What can I expect if I read WoT?

[Asperity he/him]

Since I keep hearing about it everywhere and despite my already large book backlog, what can I expect if I read WoT? I hear that some of the later books drone on (as in nothing of significance happens), and some ridiculously verbose description segments.

Plus is it a decent series (try to leave bias out of this answer) and does it honestly end well?

[Lady_Yasha she/her]

Is it a decent series? Wheel of Time is perhaps the biggest influence on the fantasy genre besides Tolkien. If you've read Lord of the Rings or The Silmarillion you can expect much the same, albeit different. There are no elves, but WoT does follow the typical "Hero's Journey," but consider the time when this was written: in the 80's when such a thing was not yet cliché. Walk into Eye of the World as if you were reading it back in 1990 and you were reading of the farmer-to-legend story for the first time.

The similarities I quote with Tolkien are the vast world detail you'll find. Robert Jordan included a comprehensive history - it is a living, breathing world that adapts throughout the books and Jordan has done a masterful job of invoking imagery of his world. That is one of the things Jordan does better than most all other writers that he can craft such a vivid world with an incredible amount of information tucked away on the pages. The last 3,000 years, at least, have a long and detailed history, that while not all of it is explained in the books, Jordan drops a few subtle hints to the way it was. Perfectly so.

Wheel of Time focuses a lot on language - there is a fictional language created by Jordan that is seen quite regularly beyond the fourth book: the Old Tongue - culture, geography, nations, and how all these have evolved and matured or mixed. But it is the characters that drive the story. Often, these people do radically unexpected things leaving others and themselves to deal with the repercussions. I'm not feeling that any one character has ever been a Mary Sue, even Egwene who I loathe actually has a dynamic character archetype. But be prepared to have your head wrapped around hundreds of different plots and politicking (all of which are interesting and woven well), and ten times again the number of characters. Seriously, there are literally thousands of characters (don't worry though, we only see from the eyes of ~10 per book).

I'm honestly trying not to be biased here, but I've yet to read another fantasy epic that I could suspend my belief in reality to feel as though I'm reading an account of our own ancient history, only more Homer's Odyssey than Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

You'll also notice that Jordan's work is a little "darker" to how Brandon wrote it. There's still some darn fine moments by Brandon ("Veins of Gold", for those who've read it) but there was more... malice, to the evil in Jordan's writing. But yes, Jordan could also lose himself in prose, often with long-winded descriptive narrative, but I don't think Jordan ever wrote something without subtle intent. You won't notice it on your first read through, and yes that will make many chapters feel boring and dragging, but when you re-read those passages after reading the entire series you'll notice some crafty insertion; Jordan was a master of foreshadowing.

The books you have heard drone on will be around #7-11, but all are equally important to the story as those around them. You have many finer character moments in those books; characters go through some of their most intensive changes. I will say it now that Winter's Heart (book #9), is my favourite amongst the entire series and is one often criticised for being one of those "slow" books. I loved it. And Crossroads of Twilight (#10) is full of character development but very little plot progression, as it's supposed to be the events alongside those in Winter's Heart.

Anyway, I hope that helps ^^

EDIT: Dang, didn't realise how long this was until I posted it v.v

[Cracknut he/him]

Just don't expect too much.

[happyman he/him]

My take?

Yes, it is a decent series. You won't regret reading through it to the end. Some of the books were kind of slow; on my reread, I found myself dragging enormously in Path of Daggers and Crossroads of Twilight. They are worth making it through, though.

Part of the problem, in my opinion, is that the books just took too darn long to write. The story is very good, but when you have had fans who have invested two-thirds of their life in it, it's not hard to see the expectations going higher than could ever possibly be satisfied. As a new reader, you would be just fine.

I agree with the comments about Jordan and Brandon with Darkness, but RJ has different weaknesses as a writer that hurt the series. I'm just glad we got a decent ending.

[cleric]

It is the great transition fantasy. between eleves and dwarves from tolkien to modern fantasy. It is what got me into fantasy and into Sanderson (I had never heard of him before he finished the series) If you love in depth worlds, history, amazing characters, great writing, and a master of third person view point, wheel of time will be enjoyable. Honestly Brandon would not be the writer he is without this series (by his own admission)

[king of nowhere]

without bias? difficult, we are all fans here.

Anyway, about the books droning, in my reread I found that they don't. stuff keep happening.

the problem is that the story is following half a dozen main characters and several minor ones, so every book only has a few chapters for everyone. That gives the impression of droning. And when you have to wait 2 years for every book is really annoying. But when you can read it all at once it works.

I also disagree with those point vast similarities to tolkien. there are similarities between the lord of the ring and the eye of the world (first book of wot) but after a few books the story start expanding. it is no longer a protagonist making a quest, but a whole world and a set of characters interacting with it.

About the ending, I haven't read it yet - can't wait to get my hands on the last book.

All in all I can say, I've never been a great fan of fantasy before i discovered the wheel of time. I still am not, but I love both the wot saga and sanderson's books.

EDIT: but consider that I am an accanite reader who can wolf down 300 pages in one day when really enticed. I prefer long books because with the shorter ones I finish them just when I was starting to enjoy them. Reading 10000 pages is something to occupy me for 4 months while doing other activities as well.

If you are the kind of person who need one month to read a pocket book, then you should not start reading the wheel of time.

Edited January 21, 2013 by king of nowhere

[name_here]

I like it, but I liked the Simarilion when I first read it in third grade, so uh...

Anyways, I think that any given plotline sometimes gets into boring parts, but generally each book has several plots in the interesting part of the cycle. The exception is Crossroads of Twilight, where most of the plots are on the downward side. Fortunately, that clears the way for Knife Of Dreams, where all of those plots cycle upwards.

[Ryan he/him]

From my point of view, the dragging on comes in two forms:

1. Jordan describes everything. Every. Thing. When you enter a room and Jordan starts describing the wood paneling on the walls, the paintings on the paneling, the rugs on the floor, the carving on the chairs and tables, the tea tray, pots and cups, what people are wearing, people's appearances and personality traits...and THEN stuff starts happening. Honestly all that takes no more than a couple of pages most of the time, but it gets old. Even if you're fascinated by the worldbuilding, it gets old.

I consider that Jordan's greatest failing as a writer, and it's one that Brandon mitigated when he took over the series.

2. After The Shadow Rising (book 4) the plotlines start to multiply, and some are more interesting than others. This is often the case with any book, but most books only have 2 or 3 things going at once so you get back to the good stuff relatively quickly. In the middle books of the WoT, you might go 300 pages (I'm not joking, literally 300 pages) before returning to a plotline that had just picked up steam and ended on a cliffhanger.

I know that some people cannot look past these failings. I may gripe about them, but in the end, I believe that the Wheel of Time is a marvelous series. It is complex, multilayered, multi-themed, enormous, expansive, and triumphant. I have read no other series that compares in scope, breadth, and depth. Sanderson's own Stormlight Archive has the potential to at least equal it, but we've only seen book 1 so far in that series.

Give it a try. You owe it to yourself to at least give it a try. Book 4 is my personal favorite in the series, and I believe that if you read that and you aren't hooked, you can probably put them down. But, let's be honest, I don't think that's likely. If you're still reading by book 4, you're almost certainly hooked.

[Millennium]

This is not a place to look for unbiased reviews, honestly. We're all fans here.

It's worth reading, and given its length -fourteen bricks, I mean books- that's really saying something. It's not a perfect series: the flaws are multiple and in some cases quite serious, but you will find better descriptions of these flaws elsewhere. One thing that is interesting about the series is the way that it evolves and changes: the flaws and strengths of the middle books are not like those of the early books, nor those of the later books.

[Teegs]

Some of the mid-later books dragged on a bit. Especially when following some of the less interesting, or more annoying characters. That said, I enjoyed the series immensely. I also listened to the audiobook and Mr. Kramer and Mrs. Redding are phenomenal narrators. 

 

Probably the most difficult thing I noticed (especially for the audiobook) is that sometimes Jordan would introduce like 12 characters in rapid succession without much history or context. Without the option of flipping back a page or half page to check for relevance it was tricky sometimes trying to keep everything straight. I coped with it though, and got very good at remembering people.

[Shaidar]

I came to fantasy largely by way of WoT (I'd read LotR beforehand, but it was RJ who got me hooked on the genre). That said, my own opinions on it are now quite ambivalent.

 

It started out as a great epic. But then, as everyone and their mother points out, it started to drag and become grossly overstretched. At its nadir (CoT) it was well night unreadable.

 

The last four books rescued the series from a withering death, but didn't come close to restoring it to the tenor of the first three or even the first 7 books. Don't get me wrong, it was a valiant effort on BS' part, but in my opinion he did not succeed. He came close with TGS and maybe even ToM, but AMoL was a disappointment on so many levels (at least for me).

 

Conclusion? Read the first 3 books. If you like them, imagine the Dark One is defeated then and there (you'll know what I'm talking about it when you get there). If you love them, then you can consider reading the whole series. But beware that from then on, it increasingly becomes not so much an epic fantasy as a very long cautionary tale about how NOT to write a fantasy series.

Edited April 28, 2013 by Shaidar

[Morsk he/him]

Well, the 4th book is where Wheel of Time really became something new and special, not just a standard fantasy series. It's a shame not to read the 4th and 5th.

The problem is you won't get any kind of ending or closure unless you finish the whole series.

[Voidus]

The first 3 books are always the worst for me on a read through, standard sword and sorcery fantasy that's been done over and over, 2 is a bit of an exception, but I tend to skim through until book 4, that's when it starts getting really interesting. I guess I'm weird in that I really don't mind the pacing and multiple viewpoints and arcs in the later books, I really enjoy the later ones, and how Brandon wrapped them all up.

[Tamzin Ashevai she/her]

I've been reading the WoT series for the past several months (currently on book 10, Knife of Dreams, the last in the series that [url+http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Oliver_Rigney]Robert Jordan[/url] wrote without the generous choice of Brandon Sanderson from Jordan's widow, Harriet McDougal for the completion of the series.  Okay, that's a lot of words.  Such was also a conscious choice, in my understanding.  Uh-oh!  (I'm borderline theorizing.)  Clears throat ...

 

According to my intended achievement this year on Goodreads, I'm way behind my projection this year because I'm no longer reading mediocre, 300-page, introductory novellas, but most excellent ... extensive sequels to established series!

[Truthless he/him]

It gets very, very cheesy in the final few books. The answer is love! A big letdown for me. Don't get started if you're expecting to come away with something really rewarding and satisfying. The characters and world and magic and writing are fantastic, of course. There's just no way it could have ended well with all the diversions RJ indulged in the middle books.

 

Also, Perrin's arc is much like Daenerys' arc in that they travel the same arc over and over. Weeeeee.

[Lady_Yasha she/her]

It gets very, very cheesy in the final few books. The answer is love! A big letdown for me. Don't get started if you're expecting to come away with something really rewarding and satisfying. The characters and world and magic and writing are fantastic, of course. There's just no way it could have ended well with all the diversions RJ indulged in the middle books.

 

Also, Perrin's arc is much like Daenerys' arc in that they travel the same arc over and over. Weeeeee.

 

SPOILERS: Rand's realization was very important and essential to his sanity. Without love he would have broken the world in anger. Veins of Gold spoke volumes about the entire story; with the exception of Those Who Fight, this was my favourite chapter of the entire series because it illustrated a very basic and raw human emotion that the Shadow could never possess. Love was not the weapon against the Shadow - nothing cheesy like that. But it was important for Rand to learn this as he'd been teaching himself the opposite by suppressing his compassion.

 

//spoiler

 

Besides that I was very satisfied with what the Dark One turned out to be and Rand's battle with it. I've followed Wheel of Time for seven years but even if you're new to the series I think the ending will captivate and bind your wonder into the myth and legend tale it is. The final pages of the book are a perfect send off to a wonderful story.

[DragonReborn he/him]

Still have never read a series that comes close to being as good as The Wheel of Time. The best characters in fantasy

[Oathbringer he/him]

My take, very good magic system, able to understand it and what is done. Great read. Quite big, but worth it. I enjoyed it a lot, and I enjoyed the ending. I would recommend it to almost any who love fantasy.

[Carcinios he/him]

I read fast. I got through the last book in the series in just under 24 hours and the others in a similar length of time. As a result I never experienced the dragging the others have mentioned. so yes I would give the series a huge endorsement  but be prepared for many 'high cantled saddles', dress with 'slashes of colour' and women 'folding their arms underneath their breasts' Jordan does like his stock descriptions

[Bigtones he/him]

My take on someone who has just started reading Book 4...Great series thus far, very fleshed out worlds that you can see as the main characters walk (they do that a lot so far) around, trying to get from place to place.  Very well written battle scenes, especially the last 150+ pages of book two.  Your mind will be trying to string together theories the entire time since you now know it last for 14 Books.  Also, what I have been telling myself is "this is not a trilogy" give him time to introduce at his own pace because there's a reason why he paces his books the way he does (I think.)

 

Please don't take my word for it and give the first book about 100 pages because "This is not a Trilogy."

[Jasper he/him]

It is a great series. Admittedly, it gets slow around book 7 or fish, but it picks back up again with the last 3. The Wheel of Time is a must read if you love fantasy, but, you must be ready for the time commitment. This a a loooooong series.

[TwistedMisting she/her]

I think it's difficult to give opinions on this without bias really. Personally I absolutely loved the first four books. I flew through them. And then the plot came to a screeching halt from the pace it had been going at and started meandering along at a crawl, describing every little twist in excrutiating detail. The main problem for me though was that the characters all degenerated into flat, annoying people who really got on my nerves. It's like each character got one thing that they suddenly focus on and drone on about endlessly. The one exception to this was Mat, who remained engaging and witty and fun to read. I loved his story arc.

 

I can handle a slow plot. A slow storyline may not be ideal, but it's bearable as long as the characters are well drawn enough to keep you engaged. For me this is where the series falls down.

[Havok]

You can expect the next few months of your life to be consumed with the series.

I had tried to read the series a few times and gave up not far into book 1. I was not reading fantasy at the time and had a hard time getting into it. Last jan I started reading a lot of fantasy and in june I decided I was going to read this series. Three months later I set down AMOL and was blown away.

The character progression, the imagery, the twists all of it was done well and is a very epic story. Sanderson did an excellent job finishing up the books and working some of his personal magic into them. I believe this series to he a must read for all fantasy readers.

[Havok]

You can expect the next few months of your life to be consumed with the series.

I had tried to read the series a few times and gave up not far into book 1. I was not reading fantasy at the time and had a hard time getting into it. Last jan I started reading a lot of fantasy and in june I decided I was going to read this series. Three months later I set down AMOL and was blown away.

The character progression, the imagery, the twists all of it was done well and is a very epic story. Sanderson did an excellent job finishing up the books and working some of his personal magic into them. I believe this series to he a must read for all fantasy readers.

[happyman he/him]

SPOILERS: Rand's realization was very important and essential to his sanity. Without love he would have broken the world in anger. Veins of Gold spoke volumes about the entire story; with the exception of Those Who Fight, this was my favourite chapter of the entire series because it illustrated a very basic and raw human emotion that the Shadow could never possess. Love was not the weapon against the Shadow - nothing cheesy like that. But it was important for Rand to learn this as he'd been teaching himself the opposite by suppressing his compassion.

 

//spoiler

 

This.  I'd say in other words that Love wasn't the key to defeating the Dark One.

 

It was, however, a reason to keep on fighting.  This is a crucial distinction.  It resonates with people because many, in their own way, have been forced to the same conclusion, on a smaller scale.  They won't keep their job because of love, but it may be the reason they even try in the first place.