May Likes TorontoMan, the wheel of time is such a slog. Just finished book 10 and that was 600 pages of setting up for action.
I'm deeply invested at this point and I can't convince myself to walk away with only 5 books remaining.
samir, a terminally deprecated method@mayintoronto I hate to say it, but it gets better when Sanderson takes over.
And book 10 is definitely the sloggiest of slogs. Even book 11 is better.
@samir My partner told me book 10 was the best. I was looking forward to plot movement.
I feel so betrayed.
@mayintoronto Your partner is either the largest troll in existence, has terrible taste, or (I hope) just got confused about which book was which, because there are SO MANY.
@samir It was the last one.
@mayintoronto Thank goodness.
So which one did they mean?
@samir we may never know. The promise of a moving plot drags on.
Rob Ricci@mayintoronto @samir I gave up after I'd get attached to a character then they wouldn't show up for an entire book. I think it was around book 7
@ricci @mayintoronto I am glad I saw it through, and I really liked the ending, but I will not judge anyone for not bothering. There’s a lot of nothing in the middle.
@samir @mayintoronto I attended a panel at a local scifi convention many years ago and the panelists, all authors, were discussing how many characters it was appropriate to have. One kept claiming that you couldn't have too many. Because I was in the middle of reading wheel of time, I could tell that was a load of bullshit.
That author was Sanderson.
(This was before he took over WoT, I think he had just released the first Mistborn book)
cmw@ricci
I'm a huge Sanderson fan and all of the Cosmere works in particular, but I must say, without fan wikis and boards, I would not manage to keep all the characters straight. Audio books don't help there either.
Still not sure it's actually too many characters, but it sure is an effort.
@samir @mayintoronto
I'm a huge Sanderson fan and all of the Cosmere works in particular, but I must say, without fan wikis and boards, I would not manage to keep all the characters straight. Audio books don't help there either.
Still not sure it's actually too many characters, but it sure is an effort.
@samir @mayintoronto
@cmw @ricci @mayintoronto I have never read any other Sanderson, but I’m told that there was a point where he switched from terse one-offs to giant epics.
If I do read any more of his work, it will be the former.
@samir
Fair enough. I specifically seek out epics. I'm always sad when a story ends and I have to part ways with the characters.
@ricci @mayintoronto
Fair enough. I specifically seek out epics. I'm always sad when a story ends and I have to part ways with the characters.
@ricci @mayintoronto
@cmw @ricci @mayintoronto Me too!
https://mastodon.functional.computer/@samir/112690352974120930
It’s just a question of time nowadays. Same reason I no longer play open-world video games.
samir, goblin++ (@[email protected])
A few days ago, I finished The Wheel Of Time. Robert Jordan’s epic has a special place in my heart. About 20 years ago, I read the first eight books. (There were only eight books.) it might be more appropriate to say I devoured them. I wouldn’t be surprised if I got through them in a month. I adored the story, the characters, the vastness.
Dave Alvarado@samir @mayintoronto this is 100% correct. Jordan completely lost his way, Sanderson brought it all back together.
It says something about how lost Jordan was that it took three books to bring the series across the finish line.
sidereal@dave @samir @mayintoronto I gave up in the middle of book 9 lol. I remember thinking “I have just read three chapters and nothing has actually happened.” 🤣 maybe someday I’ll go back and finish them
@dave @mayintoronto IIRC Jordan and Sanderson worked extensively on the outline and plot together; they both knew it would be 3 more books when he passed away.
So I think I’d argue that Jordan got lost, and Jordan + Sanderson brought it back.