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[zombie]

Alright, I know there are other people who read this.  It's not THAT embarassing (the only other threads I saw talked about it as a guilty pleasure). 

Have you all read the new book that will wrap up the series, which is being constructed from Jordan's notes by Brandon Sanderson? 

I thought it was better than Jordan's work (perhaps because it GOT TO A POINT) except for some awkward writing of Matt's character. 

Someone needs to talk to me about this series now because I'm driving everyone else crazy. Cast the movie?  Perfect casting-- any actor, any age.....

[gennimom]

Hush! I haven't talked GD into getting it yet! ;)

[elsie]

I quit the series with more than a little hostility around book seven.

[zombie]

I too mostly quit reading it.  And those that I DID read I skimmed.  A LOT.

I didn't even read the last one, and was a little confused when I picked up the Gathering Storm at first.  I just went on wikipedia and read the summary of that one and was good to go.  But I had re-read the first four and remembered how GOOD they were, at first.  Now that I've read Gathering Storm, I don't feel like reading any more of the old ones, though.  I want the finishes.

They have it at Sam's, Genimom.  I promise, no spoilers from me, but go get it!! It's worth it, I swear.  But I did think it was really good.  And Sanderson is getting to a point, and there's an end in sight, so if you quit, you might try again... just read the plot summaries and start with the first of these last three. 

I frankly don't think Jordan had it in him to finish it but Sanderson is, IMHO, doing a great job so far.  (Except, as stated above, something not quite right with his writing of Matt....)

[voxprincipalis]

I quit the series with more than a little hostility around book seven.

Agreed (though I think I got to book 8).

And because of this, I don't know why it is that someone else is writing the book that will end the series (although I am thrilled to hear that there will, in fact, be an end to the series).

Could someone post a non-spoilery update?

VP

[marigolds]

Oooh, my geek cohort!  Hello, my friends! 

Voxy, RJ died about a year ago.  And like a selfish a**hole, the first thing I thought was, "I will never know what happened!"  But apparently, before he died, he dictated hours and hours and hours of tape to his wife and son so that the series could be tied up in the way that he intended.  And they hired someone else to actually write it all up. 

I'm glad to hear that the new author gets to the point - I felt like Jordan's writing was decompensating and he was just going to continue to spin out new threads rather than ever start to spiral back in to the FREAKING ENDING. 

I'm in the middle of rereading #6 right now in preparation for reading the new ones.  I wish he would shut up about:

1. people smoothing their skirts or tugging their braids to convey emotion.
2. how tall and handsome and broad-shouldered every. single. dude. in the series is.
3. women in general.  (Do you all find him sexist or is it just me?)
4. the annoying Children of the Light.   

BUT....I have read them all about 10 times (I read the whole thing through every time a new one comes out.)  It's one of the most satisfying examples of world-building fiction I know of, and it's also really fun to reread the old ones and try to figure out all the little clues and foreshadowings and plot twists based on later information.  (And I LOVE the snakes and foxes other worlds through the ter'angreal that Mat visits - that is a super-intriguing subplot.) 

[mystictechgal]

Alright, I know there are other people who read this.  It's not THAT embarassing (the only other threads I saw talked about it as a guilty pleasure). 

Have you all read the new book that will wrap up the series, which is being constructed from Jordan's notes by Brandon Sanderson? 

I thought it was better than Jordan's work (perhaps because it GOT TO A POINT) except for some awkward writing of Matt's character. 

Someone needs to talk to me about this series now because I'm driving everyone else crazy. Cast the movie?  Perfect casting-- any actor, any age.....

They're finally wrapping up the series?  When they first came out I bought them in hardback as fast as I could get my hands on them.  But, somewhere around book 6-8 I got tired of having to wait for each new installment and decided to take a break and wait until the series was wrapped up and I could read them serially.  I figured that would only be another book or two, but they just kept coming. And coming.  And coming.  Eventually, I forgot which one I'd left off with so I never started reading them again.  Maybe I should pick up some copies from the library and start 'em back up.  At least now I know there's an eventual end in sight.  :) 

[marigolds]

Alright, I know there are other people who read this.  It's not THAT embarassing (the only other threads I saw talked about it as a guilty pleasure). 

Have you all read the new book that will wrap up the series, which is being constructed from Jordan's notes by Brandon Sanderson? 

I thought it was better than Jordan's work (perhaps because it GOT TO A POINT) except for some awkward writing of Matt's character. 

Someone needs to talk to me about this series now because I'm driving everyone else crazy. Cast the movie?  Perfect casting-- any actor, any age.....

They're finally wrapping up the series?  When they first came out I bought them in hardback as fast as I could get my hands on them.  But, somewhere around book 6-8 I got tired of having to wait for each new installment and decided to take a break and wait until the series was wrapped up and I could read them serially.  I figured that would only be another book or two, but they just kept coming. And coming.  And coming.  Eventually, I forgot which one I'd left off with so I never started reading them again.  Maybe I should pick up some copies from the library and start 'em back up.  At least now I know there's an eventual end in sight.  :) 

And by the time you finish those wordy tomes (1-11) the final two installments will probably be out in paperback!

[voxprincipalis]

Voxy, RJ died about a year ago. 

I am mildly embarrassed that I did not know this. But it shows how out of touch I became with the series. Like you, marigolds, my preferred method of reading new installments in a series (when it's a long time between installments, anyway) is to start from the beginning and read up to the "when we last left Storyville..." -- but it was too much for me with The Wheel of Time. I just couldn't.

Thanks for catching me up!

VP

[elsie]

Voxy, RJ died about a year ago. 

I am mildly embarrassed that I did not know this. But it shows how out of touch I became with the series. Like you, marigolds, my preferred method of reading new installments in a series (when it's a long time between installments, anyway) is to start from the beginning and read up to the "when we last left Storyville..." -- but it was too much for me with The Wheel of Time. I just couldn't.

That's a big part of why I quit in hostility. I would end up trying to reread the whole series to get ready for the latest, but it would take longer and longer to do so. Not to mention that there was one book, I don't remember which one, in which Mat never appeared at all and very minor characters were suddenly POV characters. I'd have thrown that book against the wall, but it would've damaged the drywall.

[mystictechgal]

Alright, I know there are other people who read this.  It's not THAT embarassing (the only other threads I saw talked about it as a guilty pleasure). 

Have you all read the new book that will wrap up the series, which is being constructed from Jordan's notes by Brandon Sanderson? 

I thought it was better than Jordan's work (perhaps because it GOT TO A POINT) except for some awkward writing of Matt's character. 

Someone needs to talk to me about this series now because I'm driving everyone else crazy. Cast the movie?  Perfect casting-- any actor, any age.....

They're finally wrapping up the series?  When they first came out I bought them in hardback as fast as I could get my hands on them.  But, somewhere around book 6-8 I got tired of having to wait for each new installment and decided to take a break and wait until the series was wrapped up and I could read them serially.  I figured that would only be another book or two, but they just kept coming. And coming.  And coming.  Eventually, I forgot which one I'd left off with so I never started reading them again.  Maybe I should pick up some copies from the library and start 'em back up.  At least now I know there's an eventual end in sight.  :) 

And by the time you finish those wordy tomes (1-11) the final two installments will probably be out in paperback!

Unfortunately, their length does not lend them to reading in paperback format.  Unless, that is, one does not mind a paperback whose spine will invariably break and that will ultimately fall apart in chunks.

[zombie]

The nice thing is I caught up easily by re-reading the first four books (which were fun to re-read) and then read the wikipedia summaries of the rest of the things I needed to know for this one. 

I also get annoyed with the skirt smoothing, and the "sniffing" whenever a woman is offended by something.  So far, it seems that Sanderson is cutting back on that sort of characterization, at least a bit.  Far fewer discussions of laundry and/or food preparation or eating, too. 

I LOVED the discussion of Egwene's growth & the Tower & Aes Sedai in this book.  There's this scene--well.  I won't do spoilers on you.  :)  But you MUST read this is you've loved the book at all.  It's half off at Sam's Club!!!!! 

I don't like the Children of the Light.  I get the point, but just don't care to read as much about them.  And I also don't care to read much about the Seanchan, actually.  I know it's an important side-plot but I really just want FOCUS.  But there is one SUPER AWESOME cool "side" character who suddenly twists into an important moment in the storyline so much and I loved it!! I won't spoil it, but just wait.  Just you wait.  :)

REAL actions happen in the new one and the story progresses quite nicely.  And he cuts out a lot of the side characters who aren't really all that important and focuses on two or three of the super-main characters.  I hope he keeps doing that, and I hear that's the plan.

The next book, (due Fall 2010) supposedly, is mostly Matt.  And I hope he "gets" into the writing of Matt a bit better because I found the first chapter or two featuring him a little awkward.  (That isn't a spoiler, though, I promise).  If you want non-spoiler catchups on the story, you can visit the Dragonmount website.  http://forums.dragonmount.com/   

Finally, if you're as big of a geek about this series as I am, totally check out this guy's character sketches... they are SO the images I pictured in my head of the various characters.
http://seamassketches.blogspot.com/search/label/wheel%20of%20time

[voxprincipalis]

The next book, (due Fall 2010) supposedly, is mostly Matt.

Wait, I misunderstood. There's a next book after the one you are all talking about? So it's not over?

Oh, in that case I just don't think I can do it.

VP

[marigolds]

The next book, (due Fall 2010) supposedly, is mostly Matt.

Wait, I misunderstood. There's a next book after the one you are all talking about? So it's not over?

Oh, in that case I just don't think I can do it.

VP

The new guy couldn't tie it all up in one book (that would be publishable without all the pages falling out.)  So he's split the "final" one into three volumes. 

Sigh.  But it's Jordan's fault, really - he'd gotten so centripetal that if New Guy has to actually tie up storylines instead of abandoning them, there's no way for him to do it except voluminously. 


I'm glad to hear that it's good, TZ.  I bought it for my husband for Xmas, so we'll get to read it sometime!  (Of course, he's only on book 2, so I may get to it first.) 

[european]

Sigh.  But it's Jordan's fault, really - he'd gotten so centripetal that if New Guy has to actually tie up storylines instead of abandoning them, there's no way for him to do it except voluminously. 

It might have annoyed too many people if he pulled a Twin Peaks, really. I really hope to read this new volume once I find the time.