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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 |
# ¿ Jan 12, 2012 03:14 |
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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 06:57 |
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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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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 |
# ¿ Jan 12, 2012 13:03 |
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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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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 |
# ¿ Jan 14, 2012 00:11 |
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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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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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Can you pop up examples? I was focusing on finding the first instance in this readthrough and if I missed it already... Edit: unless its using the flame and void
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# ¿ Jan 15, 2012 21:41 |
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I love the foreshadowing especially when you realize this was written to stand alone. Tonight lets hit up chapters 14, 15, and 16
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# ¿ Jan 15, 2012 23:56 |
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Lascivious Sloth posted:I think the OP should set weekly goals, even if he keeps up the daily discussions, so that people can go at their own pace throughout the week but so that the fast readers can discuss the weekly goal early. I'll switch it up to weekly tomorrow.
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# ¿ Jan 16, 2012 00:35 |
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I'll add that to the OP
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# ¿ Jan 16, 2012 01:58 |
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Alright suckas, we're moving to a weekly format here. Between now and January 23 read chapters 17-35. During this week, remember to spoiler any discussions we have for slower readers. As usual, previous chapters are spoiler crazy.
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# ¿ Jan 17, 2012 00:33 |
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Prison Warden posted:Woo, weekly schedule, awesome! With kindle and the sony book store (presumably the nook as well), you can download an app for your computer to read ebooks. Then download the book. Read at your leisure.
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# ¿ Jan 17, 2012 03:22 |
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I love this series and all, but drat does everyone need a dose of listen to those with experience. "tell me if you have bad dreams. I can help with bad dreams." "derr, lets not tell herwe had bad dreams" "hey, dont do this thing in shadar logoth" does it anyway "come on guys im serious, did you do it? If you did its super dangerous" "no way, jose" I know it's just a book and for plot development and stuff but everyones life would be so much easier if they stopped and talked for a bit. Especially later in the series.
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# ¿ Jan 18, 2012 03:35 |
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Yeah, I was doing that when it was daily, just without the sirens/bolding. Mainly because i generally post from my phone.
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# ¿ Jan 22, 2012 17:39 |
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berenzen posted:I'm pretty sure that she did considering he's the only one that channels. I'm pretty sure that she mainly kept the other two on as bait to confuse Ba'alzamon. Well, as of now, she doesn't know he can channel But yeah, being born out of the Two Rivers is a big red flag. Week 3, Eye of the World - FINISH THE BOOK!
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# ¿ Jan 23, 2012 22:57 |
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Prison Warden posted:Eganin is a different character. This is good. Can I put it the OP
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# ¿ Jan 26, 2012 03:18 |
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Yeah, this is the first time I've reread the first book in years (I had bought it on the Sony Book reader and then later switched to kindle and bought the rest there), and it's really like "gently caress all this poo poo happened!" It's such a good book and easy to see why it caught my attention. Unfortunately, I've been opening a restaurant this week and working stupid rear end long hours, so I may not be able to finish EotW by Monday, but we shall march on.
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# ¿ Jan 28, 2012 04:42 |
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Prison Warden posted:Well, there are other factors too but One of the characters goes completely loving insane, which I'm convinced is at least partially to do with all the pressures and stuff on him in this book onwards. I mean, Perrin and Mat and such were always kinda interested in leaving the Two Rivers, and Mat's outright said in later books he couldn't go back, but Rand has a clear Just Wants To Raise Sheep attitude right from the get go. In the Age of Legends, they had sho-wings(?)/airplanes for general everyday travel. For important tasks, I assumed they had channelers whose job it was was to open traveling door thingies.
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# ¿ Jan 28, 2012 04:47 |
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Prison Warden posted:Yeah... I dunno I just assumed that in a world where instant portal-wise teleportation is around, there would be some sort of mass transit system utilising it BEFORE the world went to hell in a handbasket Oh I agree. It reads like "Hey thanks for helping us here's this SUPER RAD COOL THING!" Well, if it's super rad cool why didn't we have it before, hrmm?
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# ¿ Jan 28, 2012 05:03 |
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Wowee zowee! We're onto book 2, The Great Hunt. (spoiler: This Book Rocks!) Let's read through chapter 18 this week homies! January 30th - 6 February, The Great Hunt Prologue - Chapter 18
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# ¿ Jan 31, 2012 02:33 |
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One posted:I'm on book 3 and I think it's much better than book 2 so far. This one helps explain a lot of the opinions I've seen expressed about the characters and the series. if the pov characters last name is "trakkand", its a horrible chapter
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# ¿ Feb 3, 2012 21:09 |
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berenzen posted:I disagree Galad's chapters are actually quite interesting. Gawyn's chapters though... he just comes off as a spoiled, whiny brat. Like the other dude said, Galad has a different last name and you're right, he has some rad chapters, especially towards the end
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# ¿ Feb 4, 2012 02:59 |
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Yep, like some shows or movies, part of a book series this large are slow. Would you like to discuss Rand hiding from the Amyriln? But real discussion; we've seen Rand mention loosing his hand, andMat say he almost always wins at dice. I just read Moraine think that just about every queen who lets it be known that they are full Aes Sedai lives to regret it. Between that and a certain someones thoughts about Elaynes safety, i wonder if Elayne/Andor is pretty boned this winter?
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# ¿ Feb 4, 2012 05:22 |
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Guys, I feel bad - I'm so behind in this book. I just finished chapter 7. I'm shameful. But maybe I can catch up this week! Week of February 6 - The Great Hunt, Chapters 19 - 35
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# ¿ Feb 7, 2012 01:08 |
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Easing The Badger
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# ¿ Feb 11, 2012 04:12 |
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Just how I always imagined it!
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# ¿ Feb 13, 2012 16:05 |
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Alright homies, this week we are finishing the book. What do you all think of taking a week off and reading a trash novel so we don't burn ourselves out on WoT?
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# ¿ Feb 14, 2012 02:37 |
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I usually get through the first 4 books before I take a break and run a "trashy novel" series like Star Wars or Dungeons and Dragons. This read through is much slower than usual for me, but I'm reading in bursts do to work being crazy.
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# ¿ Feb 14, 2012 04:02 |
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Cartoon Man posted:All I can say is that we had at least a 10 page arguement over Elayne in the book 13 thread, and I can't wait to rehash it all over again 5 or so months from now. Don't be obtuse.
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# ¿ Feb 15, 2012 15:37 |
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Cartoon Man posted:Crossposting from the book 13 thread. Yeah, I figured it out to early-mid November, so we got 2 extra months. I think we can keep the same pace, as it's slower than most people are reading, so we can throw in some breaks, and stretch out book 10 and 11 if we need to so people don't get burnt out.
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# ¿ Feb 17, 2012 03:45 |
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berenzen posted:Book 2 deadline is today. So the first 14 chapters or so of book 3 is what the deadline for next week should be. Yes this. Go team go. The Dragon Reborn, Prologue - Chapter 14
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# ¿ Feb 21, 2012 03:38 |
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:Okay well fine maybe it would've been more rational to let Verin talk her way through, but explosions make for a much better read than more dialogue. I gave a small cheer and look forward to more explosions. Dumais Well
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# ¿ Feb 28, 2012 01:56 |
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The Dragon Reborn - Chapters 15 - 35 Alright homies, this book is where I feel like things really pick up. Characters start being badass, 2/3 of the super girls get less annoying (spoiler: Elayne NEVER gets less annoying), and we get some nice plot movement. For me, books 3-6 are the high point of the series.
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# ¿ Feb 28, 2012 03:41 |
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berenzen posted:He is, also I believe that it's either in this set of chapters or the next that Sanderson said a Checkov's gun was armed, and is supposed to be fired in the last book. I'm looking for the quote, but coming up empty. I believe that it was the last third of the book. The popular theory is its the 13x13 trick which is a pretty big deal considering we have never seen it happen.
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# ¿ Feb 28, 2012 04:54 |
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Quad posted:I'm in the middle of book 4, and I already don't remember exactly what he's referring to. Is it the "13 myrdraal and 13 black ajah can turn a person to the shadow" thing? Yeah that. AreYouStillThere posted:Agreed completely. I am having a really hard time stopping myself now so I don't get ahead. I just want to keep reading. I know - it's so good. I've been about a week behind this whole reread, but I'm almost done with this weeks reading already. omnibobb fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Feb 28, 2012 |
# ¿ Feb 28, 2012 14:20 |
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Cartoon Man posted:Did they ever explain why it takes 13 Aes Sedai and 13 Myrdraal, other than it just does? It's something about the weaves, probably some form of compulsion, are actually woven through the Myrdraal then into the victim. Why specifically 13? Probably cause it's spOoooOOOoooOoOoooky
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# ¿ Feb 28, 2012 14:30 |
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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 06:57 |
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Cartoon Man posted:drat, you should pick up some the Myrdraal powers by having this done to you, like the ability to fade into shadows and the fear stare. It's probably that the weave picks up some of the (I want to say "taint" here, but not taint because thats something else thats specific in these books) aura? of the shadow. Like percolating water through coffee grounds?
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# ¿ Feb 28, 2012 14:59 |