I've never read a series of this length in my life. I mean, I guess there are few that are even in the vicinity of 14 books. The closest for me is the Dark Tower followed by A Song of Ice and Fire and then the first three books of Dune.
But man, something about the Wheel of Time gripped me for all of the gripes I have like overly repetitive character ticks like smoothing skirts, introducing too many characters to keep up with at times, and plodding pace at times in particular when Egwene is a prisoner of the Tower and marshalling the Aes Sedai.
The world is absolutely massive with rich lore in every single location with a ton of it not really directly addressed in the main line story which I enjoyed because it felt like we shouldn't experience every single important piece of lore directly. It was like hearing stories about far off lands.
The action was intense especially as we got to the last Battle and people, important people mind you, were dying. Most of them were handled well with the exception of Siuan. A character of her caliber and importance dying basically out of the blue felt a little disrespectful of her role in the series but by the same token, I know the lesson was that in the middle of war anything and everything is possible even less dramatic ways of killing off beloved characters.
God, it's just wild to think that the entire main journey is done now. I thought I was going to stop during what people consider the slog but I actually really enjoyed most of it and then once you get to book 11, the pace picks up and so much meaningful stuff happens.
I'm sad now that it's done. Feels like I'm not going to be hanging out with a group of my friends and family any more. But it was an incredible ride that I can't wait to revisit a few years down the road.
I only wish that Robert Jordan had been able to see it through to the ending. It reads like he basically did in his notes and outlines he provided for Sanderson but he deserved to see the public embrace his magnum opus fully himself because it's one truly a fitting ending to the story. It seemed impossible that it would be but I'll be damned if I didn't end with a smile wishing I could see what Rand would get up to now that he's freed of the yoke of being the Dragon Reborn.
I only wish I could forget it all and start again on another turning of the Wheel. Maybe a video game gets it right and tosses us thousands of years to the future when man forgets why the Dark One is sealed away and starts the process again.
by YesImKeithHernandez
5 Comments
Now do First Law or Red Rising.
Man the post-series depression is real with WoT, especially after that marathon. I finished it about two years ago and still randomly think about what everyone’s up to now, like you said about Rand just being able to live his life finally
Totally agree about Siuan though – that one stung because it felt so abrupt compared to how other major deaths were handled. I get that war is chaotic and all but yeah, she deserved better than essentially an offscreen death. At least we got those final moments with her and Gareth but still
The cool thing is there’s so much you probably missed on your first read through that a reread in a few years will feel almost like a different series. All those seemingly throwaway lines that were actually massive foreshadowing, plus you’ll catch way more of the political maneuvering once you know how it all plays out. I’m planning my reread for next year and honestly can’t wait to see how different it feels knowing the ending
Well, I get the sentiment of wanting Robert Jordan to make it to the end of The Wheel of Time. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.
Because, as we know, there *are* no beginnings or endings to the Wheel. But this was *an* ending.
If you liked Wheel of Time, I might recommend The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb. Another long story from many different points of view, centered around an ancient prophecy.
If it counts for anything, the first WoT reread is nearly as fun as reading it the first time. You see it all differently once you know where it’s going… Man it might be time for my 4th reread hahaha.
There was a comment i read a long time ago that pretty much hit my feelings on it after I finished it.
“You dont need 12 books to tell a very basic good vs evil story”
I really enjoyed the first 3 books then I pretty much dropped the series early book 5. This is when they were still being published, and they weren’t all out.
I remember the middle of the entire series was just a slooooooog. At that point, the only reason I was reading was to get more of Mat’s story because he was actually enjoyable. Everything else was really mid at best.
Perrin taking like 3 books or something like that to get his wife was just…ridiculous.
Then when I hit the Sanderson books it felt new enough I ended up getting through those quickly, though he did drop the ball on…what’s his name (its been years since I read it)…Fain or something like that? He even admitted this in interviews, iirc.
Overall, I was like “well that was pretty middle of the road” with some really good highs, and I really enjoyed the end.
Edit: Shoutout to /r/wetlanderhumor if you want some WoT themed memes.