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Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: MrMLK on October 13, 2009, 05:27:06 AM

Title: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: MrMLK on October 13, 2009, 05:27:06 AM
I haven't read any of the Wheel of Time books yet, but I am a big fan of Brandon Sanderson's works.

I am not sure if I want to read 11 books just to get to his. Is it worth the time to try to read some sort of web summary of the first 11 books to prepare for The Gathering Storm, or am I just not going to have enough of an idea as to what it is going on to make it worthwhile? 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.

I realize that this is a question that should be sent to the author directly, but I didn't want to bother him while he is working.

Thanks for the help.

Regards, Michael

Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on October 13, 2009, 06:21:53 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).
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Roberts on October 13, 2009, 07:42:55 AM
It would be impossible! You'd be about two or three years into the story if I remember correctly. I would definitely recommend starting with book 1 when you have time.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: sortitus on October 13, 2009, 01:10:29 PM
If you read a good online summary, you won't be totally lost, but you'll miss out on the details and foreshadowing of the first books. wotmania used to have chapter summaries for most of the books, but I don't know what happened to them when they died. If you can find those, you'll get almost the same information as you would actually reading the books. You'll still be missing some details, but you'll know as much as (if not more than) most people who've read the books.

Snoop around DragonMount and see if somebody won't dig those summaries out for you. :D
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: IngtarWhoStoleChristmas on October 13, 2009, 02:21:51 PM
I agree with everyone else, completely lost, but if you want to give it a go....

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=13372

That will get you up to Lord of Chaos before Gathering Storm comes out, but you'll still have a few missing books. The WOT Help topic in this forum has some nice recaps by JoeC that might help you get the gist of it. Would still recommend reading the whole story.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Vatdoro on October 13, 2009, 03:48:09 PM
Yes, it would be a waste of time to read The Gathering Storm without reading the rest of the series.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: MrMLK on October 13, 2009, 04:47:15 PM
Thanks everyone.

I guess I will have to either read them all or skip the new ones.

My other problem with reading the whole set is the way they were described to me by a good friend (who is also a big Sanderson fan).

When I asked him what he though of the WOT series, he said something like, "1 through 6 were great, 7 was pretty good, 8 and 9 he had to push himself to get through, 10 was terrible, 11 was fair." (I may not have the exact book numbers right.). Does this match the general consensus, or is my friend just too picky? I like a long book, but slogging through 3 or 4 1000 page books just to get through them doesn't sound like fun.

I have to think it over, and to finish my current big series.

In any case, thanks to all for the help.

Regards, Michael
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: TyranAmiros on October 13, 2009, 05:57:38 PM
When I asked him what he though of the WOT series, he said something like, "1 through 6 were great, 7 was pretty good, 8 and 9 he had to push himself to get through, 10 was terrible, 11 was fair." (I may not have the exact book numbers right.). Does this match the general consensus, or is my friend just too picky? I like a long book, but slogging through 3 or 4 1000 page books just to get through them doesn't sound like fun.

That's more or less the consensus, though I personally think 7 is the funniest book and 11 would be considered a great book if it hadn't followed 8-10.  Getting through book 3, however, I find rough.

If you do decide to try TGS, the Encyclopedia WoT (http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/) has the best set of complete chapter summaries on its site, though the tor.com (http://tor.com) read-through is far more in depth.  I will say though that most people who *have* read all the books can't keep all the characters/places straight--I remember Brandon saying he was surprised by all the tiny details fans have noted online.

And also, since TGS is not the last WoT book, you can always start with Eye of the World and be all caught up by Towers of Midnight or A Memory of Light!
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: schneb on October 13, 2009, 07:30:52 PM

When I asked him what he though of the WOT series, he said something like, "1 through 6 were great, 7 was pretty good, 8 and 9 he had to push himself to get through, 10 was terrible, 11 was fair." (I may not have the exact book numbers right.). Does this match the general consensus, or is my friend just too picky? I like a long book, but slogging through 3 or 4 1000 page books just to get through them doesn't sound like fun.



It matches a lot of people's opinion, but I don't think you can call it a general consensus.  As stand alone books after 2-4 years of waiting, they aren't that great, but in a straight read through (1-11) they fit in nicely.  The first time I read book 10, I thought it was bad, but that was coming after waiting forever for it to come out.  After having re-read it a couple of times, I can't remember why I didn't like it the first time.  I'll be starting book 10 again about the day after tomorrow so that I can have the series completely re-read by the release date.

3-4 1000 page books is stretching it a little.  I think the longest in that sequence still comes in at under 700 pages (discounting the glossary).
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: ErikHolmes on October 13, 2009, 07:52:06 PM
When I asked him what he though of the WOT series, he said something like, "1 through 6 were great, 7 was pretty good, 8 and 9 he had to push himself to get through, 10 was terrible, 11 was fair." (I may not have the exact book numbers right.). Does this match the general consensus, or is my friend just too picky? I like a long book, but slogging through 3 or 4 1000 page books just to get through them doesn't sound like fun.


I personally wouldn't agree with that statement. The earlier books were better then the later books, but even the later book were much better then most other fantasy books out there. The characters are always entertaining, but I think in the later books you get a little let down by the plot not moving ahead as much as you want.

But I've never had to "push myself to get through" a book in the WOT series.

My advice is to just read Eye of the World and see what you think. Read it until you get to where the Trollocs attack at least.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: MrMLK on October 13, 2009, 08:49:24 PM
My advice is to just read Eye of the World and see what you think. Read it until you get to where the Trollocs attack at least.

Done. I will give it a try.

Regards and thanks to all, Michael
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: douglas on October 13, 2009, 09:01:15 PM
My personal opinion on the subject of the later WoT books is that the real problem was the time period covered in each book compared to the time between each book release.  By that point in the series there are a large number of plot lines going on at once, and even a large book can only make so much progress when its pages are split over as many different things as those books cover.  So, when people got a book they'd been waiting two or three years for and found it only advanced the timeline by a week or two (I think that's actually literally accurate for one of them), with an appropriate amount of stuff happening for such a short period, they were understandably disappointed.  When it happened again for all the same reasons two or three years later, and another time two or three years after that...

Cut out the multiple years wait between books and the problem suddenly gets a lot smaller.  Now you can just read them all as fast as you like, and the books you do have to wait for are supposed to come at just one year intervals and are at the point in the series where plot lines are converging, resolving, and getting less numerous so each book can cover more time and be more eventful.

Also, some of the major plot lines in the much criticized books are primarily political, and a lot of people don't like that.  I found it interesting, but many people seem to view that as boring filler.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Patriotic Kaz on October 13, 2009, 09:11:04 PM
I liked both Crown of Swords and Path of Daggers though Winters Heart and Crossroads of Twilight suck untill you read 11 after that you realize how well written they are.. 11 is one of the better books.... my top three are Eye of the World (1.), Dragon Reborn (3.), Knife of Dreams (11.), probably in that order 1 and 3 go back and forth
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Casco on October 14, 2009, 06:52:43 PM
The first 2 books feels like another story.. but read from the 1 book so you dont miss the two river feeling..and the escape of the youngsters :) The story grows in a epic way...and the complete story up to book 12 is just awesome. There are some weak books..but as a whole they are wery mutch needed. Book 11 is the best book (so far) Mat is just a great young man to read about. Mats character development is just amazing. Can anybody NOT love him :D

Start read (or lissen to audiobooks, faster) from book 1 and prepeare for a epic ride :D

(sorry for my bad english, im sweed)
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: MrMLK on October 14, 2009, 07:57:52 PM
Start read (or lissen to audiobooks, faster) from book 1 and prepeare for a epic ride :D

I find that I read at least twice as fast as I can listen to audiobooks. Also, I can devote more hours in a row to reading. But thanks for the advice.

Regards, Michael


Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Andrew the Great 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.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Patriotic Kaz 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.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Casco 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 :)
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Dustinthewind2 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.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: FireArt 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.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: yakumo fujii 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.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: zas678 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.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Hobbun 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?
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: yakumo fujii 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.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Ogge on November 03, 2009, 03:19:30 PM
and miss 11 great books, are you nuts??!
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: squirrelbee 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.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Squeakle 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.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Korwin 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...

Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: John UK on November 09, 2009, 12:34:46 AM
Yes
Read the books and you'll find it worthwhile.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: tipbruley 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
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Patriotic Kaz on November 15, 2009, 03:02:40 AM
You can't skip Crossroads or Winter's Heart
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: tipbruley on November 15, 2009, 03:59:25 AM
You can't skip Crossroads or Winter's Heart

you mean CAN?

Crossroads is 100% skipable. In fact I think it goes back in time, nothing happens, and ends where the last book left off
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Patriotic Kaz on November 15, 2009, 08:09:54 PM
Just because you blantantly refuse to see the importance in those books does NOT make them unnecessary it is a fault in you not the books. (and they weren't bad books they just weren't very enjoyable but they have a great amount of significance)
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Andrew the Great on November 15, 2009, 08:24:43 PM
I agree with Kaz. Crossroads may be my least favorite book in the series, but it's still necessary to understand KoD and TGS.

And when you're reading straight through, and you know KoD is right after, Crossroads isn't nearly as bad as when you get to the end of it and there's no new material. The plot advances very slowly, but theres some very important stuff in there.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: tipbruley on November 15, 2009, 10:54:18 PM
If you go to Wikipedia you can read all of the plot developments for Crossroads and probably feel more accomplished after than if you just read the book.

I'm sorry but most readers do not need the same characters discussing the same issues for 1000 pages. It was just repetition. There was no character development in this book, just an elaboration on some changes in the characters from before. The book could have been an extra hundred pages spread between the Winters Heart and KoD. Just like New Spring it was an unnecessary elaboration with a pinch of development.

I don't care about the plot not developing as long as you can see some changes within the characters, or get a new perspective on the situation. Crossroads offered neither and instead just repeated the same dialog with the same characters
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Patriotic Kaz on November 16, 2009, 04:34:14 AM
You are being repetitive and elaborating only slightly on your earlier statement. I understood good and well what you meant, therefore the elaboration was unneeded. My point is still valid, the fault lies not within the books but within you.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Squeakle on November 16, 2009, 05:34:39 AM
Yay for differing opinions. In short, you should read the book yourself and then you can decide whether or not you should read the book. Then, if you decide you needn't, powerfully balefire the book, then you had never read it.

Circular reasoning indeed.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Publius on November 16, 2009, 02:48:47 PM
I don't think you should skip any of these books. There may be a time where I come back and agree with tipbruley, and that you can skip CoT if you want, but I'm not there yet.

Its not until you go back and reread this series that you can really appreciate how well written these books are. This is not a series of instant gratification..... In the early books when the characters are being chased around RJ describes the environment around them, and then 5 or 6 books later that environment plays a large part in the story. Or they'll be hiding in the shadows and hear what appears to be a pointless conversation, only to find out several books later that the person they were talking about is a major player in the story. Of course you didn't think anything of it at the time because the characters are hiding and in danger!

As the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and theres a lot of devils in this series. There is a lot of things that happen in The Gathering Storm that is directly related to the first 2 or 3 books. There is actually a scene that is directly ties to the prologue of Book 1! You don't read this series to get to the end, you read it to savor the adventure....

Crossroads of Twilight is written differently than any other WoT book. I think you should read it because the series isn't finished yet, and I think when it is we'll find out that there was a reason that this book was written as it is. This series is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, (Winston Churchill quote) and until it's done I wouldn't recommending skipping any part of it.

Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: FireArt on January 05, 2010, 07:36:48 PM
Well said, Publius.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Patriotic Kaz on January 06, 2010, 04:08:28 AM
Why are we rezzing threads?
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: guessingo on January 06, 2010, 05:05:44 AM
I have read all of the Masters of Rome books. All of the WoT books up to book 9 (I am re-listening to books 1-11 on audio before reading Gathering Storm) and I am halfway through Brandon's first Mistborn book.

Masters of Rome by Colleen McCullough is one of the best historical series EVER written by anyone and absolutely the best novels about the late Republican period in rome EVER written (and I read alot of history). She deserves any award anyone can throw at her. They are also not really easy reads. There are insane numbers of characters(exponentially more than wheel of time), the romans all seem to have similiar names so its really hard to keep track (she is being historically accurate), plus the latin terms are hard to keep track of at first even with the appendix. Colleen McCullough is a genious. I do NOT say that lightly.

Wheel of Time is MUCH easier to read. The first book is the best fantasy book I have ever read. It is better than Mistborn (Brandon would agree so I am not trolling). It probably deserved a pullitzer prize consideration, but you don't get one for this genre.

Yes later books bog down and sort of get lost. Here is what I recommend.

Read or listen to the first 3 on tape. They are VERY good. You then will have a good enough idea of what is going on to jump to book 12. Use this website to help keep track of stuff.

http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/

That website is INCREDIBLY detailed.
There are also massive numbers of websites about the wheel of time and forums if you are unsure of what is going on.

There are also the WoT forums here. Brandon has a number of Q&A postings. Note that these are VERY detailed questions you won't get even on 1 read. Alot of them Brandon doesn't know the answer to and has to refer to Robert Jordan's assistant.


http://forums.dragonmount.com

I HIGHLY recommend reading The Eye of the World. I am listening to all of them all over again on recorded books before reading The Gathering Storm. I read some of these books almost 20 years ago. I forgot how much I forgot.

BTW, I do like Mistborn. I like the Brandon just jumps into the action. I like his concise writing style also.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Eerongal on January 06, 2010, 05:19:21 AM
Why are we rezzing threads?
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u266/eerongal/thread_necromancer.png)

Ok, kaz, you get to keep your sanity for this turn, but your attacks are ineffective, as my necromancer absorbs all the damage.



Wasn't this topic in the first page, anyways? Last post was in november, it looks like, and i think there are older still on the front page....

Edit: Nope, i was wrong, nevermind.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Patriotic Kaz on January 06, 2010, 06:49:29 AM

Cute Beyond Belief
Convinces a mob of little
girls to attack all things that
don’t conform to WASP
ideals!


EDIT: It wont let me paste my Hello Kitty photo  :'(
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Seaoftrouble on January 09, 2010, 04:44:22 AM
I will answer this question with a question:
Haven't read the Mistborn series  - Is it a waste of time to try to read the last chapter of The Hero of Ages?
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Patriotic Kaz on January 09, 2010, 05:03:23 AM
That was below the belt.... atleast admit your an ass before saying that!!!! Then i would congratulate you for being honest!
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: guessingo on January 09, 2010, 05:08:27 PM
Robert Jordan said somewhere (I read it somewhere) that he does not read his published books. He listens to them on audio books. the same man and woman have done all of his books. They do a VERY good job.

Speed isn't the most important thing. I like recorded books for a re-read. I can also do other things. Such as listen in my car going to work, taking a walk, riding my bike, house work.

Does anyone know how good the audio books of brandons books are? The quality can vary depending on the performer.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on January 10, 2010, 05:27:04 AM
Brandon's Mistborn audiobooks are read by Michael Kramer, who is the guy in the WoT audiobooks. However, I haven't listened to any of the books except for Alcatraz, which was fine.

The best audiobooks I've ever heard are the Patrick O'Brien books (starting with Master and Commander) read by Patrick Tull from Recorded Books Inc. He's awesome, gives so much character to the characters.

Michael Kramer and Kate Reading are okay...are often pretty good...but they still make too many mistakes for my taste. I'm listening to The Great Hunt again right now, and it's so annoying how damane is usually pronounced exactly like Domani. Urgh. Also, what I would consider the pivotal line in Knife of Dreams was flubbed by Kramer—he read it in Mat's voice, instead of in Tuon's voice (Tuon is imitating Mat when she says it). I screamed at my iPod when I hit that part because it was just WRONG.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Seaoftrouble on January 10, 2010, 08:38:09 AM
There is no better narrator than Michael Kramer and this is coming from an audio book junkie. I admit some narrators come close to or match his skills but I would not want anyone else to read the part of Kelsier or Rand.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Patriotic Kaz on January 10, 2010, 06:58:36 PM
I dislike audio books (& i've listened to the 1st chapter of The Great Hunt)..... with a few exceptions i.e. The Hobbit
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on January 11, 2010, 03:42:35 AM
There is no better narrator than Michael Kramer
Rubbish. Kramer is no more than decent. The errors I described above are evidence enough.

Patrick Tull is awesome.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Seaoftrouble on January 11, 2010, 07:44:36 AM
There is no better narrator than Michael Kramer
Rubbish. Kramer is no more than decent. The errors I described above are evidence enough.

Patrick Tull is awesome.
Would you say he is great as a result of performance, accuracy or both.

If Patrick Tull puts on a great show then I need to listen to his work and will if he narrated any science fiction or horror novels .

Just curious because if someone is accurate but sound like a robot or Pee Wee Herman I am not going to listen. I would rather some of RJ's to many to count made up words get trashed than deal with a bad performance. I think Robert Jordan who was fearless when it came to new word creation would agree. I might be a little more forgiving because I listened to the audio books first and did not have a preconceived concept of how the fictitious  words should be pronounced.


All I know is I enjoyed the hell out of Michael Kramer's work in WOT and Mistborn. I guess Narrators are like actors, for instance I like Jack Nicholson but I know plenty of people who can't stand him.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Seaoftrouble on January 11, 2010, 07:07:46 PM
There is no better narrator than Michael Kramer
Rubbish. Kramer is no more than decent. The errors I described above are evidence enough.

Patrick Tull is awesome.
I listened to some of Tull’s work he is very good. I would not have him read The Gunslinger by Stephen King but he would be perfect for A Mid Summer’s Night Dream or anything by Tokien. Is there an example of his work that does not make use of his accent like a western, something by Tom Clancy or Hunter Thompson perhaps?

It’s just I can’t picture him reading Under The Dome or the Outsiders can you?
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on January 11, 2010, 08:04:44 PM
I don't know, Patrick Tull can do American accents quite well. When Americans show up in the Aubrey/Maturin books and start talking like Americans, it's almost a shock.

I have only heard him read the Aubrey/Maturin books, so I'm not saying he's the reader who has the best range, but I'd trust him for any book where character voice is important. As it is highly important in the Wheel of Time. I'm not saying Michael Kramer does a bad job (though he does make some mistakes), but he's not the only person who could have pulled off the Wheel of Time. I do not know if Patrick Tull even liked fantasy though...and I see now that he passed away in 2006. Bummer!
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Seaoftrouble on January 11, 2010, 10:26:09 PM
I'm sorry to hear that he was very good.

The Brother Cadfael Chronicles is a long series of books he narrated, at some point I will have to give them a listen.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on January 11, 2010, 11:30:57 PM
Oh, that looks interesting! I'll have to check that out.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: guessingo on January 12, 2010, 03:44:56 AM
Cadfael was made into a min-series by the BBC. the star is the same guy who stared in I, Claudius. It is done pretty well for a low budget. I don't really like mysteries though, but this is done really well. If you want to read a GREAT midievil novel read The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. This has already been filmed as a mini-series by Ridley Scott (gladiator, first alien movie). I don't know what channel it will be on.

Follet is an interesting guy. He writes modern thrillers and his most popular book is a midievil story. If you want to read midievil fantasy you should read this book. George RR Martin recommended it highly on his website.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: guessingo on January 12, 2010, 03:46:44 AM
The best audiobook I ever listend to was the one for the Time Travellers wife. Best performance I have seen. Partially because the book was so good. The movie sucked.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Pink Bunkadoo on January 13, 2010, 05:37:53 PM
We enjoyed the Brother Cadfael books.  They would be fun to listen to.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Shard on January 22, 2010, 01:06:11 PM

Cute Beyond Belief
Convinces a mob of little
girls to attack all things that
don’t conform to WASP
ideals!


EDIT: It wont let me paste my Hello Kitty photo  :'(

Because Hello Kitty has nothing to do with WASP.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Patriotic Kaz on January 22, 2010, 08:49:56 PM
WASP as in White Anglo-Saxon Males? how does it pertain to hello kitty?
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Shard on August 06, 2010, 05:46:44 PM
WASP = White Anglo Saxon PROTESTANT.

My point was Hello Kitty has nothing to do with WASP, because it's Japanese.
Title: Re: Haven't read WOT - Is it a waste of time to try to read Gathering Storm?
Post by: Ari54 on August 09, 2010, 09:24:01 AM
WASP = White Anglo Saxon PROTESTANT.

My point was Hello Kitty has nothing to do with WASP, because it's Japanese.

Acronym finder says it's also "We Are Sex Perverts", "Weasel Attack Signal Processor", and a few other gems. ;)