The Wheel of Time; Endless, almost literally

[Luckheart]

My brother has read The Wheel of Time series once, and has been in the process of re-reading it for about a year It's worth mentioning that its like 13/14 big books long, currently, and the first author sadly passed away and it has been continued by another.
He has often tried to get me into it, and I did consent once; yet I only made it to the fourth book, which seemed to drag on a bit - He said it picks up, but I think he may be lost in the skill-river when speaking of this series hahaha

So, my question is; Who has read a sizeable amount of this series, or even finished it? (I'm fairly sure the last book came out recently, although it may have just been the most recent).

If anyone fits that criteria, I'd be keen to discuss the series (keep in mind I'm only up to book 4), and please advise me whether it'd be worth the mammoth effort !

thanks!

['thul]

There's several here that have read much or all of it. These beings are somewhat into book 11 (started a few months ago).

There's some predictable elements to the story, but it is in general worth it.

[Luckheart]

There's several here ....... These beings .....

Ah, is this referring to 'thul? Or other forum users?

Predictable in that the prophecy is followed to a tee and good triumphs, or in that there is no surprise ?

['thul]

there is both surprise and lack thereof.

hmm.. looks like signature system is missing. These beings = 'thul.

[Luckheart]

Does that mean I can refer to 'thul as those beings ?

sorry, queer sense of humour.

['thul]

you can.

[Valarya]

I rebelled against the Wheel of Time series for almost a decade.. refusing to read it for one reason or another. But after a few friends convinced me, I finally started reading it Oct or Nov of last year. I finished all 14 books within 2 months.

That should say something right there, since each book consists of ~1,000 pages. Now, I love fantasy novels/series, but one of the reasons I like GRRM so much is because his characters aren't black & white and I found that refreshing. So I wasn't sure how I'd feel about going back to a series (especially one this long) about mostly black/white characters. But one of my favorite things about getting lost in other worlds through text is the detail... and Robert Jordan certainly knows how to detail at length. That just gets me more sucked in, actually - which is the point. I can tell you that as much as I love RotE (consider it one of my all time favs), and aSoIaF and LotR... the WoT characters were the first ones I ever dreamt about. I was so sucked in to that story that I actually had dreams that I was Egwene. Almost every night.

I got in to the history, the wiki, the theories, the battles. And I think it's definitely worth it. I know it's a bit hard to consider reading such a long series where the last few books are finished by someone else... and I'll admit Sanderson (the guy who took over) messed up a character or two in book 12... but not only does Sanderson fix his character-mess-up for books 13 and 14, he writes one of the most incredible series-ending books I've ever read. And I've read a lot.

If you've never read Sanderson's Mistborn Trilogy, you're missing out too - he's just a wonderful author and probably the only person anyone could think of finishing WoT. And you know he was a fan of the series from boyhood, so he'd been in love with these characters for over a decade himself.

I think I'm rambling, but I just love this series - and shocked myself by loving it so much after rejecting it for years.

[Luckheart]

Ah, now I can see it's not just my brother who is deep within the skill-river when talking about WoT

But in all seriousness, you've convinced me to give it another go after I finish Blood of Dragons . I'm sure it'll take a chapter or 4 for me to get back into it, but I'll give it an honest go


Also, a bit off-topic; but I was wondering; considering you've read all of WoT and LotR, did you ever get through the silmarillion ? Another example of literature I found hard (very, in this case) to get through; I barely made it past the first chapter in all honesty.

['thul]

The Silmarillion? Read it twice. Very good book.

Its the start people tend to struggle with, considering that its a creation myth and written in such language. As it is exactly not a single story, its easier to jump around in.

[Luckheart]

I'll give it another go too, in time - but I find myself lacking the confidence I have for re-reading WoT :p

Perhaps I just need to immerse myself in Middle Earth once more and it will be easier for me