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Sometime in (probably) November, the final book in the long running Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light will drop, ending a 22 year run. Why should I care? This is a totally rad series that has defined the modern idea of epic fantasy. It has inspired dozens of writers, spun off a prequel, comic books, and (maybe someday?) a TV series and/or movie. Hell, it even has its own yearly convention, JordanCon http://www.jordancon.org/ Tragically, the author, Robert Jordan died in September of 2007 leaving his series unfinished. Luckily for us, Team Jordan (editors, friends and wife, Harriet) selected Goon favorite Brandon Sanderson (http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3334571&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1) to finish his series. In a ballsy move, Sanderson and Team Jordan took Roberts final notes for the last book, and made it into a final trilogy of books. With two books down and one more to go, fans are gearing up for the final glimpse into this fantastic world. I know many of the readers have been with the series since the beginning, and personally, I have invested 15 years of my life into this book - over half my life. New readers are welcome as well! With that being said, this will be the last time to do a reread of this epic series with a new book about to come out. I think we should all do a reread together, a couple of chapters at a time - discuss prophecies, foreshadowing, viewings, dreams, etc. However, with the length of this series, it's Serious Business Time. Not including prologues and epilogues (which any WoT fan will be able to tell you are pretty long themselves) we have 609 chapters to read and about 300 days to do it in. I think the best way to organize this is to make this like a homework assignment, i.e. read Chapters X and Y by Thursday - discuss. Anything we discuss in past/current reading is good for spoilers, however anything referencing a future event should be put in spoiler tags. I.E. Min's viewing in Chapter 3 clearly foreshadows Rand's death at the hands of Perrin in book 5. Paperback, hardback, e-book, or audiobook - none of these are the beginning, but they are a beginning for your reread/first read. Since it's 9 pm on Wednesday, we'll start tomorrow. Do to OVERWHELMING demand, we will switch this up to a weekly schedule starting tomorrow night (starting with chapter 17). While discussing the weeks reading, make sure to use spoilers for slower readers. Past weeks are good to spoil. Day 1, Thursday 12 January, The Eye of The World: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3 Day 2, Friday 13 (spoooooooky) January, The Eye of The World: Chapter 4, Chapter 5, and Chapter 6 Day 3, Saturday 14 January, The Eye of The World: Chapter 7, 8, 9, and 10 Day 4, Sunday 15 January, The Eye of The World: Chapters 11, 12, and 13 Day 5, Monday 16 January, The Eye of The World: Chapters 14, 15, and 16 Week 2, Monday 16 January - 23 January, The Eye of the World: Chapters 17-35 Week 3, Monday 23 January - 30 January, The Eye of the World: Chapters 35 - 53 (finish the book!) Week Whatever - We're 1/2 way through the Dragon Reborn. I'm not really updating this anymore But this is cooooooool! Prison Warden posted:
omnibobb fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Mar 5, 2012 |
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Jan 12, 2012 03:14
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Reserved for anything we may need! Also, if you have any suggestions/changes for the OP, let me know!
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Jan 12, 2012 03:15
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Alright, I just finished through chapter 3 and it's neat to see the characters young and naive, but still having a definite feel. Rand is stubborn and sometimes impetuous but if he stops and thinks he makes clear level headed decisions Mat's got jokes Perrin is a big whiny baby Also, we meet Moraine, Lan, Nynaeve, and Egwene and get a brief glimpse into the later two's personality. When I first started reading the series, I really liked that map at the beginning. I used colored pencils to track the characters progress and thought it was really neat to see where everyone went. Luckily for me, I quit doing that before it gets all pear shaped later. I also enjoy the feeling of growth in the characters. Robert Jordan really hammers home the point that these are small town, country rear end, bumpkins. The sense of fear and wonder at the black cloaked rider, talking about various stories of the Warders and whatnot. It's a good start to the story and already is sucking me in again! Best line: Chapter 2 "It was going to be the best Bel Tine ever." It really will be. 
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Jan 12, 2012 04:44
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I'm going through the series this time in Audiobook format and this coincides with where I'm at, not too far in, when Rand meets Min. There are so many references symbolising a characters role or destiny I didn't pick up the second read through. Perrin is incredulous about wolves when Moiraine mentions they hate Trollocs. Mat alludes to chance a lot, look for it. Min's viewing are worked out/explained throughout the entire series and are still being used as a device and reference. I totally forgot that we are introduced to a lot of the shadowspawn so soon (trollocs/fades/dragkhar.)
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Jan 12, 2012 05:30
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I'm up through chapter 3 as well, as I live abroad, so it's halfway through Thursday here already. Just a thought, would it be better to split things up by weeks instead of days? In the Song of Fire and Ice one it looks like they did it by week, and that might be easier to keep updated with on the OP, as opposed to you having to babysit it every day.
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Jan 12, 2012 05:35
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Lascivious Sloth posted:I'm going through the series this time in Audiobook format and this coincides with where I'm at, not too far in, when Rand meets Min. I started doing this, but honestly listening to the audiobook just takes so drat long. I'm halfway into chapter two after an hour and a half, I kinda have to eat and sleep as well as finish the story by the time the next age comes in December. The prologue is fantastic, it's just jam PACKED with little references and allusions to stuff that crops up later the True Power and Ishamael's use of it is great, I think you get more out of it every time you reread the story. It's odd also how... small the focus seems in these early chapters, concentrating on the very small town worries and such, seeing things from the perspective of these clueless farmboys, especially considering the shift in focus the series undergoes as it goes on. Still, once poo poo GETS REAL soon, we'll be into pretty much my favourite era of this story, right up until the end of book five, I think. The beginning few chapters are also so Tolkien it is great, it's really evocative, with the whole shire, common-clay hobbits and the mysterious black cloaked rider.
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Jan 12, 2012 05:48
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Prison Warden posted:It's odd also how... small the focus seems in these early chapters, concentrating on the very small town worries and such, seeing things from the perspective of these clueless farmboys, especially considering the shift in focus the series undergoes as it goes on. Still, once poo poo GETS REAL soon, we'll be into pretty much my favourite era of this story, right up until the end of book five, I think. I noticed this too. I decided to keep notes in a little planner someone gave me and I'm just writing who was in each chapter, and where they are. Just to keep things straight in my head, and hopefully less confusing as more and more characters get involved. As of right now, at the end of chapter 3 my note is "Rand, Mat, Perrin, Fain, Nynaeve, Egwene - Emdond's Field"  . So small and quaint right now! Gonna get a bit more complicated than that, and fast.
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Jan 12, 2012 05:59
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I'm game. I also have a friend who's just starting the series so it'll be interesting to talk to him about it as he discovers everything for the first time.
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Jan 12, 2012 06:37
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Wow what timing. For christmas I asked for the entire wheel of time set and I'm going through it for the first time. I actually started a little before christmas so right now I'm on book 3. I gotta say though I didn't really like the first two that much. Some parts were good but it seemed like I read a lot of pages for so little plot/character development. I've heard they get better as you go which must be true for the series to be so popular and so long. I also find myself wanting to strangle everyone for being so loving resistant to everything. Oh I need to do such and such well I better resist and deny it for as long as possible then give in. Rinse repeat.
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Jan 12, 2012 07:53
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Why the hell not! I will probably end up falling behind because I am a slower reader and I have other books going at the same time, but I'll see. I bought the first book ages ago and now is as good a time as any to begin the series.
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Jan 12, 2012 08:14
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One posted:Wow what timing. For christmas I asked for the entire wheel of time set and I'm going through it for the first time. I actually started a little before christmas so right now I'm on book 3. I gotta say though I didn't really like the first two that much. Some parts were good but it seemed like I read a lot of pages for so little plot/character development. I've heard they get better as you go which must be true for the series to be so popular and so long. Are you feeling frustrated? Perhaps you should tug at your braid.
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Jan 12, 2012 11:48
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Nynaeve's very first scene and she's in hardcore bitch mode to Rand.
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Jan 12, 2012 12:55
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One posted:Wow what timing. For christmas I asked for the entire wheel of time set and I'm going through it for the first time. I actually started a little before christmas so right now I'm on book 3. I gotta say though I didn't really like the first two that much. Some parts were good but it seemed like I read a lot of pages for so little plot/character development. I've heard they get better as you go which must be true for the series to be so popular and so long. The first three feel kind of small and self contained because there was no definite plan for how long the series would be. Book one was written as a book that could stand alone. When it did well, they stretched it to a trilogy, then a, uh, 6-logy, and then a write however the gently caress much you want-logy. Books 4-6 are generally considered the highlights of the Jordan written books with 4 or 6 being the general favorites. Edit: Also, a question: During the prologue, Ishmael is pretty clearly channelling and having a direct effect on the world. I thought he only had a small effect after being sealed in the Bore? Maybe it's so fresh that he still has a pretty strong hand? omnibobb fucked around with this message at 14:04 on Jan 12, 2012 |
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Jan 12, 2012 13:03
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Cartoon Man posted:Nynaeve's very first scene and she's in hardcore bitch mode to Rand. Start as you mean to go on I guess. omnibobb posted:The first three feel kind of small and self contained because there was no definite plan for how long the series would be. Book one was written as a book that could stand alone. When it did well, they stretched it to a trilogy, then a, uh, 6-logy, and then a write however the gently caress much you want-logy. Book 3 has always been my favourite, since that's when Mat finally starts being great. He does at least one super-badass thing in every perspective he has and I love two. I think I really liked the whole feel of the adventure back then, but I can elaborate on that later. I think books 4-6 are really more telling of the series as a whole though. In the prologue, he is also THERE in the flesh. I think we know that Ishamael is basically partially trapped in a sort of wave or cycle, where he is released every 1000 years (may be less, can't recall) I always assumed he just preferred to do his work in the shadows and such. Hell, even AFTER the Forsaken start pouring out fully, he still doesn't go around blowing poo poo up or anything.
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Jan 12, 2012 14:34
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I was going to reread The Black Company series, but I suppose it's about time I reread The Wheel of Time books. I think I read up to Knife of Dreams, but this was probably around 8 years ago. I only vaguely remember most of the story, so it will basically be the first time through again. I too am up to chapter three now. The start is a lot more rapid then I remember. In my mind, the events that have happened so far were much more spaced out. I also really enjoy the superstitious bumpkin aspects of the town, when Nynaeve comes stomping around and berating the boys for even daring to speak of such terrible things is great imagery for imparting the superstitious wonderment of the village.
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Jan 12, 2012 21:24
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I'll keep an eye on this thread. I started reading the series a few months back, and when you all catch up to where I'm at, I'll make an effort to merge with traffic, as it were.
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Jan 12, 2012 22:29
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I've never made it past book six and they've been sat on my 'to read' shelf for ages now, guess it is time to finish this. Count me in.
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Jan 12, 2012 22:43
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Glad to have everyone along for the ride. Tonight/tomorrow we'll read chapters 4, 5, and 6. I want us to get a little ahead of the curve early so when we hit A) More complex chapters B) Super boring chapters we can slow the pace down so we can appreciate/not get burned out. In the past I've had to take a break every 3 or 4 books and do some "light reading". I'm incorporating the light reading as I go by reading the War of the Spider Queen series if anyone wants to read along to trashy DnD books.
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Jan 12, 2012 22:59
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These chapters are dope as heck. We meet Thom and Trollocs and start to learn about Rands ~*~*~*~secret past~*~*~*~ OoOoOh I love this part of the book, when you learn about this great big open world where anything can happen and we get to learn about it along with the main character, his sense of wonder is my sense of wonder, his awe at the wild stories is my awe. I feel by now a new reader is either getting intrigued or bored and will shortly decide if they will continue this or not. I have a question for someone on their first read; What do you think of Trollocs? Are they spooky monsters or are they your standard fantasy orc stand in?
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Jan 13, 2012 02:05
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omnibobb posted:These chapters are dope as heck. I will say I was enjoying the first half of this book more than the second half. I think he did a decent job of introducing the region and the characters. I felt curious about everything that came at me at this point in the story. I didn't start getting antsy untilthe trail of a thousand inns
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Jan 13, 2012 03:14
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omnibobb posted:standard fantasy orc stand in Fades are pretty  though.
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Jan 13, 2012 03:46
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Yes, yes. It's all fun and games now, enjoy it. I'll meet y'all in Crossroads when we find out who the real fans are.
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Jan 13, 2012 05:15
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Hey, I'm going to join this. The longest series I ever read was Harry Potter so this will be tough. I'll catch up on the reading tomorrow afternoon and then be a regular poster and stick to the schedule.
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Jan 13, 2012 06:15
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I started rereading Eye of the World a few weeks ago so I'm down. I'm up to the point Loial is introduced. Interested in reading some other people's views on the early stuff.
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Jan 13, 2012 10:57
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I love how Thom is introduced. The best part of his charecter is that he doesn't change too much personality wise throughout the series, he just gets more bad-rear end.
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Jan 13, 2012 11:01
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Nynaeve is the best character. I thought she was stupid when I first read these books a decade ago, when I was just getting out of high school. In a reread, nothing about the impression one gets from her has changed in the slightest, yet she seems tremendously more compelling, even relatable in some kind of "oh god" way. And she just keeps getting better as the story goes.
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Jan 13, 2012 19:33
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Prison Warden posted:In the prologue, he is also THERE in the flesh. I think we know that Ishamael is basically partially trapped in a sort of wave or cycle, where he is released every 1000 years (may be less, can't recall) I always assumed he just preferred to do his work in the shadows and such. Hell, even AFTER the Forsaken start pouring out fully, he still doesn't go around blowing poo poo up or anything. He was more loosely bound, if I remember right, which is how his periodic trips back into Randland were possible. I started a reread last summer, so I'm a little ahead (just starting KoD), but I expect you'll all be catching up to me at some point since I don't have much time right now for reading. I'm having a blast, though. It's my fourth (I think) time through and I love picking up on new details each time I read this series.
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Jan 13, 2012 21:05
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Mazed posted:Nynaeve is the best character. I thought she was stupid when I first read these books a decade ago, when I was just getting out of high school. In a reread, nothing about the impression one gets from her has changed in the slightest, yet she seems tremendously more compelling, even relatable in some kind of "oh god" way. And she just keeps getting better as the story goes. I think that's a pretty common reaction. I hated Nynaeve when I first started reading the books too, oh so many years ago. But as I've gotten older (i.e., stopped being a stupid teenager), I've really come to appreciate her character a lot more. I've seen a lot of people say similar things. She is definitely one of the coolest characters now, and one of my favorites.
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Jan 13, 2012 21:32
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Does Rand ever accept his fate at any point in the series? If I have to read the words "I Wont! I wont!" as internal monologue much more "I wont" want to keep reading.
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Jan 13, 2012 22:54
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One posted:Does Rand ever accept his fate at any point in the series? If I have to read the words "I Wont! I wont!" as internal monologue much more "I wont" want to keep reading. Yes, it happens in book 3.
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Jan 13, 2012 23:03
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I agree that my appreciation for Nynaeve has grown a lot as I have read the books, though I'm not that much older than when I started, Book Eleven was just about to be released when I first got EoTW, and she still does tend to have some character traits that annoy me tug braid tug braid woolhead tug braid tug braid men are dumb tug braid tug braid. Her personality develops a lot as the story goes on too. Conversely, I liked Egwene a lot when I first read the series, and seeing her here I can see why, she seems kind of adventurous, wanting to go places and explore new things and such. Her and Mat's attitude towards the outside world is a nice counter to Rand's "Why would I ever leave the Two Rivers" attitude. Whereas now I really can't stand her, and I think those feelings may be tainting zing! my memories of her early character. I'm interested to see when exactly my opinions here change
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Jan 14, 2012 00:09
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After a long day of work and FISH TANK EMERGENCIES!!!! Im ready for a good read. Tonight let's read chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10. omnibobb fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Jan 14, 2012 |
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Jan 14, 2012 00:11
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I'd be reading along too, except I just hit book seven on my own.  Since this read-through started a couple years ago, though, I'll be following the thread anyway. It's amazing how much you can forget about. This series has many flaws, but it's still profoundly compelling.Prison Warden posted:I agree that my appreciation for Nynaeve has grown a lot as I have read the books, though I'm not that much older than when I started, Book Eleven was just about to be released when I first got EoTW, and she still does tend to have some character traits that annoy me tug braid tug braid woolhead tug braid tug braid men are dumb tug braid tug braid. Her personality develops a lot as the story goes on too. Nynaeve has those annoying traits--and man, are they annoying, sometimes--but they're sort of mitigated by the fact that not only are other characters are constantly calling her out for them, the narrative itself feels very much aware. Nynaeve's reactions to things tend to make up a great deal of the little priceless moments scattered throughout. Mat's also pretty great. The guy's entire angle can be summed up in "does not know what the gently caress" taken to increasingly enormous scales. Without saying too much in advance, I recall Egwene hitting two major jumps in terms of her development, one in book 2, the other in book 6. You may have been thinking of those. There may be more later, but previously I never read past 10, so I dunno.
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Jan 14, 2012 01:24
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I just started book 9 this morning. Since I alternate this series with Malazan Book of the Fallen, I should finish roughly around the same time as the rest of you, if I don't slack. I would ideally like to catch up and finish the series together with a friend who's waiting for the final book to come out. I've put too much time into it to quit now, and although I've been disappointed with the last few books (and probably will be disappointed with this one), I'll persevere to finish this series! Not to deter people though, it's not the story that disappoints me it's the pace that Jordan sets after book 6 or so. Things just tend to take forever to happen, although I hear it gets better! Here's to a good series!
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Jan 14, 2012 03:03
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Mazed posted:Nynaeve has those annoying traits--and man, are they annoying, sometimes--but they're sort of mitigated by the fact that not only are other characters are constantly calling her out for them, the narrative itself feels very much aware. Nynaeve's reactions to things tend to make up a great deal of the little priceless moments scattered throughout. Yeah. Pretty frequently when Nynaeve is griping about something to herself, she does (or wants to do) the same thing. For example, there's one point where she's thinking that Aviendha and somebody else resort to violence too easily and that somebody should slap some sense into them.
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Jan 14, 2012 03:07
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So today we saw some neat things. This is our first look at the One Power in action, saw some dreams, and set off on an adventure. People on their first read through, pay particular attention to dreams. They open up a LOT later in the books and are full of symbolism and poo poo like that. Tonight, let's hit up chapters 11, 12, and 13.
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Jan 15, 2012 01:45
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I'm gonna try to keep up with this, until my literary ADD sets in at least. I'm not a guy who really reads fantasy other than a couple of Pratchett novels, but I'm really enjoying this so far. I really like Nynaeve so far; I normally hate Girl Power "men are stupid" characters, but in this case she seems really competent and the men really do seem to be pretty stupid for the most part. I'm a couple chapters behind already but hopefully I can catch up tomorrow.
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Jan 15, 2012 02:41
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DrGonzo90 posted:I'm gonna try to keep up with this, until my literary ADD sets in at least. I'm not a guy who really reads fantasy other than a couple of Pratchett novels, but I'm really enjoying this so far. Have I got the girl for you!
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Jan 15, 2012 02:48
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Yay, an excuse to start this! I keep saying to myself I'll re-read everything before the last one comes out, now I can do so and have a place to discuss it too; goons are the best. Working today, 8 hours to kill, I'll probably get halfway through EotW.
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Jan 15, 2012 20:10
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The thing I really like about these early chapters are all the subtle hints that Rand is starting to channel. You don't really think anything is all that odd on the first read through
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Jan 15, 2012 20:18
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