to be over the top.

I thought Topaz and Bat'Chor made a great (but very unlikely) pair of adventurers. When I was reading the book I sometimes thought "ya, ya, ya ... get back to Jerick's story". Now when I think back I really did enjoy Topaz and Bat'Chor on their crazy side stories. Having Bat'Chor dress up like a pregnant bride is classic!

You wanted Ryalla to hook up with Prince Yoharn and Jerick to hook up with Princess Courteth? Interesting idea. I have to admit the thought never crossed my mind. From the very first scene where Topaz has Ryalla introduce Jerick to the palace I just assumed those two would end up together. I REALLY didn't like Courteth, but you are right. There towards the end she was having a change of heart.  You know - that would have been an interesting twist if the story kept on going. Somehow Jerick and Ryalla end up being related so they really can't get married (ends up more like a brother/sister relationship) and then Jerick does end up with Courteth and the Prince ends up with Ryalla. That would have definitely been a good plot twist. (But Courteth would definitely have had to somehow redeem all the mean things she did growing up.)

Jerick's abilities were REALLY cool, he just never really developed them. He became an awesome Tzai, but his Microkinetic abilities never developed much. That's one reason why I think Brandon might want to use an epic series to explore these concepts more. It seems like people develop their micronetic abilities pretty slowly, so it's going to take much more than one book to really get to some cool stuff.

I loved the part where Jerick finally became a leader of Bridge Four and started developing his leadership skills and the groups camaraderie. That's one thing that didn't feel right about the end; what happens to Jerick's army and Bridge Four. But I've already mentioned there are a lot of things there at the end that didn't seem like they fit.

But when I read the last line of the book my first reaction was, "huh?". Then a second after thinking about it I was like, "OHHHH!". That line would definitely be a classic if he used something similar in one of his published works.

Edited to remove explicit spoilers - Thanks Ookla

dfchang - I think you are correct. I always check Brandon's site before coming here to check on the forums. Based on the new progress bar and Brandon's latest update, I came to the same conclusion you did on the time frame.

This is the only part that I don't 100% agree with you on:

Also, the story of A Memory of Light could already to so well planned and locked in that complete rewrites and edits are extremely unlikely.  It looks like Jordan had essentially planned the entire novel, chapter by chapter, viewpoint by viewpoint in a very precise order and Brandon is merely filling in the blanks, rewriting some parts, and integrating everthing into a whole.  If that's the case, it may very well be feasible to release the first half of the book with no serious repercussions on the second half.

From what I understand, Jordan had a general outline for AMOL, but I don't think he had it "chapter by chapter, viewpoint by viewpoint in a very precise order". Brandon has mentioned some sections of the book were well outlined, and some sections were already written, but a lot of the chapters are all up to Brandon to figure out with little (if any) outline or instructions.

Joe - thanks for that great post about The Shadow Rising! I think it is probably my favorite book in WoT. It's really fun reading a first timer's excitement about it. Thanks!

miyabi - Some people say that EOTW starts out a little slow. It picks up quite a bit after a few chapters. If you enjoy reading fantasy (or just huge complex stories) than I think you'll like WoT. If you have a hard time getting through the very beginning, then you might just have to force yourself to read through it. If you can't force yourself through, then you may just have to skip to chapter 5. That's where the "normal monotonous" stuff comes to an abrupt end. Winternight! But, I also have to warn you. You should avoid reading this thread until you're caught up with Joe. It's full of spoilers. You'll enjoy the books much more if you don't know where it's going.