January 9th 2013: Wheel of Time: A Memory of Light released (also books in general)

[darkelf]

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/02/the...t-has-been-set

So, the date has finally been set, in 11 months time we will finally have the ending to the Wheel of Time series. Myself I'm giddy like a schoolgirl at the prospect of finally getting to read the end of this series. However a lot of people are already whining about it being almost a full year away. I don't get that, I would much rather have it take an extra month or three and get a perfect ending than having it rushed and getting a subpar ending filled with mistakes and inconsistencies from lack of editing/proofreading.

So, what are your reactions on this?

Also, to give some more substance to this thread, I think it's time we get some good book recommendations again. I'll start off with some books by Brandon Sanderson that I picked up after reading the previous WoT book:

Mistborn trilogy. A wonderful series about an orphaned girl trying to topple the oppressive regime of the Lord Ruler (silly name I know) and eventually save the world from destruction. An unique (to my knowledge) magic system based on burning alloys of metal to manipulate the world around you (steel to push at objects, iron to pull etc). Well worth a read, I finished all 3 books in about 2 days each I was so engrossed.

The Stormlight Archive: Book 1, The Way of Kings. A series he has just started, it spans a massive world with a deep and intricate plot, combined with a great system of magic (this guy has a knack for cool ways to use magic). All the protagonists have their own agendas and goals, yet most work for the same thing: save the world from the Voidbringers, and ancient evil that many fear is about to return and destroy the world of man. Also a great read, though I might suggest waiting until book 2 is released (sometime after WoT I guess) so the wait won't be so long and painful.

Now share your recommendations.

[Starfisher]

It's finally fucking over.

I haven't even liked the series for.. many books. But I want to see how it ends, and see if all the little threads ever get tied up. I know they won't, but I don't care anymore. Just freaking show me how it ends.

[FriendlyFire]

I'm excited, though saddened it's been pushed back. I had started to get a little tired of the series, but Sanderson did a superb job of picking it back up and The Gathering Storm was one of my favorite books of the series.

[Guardian X]

It was so long, plagued with less-than-consequential subplot after subplot after subplot, and overly-verbose, the author didn't live to see it finished!

Still, I hope the author's untimely demise shocked the authors of other long-running fantasy into getting with the program. Death pays you a visit when HE chooses, not at your leisure. Telling him "I don't have time to die; I'm too busy!" like Goge Vandire from 40k did will earn you the same fate.

And despite all this, I'm still a fan of the WoT series anyway. Guess some of us fantasy fans really are suckers for abuse.

[LoCo]

Guardian X: Or, you know, a little respect for the people who create the worlds you claim to enjoy so much. They write for you to read. You don't read for them to write. They owe you nothing.

I haven't read the last few books of WOT. Mostly because I was beginning to suspect that it would take a while and I didn't want large waits between the last two books because it would have been too close to the end and yet so far...

I'm actually surprised that the last book sold so well considering people must have been expecting a really long wait till the final.

Unlike most, however, I didn't find any parts of the story so far to be pointless, "overly-verbose" or "less-than-consequential". Everything that is in every one of the books is important in some way, and the books wouldn't be the same - the story wouldn't be the same - without them.

If you want an easy comparison, the Sword of Truth series got bogged down in meaningless rubbish - not to mention the horrid political and sexual fantasies of the author - that not only served little to no purpose, but clogged up the reading so badly that I still haven't met anyone who has read all the books.

How about we compare WOT with SOT, fantasy series that ran long, rather than WOT with YOT (your own thoughts) which is just subjective?

As for recommendations? Well that's just easy.

Read We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. If you liked the ideas Orwell used in Nineteen Eighty-Four you might like to find out where they came from and what they looked like before Orwell put his own twist on them. Hell, read Nineteen Eighty-Four again after and marvel at the genius of both these men. A single idea, but worlds apart.

[darkelf]

Loco, the last book sold well because all of us really, really want to finish this ASAP. Another long wait for the last book isn't so bad, gives us plenty of time to reread the first dozen books. And I'd be surprised if there are copies left of the final book the day after release.

[FriendlyFire]

The last book also sold well because Sanderson managed to get the pace back up and to start tying plot lines as opposed to creating new ones.

The feeling I'd been having of the last few books was one of desperation, with everything seemingly going wrong and the plot just muddying itself. The Gathering Storm finished on a high note to me and this gave me hope for Towers of Midnight, which was indeed very good. If A Memory of Light is as good as that, it's pretty much an instant buy.

[LoCo]

FriendlyFire: You are aware, are you not, that Sanderson is only working off Jordan's notes. So Sanderson "managing to get the pace back up" is just him following the course the books were planned to take. The plot lines were going to be tied up and no news ones created even if Jordan were still alive and writing.

In fact, one might even argue that Sanderson is drawing things out since he is the one that split the last book into more where as Jordan had planned it all for one book. But go ahead. Let your frustration for not having a book series finished a long time ago allow you to tarnish a dead man's name.

This happens so often these days. The new is automatically better so then people must find reasons to dislike the old and like the new. One can't, in today's world, like the new while still liking the old. That would be outrageous!

[FriendlyFire]

You haven't even bothered reading the last few books, so I don't exactly see how you can judge my perception of said books. Yes, he used Jordan's notes, but his writing isn't Jordan's, he had to tie the notes together and the feeling isn't the same. Not as many long-winded descriptions, however well made they were with Jordan.

Also, I don't really think anybody would've realistically expected all that's happened in the last three books to be possible to condense in a single one. Since Sanderson is "only" following Jordan's notes, that last book would've been about 1500 pages, even assuming Sanderson is so much more voluble.

In any case, I don't even know why I'm defending my subjective appreciation of the books. I'm not a book reviewer and I couldn't care less what the actual reason is, but the end result is that since Sanderson picked things up the books have started a more upward trend. I loved Jordan, but I'm also very glad that Sanderson's picked them up. You're reading way too much into what I'm saying, apparently so you can complain about something.

[Faek]

To be honest i didn't notice much of a difference once Sanderson took over. I wasn't particularly looking for one though so that may have something to do with it. I guess i was also expecting the pace to pick up as its near the end of the series. I've enjoyed most of the Wheel of Time books. In Sanderson's favour though i have to say that i enjoyed pretty much all of both 'The Gathering Storm' and 'Towers of Midnight' where as parts of the other books i didn't particularly like, mostly those parts that seemed to drag on forever.

I'm currently working my way through Wheel of Time Reread by Leigh Butler in subsitute of rereading the books themselves (i probably only finished reading them around 4 months ago.) I'm up to Winter's Heart and i seem to have bogged down at the beginning of the whole Shaido arc. This is probably a good thing considering i've got till January to do it now.

Onto other books. I've enjoyed 'The Word and the Void' trilogy by Terry Brooks recently. I think the character's interior monologues (?) are much more natural in this book than many of his other works. Thats pretty much all i've read recently actually that i'd recommend. (Recently being about the last month).

[Stripe7]

About time!!!!! I have every book in the series, I think after the 4th book it kind of got repetitive.

I am contemplating reading the whole series again.