I finally started Wheel of Time and I am losing my mind
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- I finally read Wheel of time (book 1, Eye of the World) andddd there were so many RED FLAGS. But also, I kind of am absolutely obsessed with it?
So here you have my honest review, my path descending into madness while reading this very popular fantasy book!
A lot of the mechanics of the world, and how the DarkOne tainted the source, have not been explained to you yet. There's actually a short story called "Strike at Shayul Ghul" which goes into the details. Most of the characters don't know this either.
In general the book characters are a lot younger than the show characters. Mat/Rand/Perrin are 20 in the show, 19 in the books. Egwene is 20 in the show, 17 in the books. They've all had a very sheltered small-town existence, so the book ones act even younger, particularly when it comes to romance. Think of them as High School kids who don't know anything and you won't be disappointed.
The "Mat/Rand/Perrin knows how to talk to girls" thing is so interesting. Every straight man I have ever seen review the books loves it, because this is how life is for us. Especially at 15-19. You gotta pass multiple social skills checks to get to the point where you propose a dance (ie: does this level of friendliness indicate she wants to dance, or wants to talk Star Wars, or is this not friendliness but I'm scaring her?, can I talk for two minutes without being an asshole and blowing it? etc.), which feels harder than it is. Everyone's internal monologue is super-negative, and the girls generally actually want to dance with somebody, so everyone is convinced they'e a total lower and their buddy is the smoothest operator ever.
Ahhh good to know that how the Dark One poisons the source will be explained at some point! I reckon there were so many new concepts for me that at some point I was like "okay, just go with the flow", and it was very interesting how by the end I got the feeling that some of the pieces connected!
I get what you mean about Rand / Perrin / Mat! Totally teenager vibes. It was just very funny to me how repetitive that inner monologue was (which yeah, can be true, but I am not as used to read it?). Every time that Perrin had a conversation with Egwene that went south I knew he was going to think about Rand 🤣
Rand was able to defeat the trolloc army at the end of the book because Rand unconsciously tapped into the EYE Of The World. The Eye of the World is the planets last untainted source of male Saiden(one power). The last sane male Aes Sadai during the age of legends joined with female Aes Sedai to create a kind of “battery” to filter and hold untainted male Saiden. The effort killed them but they had a member with foretelling that advised them that the Dragon reborn would need its power for humanities first strike against the Dark One. Rand performed exactly as promised in prophecy and destroyed the trollocs in full view of the human army thus heralding the first sign of the Dragon Reborn being back in the world. It’s made very clear that the eye of the world was created just for him because under the eye after the power is used up is the banner of the Dragon and the Horn of Valor. Which were also stashed there by the ancient Aes Sedai knowing the Dragon Reborn would need them and to protect them from darkness.
Okay so reading this whole comment I got goosebumps!! The comment / explanation was seriously epic. I got the part of Rand tapping into the Eye of the World, but what I didn't understand is how it is that he moved? I thought he was in one place fighting, and then he appeared right before the army of trollocs / humans, which in my mind wasn't super close? I thought without the Green Man, the Eye of the World couldn't move? Bah, I don't know 🤣
In eye of the world, we don't know how he moved. Rand also didn't know how he moved. I'm not even sure that he believed he actually moved or if he was having visions. He has untrained power and did some things that he really didn't know how he did it. The same with Bela, Rand feared for Egwene and used power without even knowing. The Eye just gave him more power. NyNaeave does the same thing as the wisdom occasionally using the power unconsciously. @@FunFantasyBooks
@@FunFantasyBooks Read and find out.
@@FunFantasyBooks
So Rand and the Dragon are the same person reborn although with completely different personalities. Rand unconsciously knows how to use the one power as the Dragon did. When he is fighting, usually for his life and people he cares about, he taps into that unconscious knowledge. He is basically the ultimate idiot Savant of Saidin. So when the forsaken fled before his power(since he was tapped into the eye of the world) he saw how the forsaken created a gate and he instinctively copied the technique though he didn’t understand how. In an attempt to keep Rand from destroying him the forsaken tried to demoralize him so he gated to the battle field to show him that there was no hope for the people of the city as the trolloc army vastly outnumbered the city army. That’s where Rand got very upset and vaporized most of the Trolloc army in full view of both armies.
@@FunFantasyBooks Robert Jordan kind of expects readers to hold onto any loose ends they come across, so keep a pin in anything that seems like off or like it's not explained.
So, backstory here. The first 3 books were supposed to be a single book which pay homage to Tolkien, who everybody was still copying at the time. Then, the next 5-6 planned books were to subvert current tropes (mostly fantasy). However, as he started writing, he added and changed things, which led to the sprawling series we have.
Thank you so much for the context! I t really helps! I heard that as the books advance, the Tolkien references diminish. I can't wait to keep reading!
The series is crazy long. But because it's so long, the characters get really fleshed out and vivid. I'll always look back on it fondly, even the "slow" middle books.
I bought the 'Eye of the World' the first day it came out in January of 1990. I didn't know who Robert Jordan was, but an employee at Borders Book store in San Fransico was unloading a box with the Eye of the World. I liked the cover and read the synopsis and was interested. So I bought the hardcover book and read it in three days. I was hooked. Fantasy has always been my jam. I read the Hobbit when I was twelve and it has been my favorite genre ever since.
The gender discussion in these books is intentionally uncomfortable. RJ intentionally flipped the genders and presented irl views of men about women as the other way around. I personally believe the point of this was to make men think about the way they have perceived women through history and why it's pretty stupid. Jordan isn't trying to make women seem like awful taskmasters and men innocent tools to be used, he's trying to show men irl that that's how they've been treating women and it's not fair. That's my take, anyway, and why I don't have any problems with the gender dynamics in these books
I agree with you! It is very specific and has commentary embedded within it
Agreed. I've heard many ppl say how awful the women are portrait, completely missing just what RJ did and why. He's still bad at romance though + folding arms underneath breasts. 😅
I don't think he flipped the genders. Just made them more equal- as in feminism. The men in the Emond's Field still had their council while the women had the Women's Circle. Some nations were ruled by women, some by men, some by either. The Aes Sedai were the only powerful magic group (and some other groups later) because the male half of the power was tainted. In the Age of Legend they were equal.
I do think he had trouble writing how female leaders and powerful women acted. He had them act very domineering, demeaning and bitchy which grew very tiring. I longed for wise women who weren't like that. I thought about all the women at the companies I worked at who got to leadership positions by being good at their jobs and knowing how to make decisions and knowing how to organize and guide teams. Not by barking orders and putting people down and jockeying for power. I haven't really encountered women who behaved like in the books. I am sure some exists because you see examples in media of both men and women who are jerks but I haven't really encountered them. And I am in my early 60's. Maybe I am just lucky or picked good companies.
@@kirielbranson4843not challenging or contradicting you in anyway, just saying for my experience, almost ever female boss I have had has been incredibly aggressive, bullying and belittling as well as most of them being sexist. Just my experience…
@@saberint that is so weird to me. I have only had a few jobs but I kept them for a long time. My last two which I have been exposed to female bosses have been 18 and 10 years. Both are large companies, one 35k employees and the other 5k. Lots or reorganization and working on different teams over the years. So I have been under or worked with a lot of women. And I really haven't seen this kind of behavior either in bosses or people moving up. Might be the company cultures didn't fit with it.
Excited to watch your process here. Eye of the world is definitely an homage to tolkien and you'll really see the world expand and grow thru books 2 and 3 so that by the time you hit book four 🤯
haha! that is what I've been hearing and I am really excited for it! The way in which The Eye of the World ended definitely set it up for a great book 2!
I second this. Also, you really need to do multiple rereads to pick up all the foreshadowing and plot weaving that happens across multiple books. There are some amazing payoffs you don't really appreciate until you're on another reading. Definitely don't read the prequel New Spring until after at least Book 6 or in publication order which is after Book 10. Hope you enjoy your first reading. It definitely expands with Book 2 and onward.
@@DawsonCowals I doubt you're selling her on reading a 15-book monstrosety of a series by telling her you need to read it several times lol :)
@@thehoogard You don't "need" to read it multiple times, it just gets better/your appreciation grows with re-reads.
@@gokbay3057 Obviously I know that. It's still not a selling point imo.
It’s beautiful, descriptive, long winded, characters that feel more dynamic and realistic more than any other series.
There is so much to love about these books.
Ahh I feel like I know but at the same time I don't (lmao). I've heard so much that you grow to love to pieces these books that a part of me is starting to take that for granted, but at the same time, I am so at the beginning of my journey that I can't still grasp how good it will be? :')
@@FunFantasyBooks hehe just give it a chance and see
I just finished book 8, Path of Daggers. I have many issues with the book, such as the slow pacing, over describing everything, waiting multiple books for needed payoffs, and WAY too many characters who all just seem the same. But I love many of the characters, the magic system, and the worldbuilding. So I need a break but I definitely plan on finishing the series.
Yay! I hope I someday get to book 8. I definitely understand taking a small break before coming back full force! I can't wait to discover which of those characters deserved your loved! (beyond Lan
This is old school fantasy... not modern young adult fantasy. Some of the payoffs are a LONG time in fruition.. but by the end you will see just how insanely organized Jordan and his editors had to be from the very first book.
I just finished my first wheel of Time read through this year. For me, it was amazing. It’s completely worth it!!! Best of luck and hope you enjoy the journey
🎉 welcome to the journey, looking forward to seeing more videos on your progress and reactions. Book 2 is where Jordan really separated from Lord of the rings and really becomes its own thing. I would also suggest you break up each book into smaller sections and reviews and keep that focus on your personal experience and journey with the story. All of us re-readrrs can't get enough of first time readers thoughts as we will never get that back, and love to see what you catch on to and predictions you might have.
I read the books as they came out. There are so many characters (almost 3,000 named with many aliases) and plotlines I would have to start over each time a new book came out. I've re-read the whole series a couple times since, so I've probably read Eye of the World 16 times. Most fans will admit it has some major problems but we love it anyway. For me, even "The Slog" in the middle is still a vacation in a sprawling world although not much forward progress is made. There are many "Jordanisms" we laugh at (I REALLY don't care how many buttons are on someone's clothes or where a woman's crossed arms are positioned).
Although The Dragon is male, this is Jordan's vision of a role-reversed matriarchal society. You will see a lot of unnecessary violence against women and, through modern eyes, it's sometimes aggravating, but not so much if you're an old guy like me who grew up with "the belt" being used for discipline (not the way I raised my kids but the way I was raised), physical hazing into groups was common and so on. Robert Jordan did two tours in the Vietnam war, so he was familiar with the "Code Red" discipline of soldiers beating down fellow soldiers who were screwing up (watch "A Few Good Men" if you're not familiar) - he was familiar with torturing prisoners and so on (not saying he participated, but he probably heard plenty of stories). There are other flaws in the societies and, unlike a lot of fantasy, not everything is wrapped up in a nice bow with all of society's ills fixed.
Another major issue is that RJ was married to his editor and she didn't reign him in as much as she should have. You could easily cut this series down by 4 or 5 books, several plotlines, and 1,000+ characters to make it even better. But enough on the flaws. RJ's life experience helped him write some phenomenal battle scenes and character reflection on war. It's a vivid, sprawling world with enough locations that I strongly suggest a wall map and some push pins with labels if you're investing the time to read the series. Sometimes keeping track of who's where can be difficult without the visual. I hope you make it to the end. RJ's last book does start to gather steam again and Brandon Sanderson finishes the series (using a lot of RJ's writing blended with his own) very well. Despite the issues mentioned above, the whole series is on my shelves and I will revisit it several more times in my life.
So I read all the books starting in 1990 and had to wait 20 plus years to finish the series (I hate you George R.R.). I then reread/listened to them immediately after the 1st year. It has a little Tolkien to it to be sure. But it also is about how does the Messiah (not biblical) handle his growing power with a destiny over his head than includes a death prophecy for himself and others many people. This is not just a growth arc for him, but for his friends necessary for the end. Another theme is the arrogance of power. This is a world where some women are all-powerful. They have rules to limit that power but utilize ways to get around the prime directive all the time. Many of them are just bullies. Deep down, Jordan believes that men and women have to cooperate, but he creates a world where the biases of both get in the way. It is my favorite series even though I sometimes thought Jordan's idea of male/female relationships was of a battle. Enjoy. It takes time, but the characters grow.
The end of the book is almost always confusing to new readers, it hints at lore and concepts that Jordan hasn't made clear yet. Suggest you read the ending again, start where Baalthamal and Aginor appear. At this point it's revealed that Rand can channel the One Power, something he wasn't really aware of himself.
Much of the confusion is because Rand is confused himself, much more is because he's using the Power ,which at this point we've learned very little of yet, and what we know is almost exclusively women's power, not the male.
I always really liked how confusing the ending is. Following Rand's perspective, it's hard for the reader to know what's going on, because Rand doesn't really know what's going on. But rereading the Eye of the World, even just after reading 3-4 books further into the series, the ending makes total sense, at least, to me.
Lol.............. dude the Wheel of Time doesnt actually start until The Shadow rising, ngl - although The Dragon Reborn is an absolutely cracking entry imo - EOTW is an amazing book upon re-read after you finish the series, as a starter its ok at best. All that being said, this is 100% the greatest story ever told. Bar none. It's a journey, you will hate it at times, and love it at others - and there is no greater example of 'theres no happy without sad' as with this series. Enjoy, strap in, and you will have a blast :-)
The importance put on having Saidin in the Eye of the World, and on Rand in general is because the Dragon Reborn is this kind of mythical, messianic prophesied figure, who will be the reincarnation (reincarnation is a very important theme of the series) of The Dragon, who was the most powerfull channeler (like by a lot) who's everyone also hate because he's the one who started the Breaking of the world. And social stygma about it is STRONG, the DR is like the anti-christ in the head of most people.
It is very interesting to me that the DR is at the same time considered a prophesied figure to save and very stigmatized!
In answer to your question, the prophecy suggests that the Dragon Reborn will both save and destroy the world. This means that he is to be feared but also is necessary. As you are suggesting, there are some who believe that any male that channels is a false dragon. As for your question about women and men channelers working together, good question. It is addressed later. But in the first book, women have been the sole channelers now for 3000 years.
I am on page 374 of the Orbit softback. It is a bit slow-moving, though Ishamael seems to be a potentially interesting character. My cat showed her judgement of it by nibbling the corner of the cover. She has excellent judgement.
The slog only existed because books 1-6 came out in roughly 3 years. Then it was a book about every 2 years and the pacing of books 7-10 slowed down.
Okay! noted! I feel that if I like enough books 1 to 4, I won't mind too much the slog?
@@FunFantasyBooks if you get through book 4 you'll probably read to the end. While books 1-3 are good, book 4 is where the wheel of time becomes The Wheel of Time. Book 4 is one of the best. My favorite is a tie between books 11 and 12. Many say book 6 is their favorite.
7-10 have good character work despite the slower pace but 10 is really 9 b plot and book 11 set up, so many don't like it.
Subbed , it’ll be fun to follow Your journey.
As someone said, break the books into smaller parts when reviewing them- that’s always fun to see for us Wheelies
I really liked EotW but it does share too many similarities to LotR for my tastes as well. The story really starts to become of its own thing in the next 2 books. Books 2 through 6 are all 5 star books for me. After that things do slow down a bit for the next few books but even those are not "bad" by any means; there are no "bad" books in the WoT.
There are basically two character story arcs that drag on for too long and grow a bit stale. Every other major character's story is still going strong during those books though. So you tend to look forward to some characters chapters and begin to dread the other 2, lol. But even during one of those 2 character arcs some pretty cool and interesting things happen from time to time. One of my favorite scenes in the whole series happens during it in fact.
When i read the first book i didn’t liked it so much. It was fine but i was not engaged at all. But when i picked the second book oooooh… I could not put it down. After the second book i became soaked into this world, so yes. Read the second book and then see if this series is for you.
100%!! I will continue reading. I know the stakes increase massively, and now that I know more about the world and the characters I feel it will be "easier" to be connected with them from the start!
The Dragon is prophesied to battle the Dark One. Nobody else can fulfill the prophecies.
Baalzamon is not the Dark One ( so not Sauron ), he believes he is the Dark Ones avatar, he uses the boys confusion about his identity to seem more omniscient than he actually is.
Tai Shar, Fun Fantasy Books! I quit watching the TV series. It's so different from, and not as good as the books. Matt is a MUCH better character in the books. I read the entire series twice, except for Crossroads of Twilight, which I never finished (I read the summary of it in Leigh Butler's "Rereading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time"). Some of the middle books seem to have "filler", but don't miss out on the last three: The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and especially A Memory of Light. Really excellent. Matt plays a big role in Tarmon Gai'don.
Tai Shar 😍!! It IIIS very different! I never watched those deep dive TV series videos because I didn't want to be spoiled for the books, but really I was shocked about the hugeee difference! Yay for Matt!!
@@FunFantasyBooks Just don't miss the last 3 books. For instance, I think you will really like Egwene's defense of the White Tower, when the Seanchan attack it in The Gathering Storm. And at Tarmon Gaidon (in A Memory of Light) she puts on the greatest display of raw channeling power in the entire series.
The middle books are kind of a let-down because some books feel like they should finish a subplot where the character whose plot it is simply does not have any chapters in it, or maybe there are some chapters but they are more of a progress-update than a conclusion to the subplot. This is mostly a problem when you can't move on to the next book right away, so it was worse for people who read while the books were still being published.
I had to laugh so many times bc you were on point with my own thoughts about certain situations xD But I also was shocked as you mentioned that you don´t really like Perryn - when I remember correctly he was the one with the most understandable behavior (and I really had a problem with Mat - especially after Shadar Logoth). In the end they are all not really fully grown up and mid character development, so maybe thats the reason why there are so many situations (even betweens the genders) in which you ask yourself why they behave like that (and maybe Robert Jordan did that on purpose to give them more development over the next 13 books? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).
I was also confused by the end of the book - it really felt a little bit rushed and I was super confused by the end. But it all starts to make much more sense with reading the other books bc you will receive so many information every now and then that it will result in one big logical piece.
One last thing to mention: The mid books aren´t as boring as some ppl say in my opinion but I was always interested in reveiving a lot of information and side storys of characters bc it all makes much more sense in the end and you start to understand that character way better. Nevertheless is there a point where it starts to get exhausting to read bc he (Robert Jordan) loses himself in his own storys and it feels like he confused himself. Luckily a wild Brandon Sanderson appeared and cleared all that up - it´s still confusing but he manages to unravel all the knots in the story. It´s a btfl huge epos with epic side storys if you are willed to spend the time and effort to read through all the books (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞ but I can understand every person who decides against it bc, as you mentioned, there are also a LOT red flags...and thats just the first book... (⊙_⊙;)
Great Video btw - I really enjoyed watching!
Ahh Gabe!! thank you so so much!! hahaha I laughed so much at the "a wild Sanderson appeared". In my mind, 100% a Pokemon in the way that you said it! haha! Yeah, I totally understand that the characters are young and very sheltered from the world at this point. I know they will advance (the need to :').
Thank you for reassuring that the middle books also make sense to read and that they weren't as bad!!
Pun intended (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞ And thanks for your video! I was waiting to talk to someone about this books (but non of my friends actually read it) and it felt just nice listening to your opinion for a longer session! @@FunFantasyBooks
@@FunFantasyBooks The USA doesn't have free medical care like most of Europe...
Why is that important?
Robert Jordan learned, if I remember correctly, that he had a terminal illness at about the time that he was writing book 3 or 4.
At that time, he was already a full-time author... THAT was his job... AND his wife's. His wife was his editor.
What this meant for his/their personal economic situation, was that it was better to draw the series out, than to actually finish it and start a new one.
They had a huge hit series on their hands, and there was no guarantee that the next book in a different series would be a hit.
IMO, this is the entire reason for things like "the slog"... and that the series is so long.
Aes Sedai Ajahs:
Red are hunters of men who can channel. To keep them from going insane and breaking the world again.
Green were called the "Battle Ajah" during the Trolloc Wars and are excellent generals who can plan effective battle strategies. They bond as many Warders as they wish, not just for bedtime fun, but actually for war. The last battle to be precise.
Brown is for knowledge and lore.
Yellow are the healers.
Grey are the diplomats and mediators.
White devote themselves to logic, reasoning and truth.
Blue devote themselves to justice, noble causes, and in general "saving the world". They have more spies around the world then all the other ajahs together.
I love the books about as much as I hate the amazon show. Which is a lot. Book 4 has always been my favorite one as it was where Perrin was given his chance to rise up and stand on his own. Glad to see more people are picking up the books and enjoying them. Welcome to the gang!
Thank you! Haha I want to keep reading 📖 and knowing more about this massive world!
I've read Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time several times through over the past 25 years. However similar the 1rst book is to events from Tolkien's work, it very quickly becomes its own vehicle. Especially the last half of the book. And then, the rest of the books take on a life and character unique to only Robert Jordan that I really haven't found anything like it before or since.
And it's finished! (Unlike GoT) Thanks to super fan and fantasy author Brandon Sanderson.
I'm quite a bit older now and have read fantasy since I was a teenager. If you read enough fantasy, you are going to see familiar "fantasy journey" devices criss cross from other stories because that is just the nature of the hero's journey. I don't like to use the word "trope" because I feel fans of fantasy let themselves fall into the trap of becoming "elitist" book readers. They feel they need to see and experience brand spanking new things every time they pick up a new book. As if the author needs to impress you over all the authors that came before. That is the wrong way to approach new experiences in literature.
There should be a mix of the familiar and the unique. The old and the new. As life is. As adventure is.
But Wheel of Time is greater than some mere simple adventure. It's politics, war, morality, ethics, education, magic, combat, romance, growth, history and love. It has everything.
I've seen plenty of people who didn't like it as much as I have and a couple that straight up said it wasn't for them. I don't really care. When it comes to other peoples opinions, I find them all interesting but not very important compared to my own. That's the way everyone should view it. Do you like it? That's all that matters. Enjoy yourself or move on. It's all good. The world will keep turning.
But it's good. It's good. 😀
Edit: There is another popular fantasy anthology series called The Shannara Trilogy. The 1rst book, The Sword of Shannara, is very much a homage to Tolkien and is almost direct plageurism of Lord of the Rings. But that was intentional. The author, Terry Brooks, was told to write a Lord of the Rings clone that was "easier to read" to current generation of young people at the time than Lord of the Rings. Having read THAT story, I don't see what all the fuss is about in Eye of the World. Eye of the World only has a few token similarities to LotR compared to The Sword of Shannara story which has almost 1:1 character clones and plot.
This is probably the most insightful review of any first-time reader I've listened to. Well done!!! You picked up on so many details of the storyline that most people gloss over or don't understand on their first read! The scenes and storylines and motivations and interactions that you pick up on and what you think of them tells me you will enjoy the next 5 books far more than this one and you're in for an amazing ride! I think you'll also be OK in some of the slower books later, and even if you need to take some breaks along the way the final 3 or 4 books are worth all of the reading to get there and more!! Eye of the World is just the beginning and was intentionally done as an homage to Lord of the Rings since Robert Jordan was such a big fan of Tolkien and to entice new readers in that liked Lord of the Rings. After this he really starts building his own world and expanding on every bit of world building to an epic level. I think you'll be hooked just by reading the next book, but you should try to at least read book 4 before you decide it's not for you if that's your decision. Book 4 is perhaps my favorite of all of them and is so unique in all of fantasy! Also, although Eye of the World is just setting the stage to some degree and more of a prologue to the series than anything, it has information in it that most people don't pick up on on their first read that has implications all the way to the last book in the series. Think Min's viewings, for example, but that's just one of many examples. The foreshadowing in this series is phenomenal and you don't even really appreciate how all the books are tied together until you re-read them. Don't worry about re-reads yet, you still have 13 and a half books to read, but that is one reason why this series is so beloved. While it has problematic things throughout, it's so long and there's so much in it and it all fits together so well that you can really live in the world and it never gets old no matter how many times you read it! Happy reading! I look forward to more reviews in the future!!
Ahh thank you so much! I really appreciate that a WoT fan tells me that I did a good review as a first-timer! Yay! I spent most of the time lost 🤣. Hahah re-read? 0.o!!!!!! I will 100% keep reading, I actually got a kindle offer and I was able to get books 1-4, so I will at least read until that point (unless something really stops resonating with me). My feeling after finishing The Eye of the World was "okay, now I am obsessed, I need to talk about it!" and I know it will get even better in following books - very excited!!
That is fantastic!! You only get to read them for the first time once so I'm happy for you that that experience is still ahead of you and happy for me that I get to experience that again vicariously through you! Welcome to the statistically best fandom ever!! 😀
I'm currently reading book 4 in the series. The books are so long and detailed that each one takes me a month to read. I also need to space them out so I'm only reading each installment in the series every fourth month (April, August, December). I do enjoy the series but already wish it was less books. Hopefully, by the time I finish reading them all it will have felt like a worthwhile commitment.
It was fun listening to your review of the first book. I didn't notice all the derivative similarities to LOTR that you did when I was reading it but they are clear to me now as you point them out. I think that the following books feel less and less derivative and more and more their own thing.
Robert Jordan does seem obsessed with gender roles, that's for sure. While I can recognize differences between men and women (though you can debate which are nature and which are nurture / societal), I prefer seeing people as individuals and not through a "Men are from Mars Women are from Venus" lens or filter. But it is a major part of the Wheel of Time narrative, concepts, and characters that men and women are different. This will become hightened as Rand tries to master his powers without anyone seeming able to guide him since women only know how to work the female side of magic, not the male and all the men who use the male side go mad. I also agree that it is silly how every woman falls for Rand and it is eye rolling how Rand and Perrin are convinced the other is a great ladies man whom they wish they could be more like but that latter point just illustrates how young and naive they are and plays on how our perspectives shape out reality, even falsely.
I agree that the ending was rushed. In fact, I remember getting to the end and wondering if I had missed something.
Anyhow, I'm glad you are reading the series. I hope you continue. As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the rest of the books. As I've told you in a comment before, I love your voice. I also enjoy your gestures and your energy. You have an endearing sense of humor and you edit your videos to match it. I could listen to you talk about any subject matter, you are so engaging and wonderful. Fortunately for me you happen to discuss fantasy novels, which is a topic I enjoy. I even write my own and I hope to one day publish them so you can discuss them on your channel, red flags and all.
I'm happy to be subscribed to your channel. I adore you. Keep up the brilliant work.
Maaaaaan! This was so sweet! Thank you so much! It really brightened my day! I think it's really wise to read WoT slowly! it is definitely a huge commitment both because is loooong and because is massive (4.4 million words!). I agree with the nature / nurture discussion!
I reckon following books will help our characters grow, I understand they are very young and naive at this point!
Again, thank you for supporting me & the channel! I am happy you enjoy the content!
the majority of people calling it slow are listeners not actual readers, i have read the eye of the world close to 20 times because i have had to go back and reread the series everytime a new book came out.
That is really epic!
I did this, too. Every time a new book came out, I'd sit and read the series again from the beginning. I only stopped rereading once the last few books came out.
First off- loved the review.
I think that some of the reason the first book is so chaotic is because Robert Jordan uses perspectives that dont understand the situation most of the time, and so in the beginning he transmits this chaos and uncertainty by having you be just as bewildered as the naive teenagers it centers on. As the series goes on it feels much less chaotic, and at the end you can immediately re read it to catch all the foreshadowing and references you miss at first. (Edit: I also agree that this first book is a bit of a mess, though 😅)
Thank you so much! it really makes me happy to know that you loved it! How crazy that already from book 1 there's a lot of foreshadowing, it feels crazy to me! Totally get what you mean with the PoVs being chaotic and me feeling it, i know it will get better in following books - can't wait to keep reading!
WoT fan sales pitch for the series: it's a hot mess and you'll love it even when you're annoyed with it
Hahahahahhahaha! that is strangely very convincing!
It's the most realistic take on a fantasy world I've ever seen. Everyone is their own worst enemy for a good chunk of the story.
So books 1-3 you have the original draft of his story (all 3 were 1 book originally) and are heavily influenced and an homage to Tolkien. It's also the only fantasies publishers were rewarding in the late 80s/early 90s.
Got his book deal and then got to create his own world as you will see quite clearly in books 4-6 (also among the 3 best books in the entire series) and these 3 books are what completely hooks you no matter what lol.
7 is good but doesn't maintain the level of the previous 3. Books 8-10 are the ones that give the series its negatives and to a point, deservedly so. Too many new characters eating up screen time that serve little purpose, too many dragging plotlines, just too many pages for what actually happens.
Book 11 is the last written by RJ and cleans up the vast majority of the past 3 books. Sets most of the arrows toward the last battle. 12-14 are Sanderson's entries and he does a pretty good job finishing the tale. Some things he does extremely well, some he does well enough and a few things he missed the boat. For example, Mat goes from one the best written characters in the series to being one if the worst. BS just couldn't capture the subtle irony of the character and ended up too buffoonish and in your face.
However, by contrast BS wrote Perrin really well, even better than RJ imo.
At the end of the day the real hook is the ability to discover new things on every read through. There is an insane amount of history and storylines buried throughout that most people don't even piece together until multiple reads.
For example, very few people fully understand the crazy scope of Ishamael's manipulations in just a couple of reads.
Anyway, enjoy it.
The series only gets better. You know you’ve found a good series when year after year you wait for the new book to be released and hoping each one will be thicker than the last. Are used to save the books to read them during the holiday break, and one of the pages to move by as slowly as possible. It is true there are a couple of books that move pretty slowly but overall it has been my favorite series. I still haven’t read the last book in the series. It came out many years ago now and I haven’t found the time to be able to dedicate to it. Also because it’s been so long I feel like I need to re-read all of the books and like you said that’s a big commitment.
Ahhh I hope I feel the same as you! I am excited to read book 2 already, so maybe I keep loving the series!
Hola Isa! I’ve just read Eye of the World and didn’t end with a lot of will to carry on with the series. I got the impression Jordan had a lot of limitations as a writer. I’ve read all what people say about the books going their own way from book 2 or 3, but I don’t feel like continuing. I think the excessive sprawl of this series means that it needed far better editorial control
Hola!!! Yeah, that is fair. It took me (easily) 70% of the book to get properly engaged with the story and the characters. I will keep reading because I ended up like "what the hell! i need more!" but i also know this series is so so massive it can easily become a long journey for me (if worth it)... or maybe a short one if I don't enjoy it as much after book 4 (which in theory as per the comments is the point that I need to read to make a proper decision)
When people recommend the wheel of time, they're not trying to sell you on it because it's flawless, but because the flaws are kinda what makes it so easy to love.
True!!
WoT is a strange series, my favourite and yet one that is difficult to recommend. Happy reading!
interesting you find the seperation boring. I thought it was very interesting, we got to learn so much more about the individual characters. I especially liked Mat and Rand needing to learn to paly and juggle for their supper and their frantic running from one town to the next on the way to camelyn. The paranoia, them not knowing when the next darkfriend would attack. Them not understanding why or how the darkfriends keep finding them. It all gave a survival horror vibe to it. It also really conveys the great distances and time between places, which is something the show was horrible about. They said they were seperated for over a month on the show, but it wasn't very believable. It all just felt like a day. Show, don't tell. I also like Perrin being introduced to his wolf powers.
I enjoyed the books throughout. I think the books do such a great job of developing the characters from those naive small towns folk into world weary and battle hardened people (the show is absolutely horrible at this, I'm not watching it beyond Season 2). From a male perspective, I think he nailed that sense of uncertainty in some areas and over confidence in others. I really appreciate the development of the women as well, they really come into their own and the transitions feel earned.
It's interesting that so many people pick up on the LOTR references, but miss the many more nods toward Arthurian legends. In Caemlyn for instance nearly every named character is a reference to the King Arthur stories
Also there are many many other myths and legends woven throughout the story. From the Hebrew/Christian Bible, Norse legends, Irish legends etc.
How interesting!! I did make a note around Arthurian mythology while reading; but it wasn’t as clear to me!
I've never understood people who say the middle books were slow. I always felt Eye of the World was the slowest, and by a long way. From book 2 onward, I was breezing through them
Ahh this gives me so much hope!! I've been hearing about the slog so much!!
Before watching the entire video.
Yes the Wheel of Time is a mess. I always tell people who want to read it that it needed a bit more editing. There are many problems with the series but overall the story grows on you. They should have told you.
haha being fair, it's my fault I wasn't more informed about WoT. I just heard that it was amazing and thought of it no more lmao
The sexism in Wheel of Time is, for the most part, character views, it is not the view of the story. This is a world where only women can do magic, and that has filtered down through society which takes that to mean that to interpret other differences as baked in to the sexes, rather than social constructs. Men are X and women are Y is not the reality of the story, it is the opinions of the characters. And this is a realistic setting, which means there is no one in it with our world's perspective artificially imposed on them, so there is no one in the story who can realistically speak up for our values.
Instead, it's very subtle, where a character might say "We have to be careful not to let that man know our plans because men gossip too much and even though he's on our side, he might reveal our plans." Only to discover the man already knows the plans, because a woman gossiped about them. Things like that.
As for Thom's sexist comment in the beginning, he is not commenting on Nynaeve's sex, but her age. He is not saying she should not have her job because she's a woman, but because she's a girl. It's a job that women usually only get when they are middle aged or elderly, and she is only 24 but looks like a teenager.
As the series goes on, you will see a lot of characters saying women cannot or should not fight, but there are lots of women in the story who are good fighters. The interesting thing about THIS series is that it is mostly WOMEN who think women should not fight and most of the male fighters are cool with women joining them on the battlefield.
Lots of people think Wheel of Time is sexist, because it conforms to sexist tropes in a superficial manner, just like it seems to be ripping off Lord of the Rings, but is actually taking the familiar story in a new direction. Likewise, Jordan is exploring sexism from a different direction, but also a realistic one. Because of how men and women are built, anatomically, a female dominated world is not going to have amazonian warriors and men who are abused victims or simps and cucks. Men are still going to be soldiers and do heavy labor and women are still going to be involved in child care and homemaking, because they have the uterus and breasts and the men have the larger frames and bigger muscles. But what is different in WoT is how people SEE male-coded and female-coded jobs. Society does not denigrate female roles, and it does not elevate combat to a great thing. They have men who fight on horseback and wear heavy armor, but there is nothing in this world like knighthood, making warriors out to be special. There are generals who are famous and considered heroes in their nation, but those generals follow the orders of their queens, where in the real world, in a monarchy, a famous and successful general can often displace a king or at the very least, dominate their reign. Military power is simply not as important in a world where magic is fairly common, and so, because women have ALL the magic, it really is not as big of a deal that they say "leave the fighting to the men."
Woah! Thank you for the effort with this comment! I really enjoyed reading more about WoT, thanks for sharing your thoughts!
The middle books are painted out to be worse than they actually are, mainly because people had to wait a long time between books.
The whole series takes place in a very short time period, and so at times, time might seem to be going slowly, and when you have to wait several years to have the plot move along only a few months, that aggravate things.
When you are doing a read through for the first time now that the books are all out, it is much better.
This gives me so so much hope! Ive been hearing so much about the slog I am actually worried!
@FunFantasyBooks some parts of the series are slower, indeed. But the thing that made it worse was that we had to wait 2years between each books. So that made things quite worse. If you are an avid reader and read everything one after the other, it's much better.
Then it really depends on individual tastes. I have talked to some people who actually enjoyed what is commonly referred as the slog, because even though it wasn't necessarily heavy in action, he felt it was good characterization and character development.
Don't worry too much about what's to come. Focus on enjoying the ride, while keeping in mind that the ending is as great as the expectations you build up during the 14 books.
I have so many things I'd like to talk to you about regarding this book and series. The interesting thing is that all the flaws you point out are also broadly acknowledged by the WOT fandom but somehow we still love it. There are a lot of things going on with the worldbuilding that explains much of those flaws as others have pointed out. The characters flaws of the characters are one thing that a lot of people have issues with. To me that's mostly a pacing issue. We spend so much time with all these characters and they change very slowly. But when you really thibk about it so many of the reactions and time it takes for them to accept reality and fate is far more realistic than most fantasy stories. Of course realism isn't what makes a good story, but I can appreciate how Jordan protrayed the characters because of that. And the older i get, the more i can relate to how Jordan protrayed the boys as i have a more distant and objective view of my thoughts and behavior when i was a teen. It feels like Jordan is intentionally making dramatic irony here so that you know that the characters are clearly flaws and their behavior is ridiculous, but if you remember what it was like at a certain age, you totally get what's going on and why. Id love to chat with you about this more!
Hiya Jim!! well ofc! let's connect via IG and talk more about it? I'll be thrilled! I understand your pacing point, which I can agree. Also, I got the comment of how realistic the PoVs were and I have to admit I didn't think about it as much in my read, but now I am starting to see it a bit more (although, still too naive? even if they have been sheltered all their lives!)
I really enjoyed the series, but it will not get less cringy haha.
I only read book one and it was so cringe. I literally hate all the cast 😂😂 they all suck. I got like a quarter way through book 2 and quit.
hahahaha gosh I laughed with this comment! I really enjoyed it as well, but please, I need some comfort that the characters will advance!
@@FunFantasyBooksthe characters definitely do advance! I found Egwene pretty annoying at first and she’s one of my fav characters now - Robert Jordan just introduces 800 new characters to make sure you don’t miss the cringe 😅
"Is this a Nazgul?"
Yes. Yes it is. tEotW has been written to be a retelling of LotR, with a slightly more realistic spin. So yes, the Emond's field 5 are pretty much the hobbits, Moiraine is Gandalf, Lan is Aragorn, Thom Merillin is Tom Bombadil, the dragon reborn wielding corrupted saidin is the one ring and its corrupting influence.
WoT takes from a lot of influences. The most massive being Dune and the Arthurian myths, but is also pretty clever in its handling of it, as the wheel of time turn, legends turning to myths and even the myths are long forgotten when the age that gave birth to them come again, for there are not beginning nor endings to the turnings of the wheel.
I can't state enough how much I loved to think of the Dragon Reborn as the one ring! I actually gave this a more thought that I should and it didn't seem to me that Rand was Frodo, how interesting!
@FunFantasyBooks glad you enjoyed. One could discuss at length of the parallels between Rand and Frodo, the influence is clearly there. Same with the parallels between the dragon reborn & saidin and the one ring. But it is better left for after having read it all. Enjoy the ride!
I had a dozen comments I was going to make, but they kept getting displaced by my OCD when you kept mispronouncing Thom (hint, it's "Tom").
Also, on your worries about sexism, etc, WoT is replete with gender egalitarianism. No need to fret. It was way ahead of its time. There are two scenes related to that in the entire 4.4 million words / 14 books that i would change, and they are almost the same and very brief, but otherwise, the ladies get their due and then some. The story is told in a series of character POV chapters, and by the time the series is over, the female POV chapters outnumber the male ones by a healthy #, not to mention the political / societal structures and story elements that favor them as well. The folks who see this series as not femenist enough (Rafe the betrayer, the defiler of WoT Judkins) are ridiculous and extremely mistaken.
Rafe = Sauron.
Lol, I feel it will take me a lot of time to rewire how Thom sounds in my mind. (I had a similar challenge with Tyron from GoT- and it took me years to correct it hahah). Glad your OCD kicked in so that you could let me know.
Yeah. I imagined things changed greatly as the books advanced!!
I love this summary. If you enjoyed this one, I suspect you’ll love books 2 and 3 even more. Everyone agrees the end of The Eye of the World is discombobulated and rushed. Some of that is because it’s from delirious woolheaded sheepherder Rand’s point of view. Thankfully, Robert Jordan gets better at his books’ endings as you go through the series.
Thank you! It really makes me happy to know that you loved it! Ahh! that is what everyone keeps telling me, that book 2 is amazing - honestly can't wait!! (also can't wait for Rand to mature 🤣)
@@FunFantasyBooks He’s an 18-year-old who grew up in a conservative small town and has very little worldly experience, especially when it comes to human interaction, since he had no mother, and his father and he didn’t even live in said small town. But yeah, maybe he’ll start to mature. We shall see how quickly as you continue on the journey….
May I ask, what do you think "red flag" means?
Because honestly, I don't think you're using it right.
A red flag implies that something is problematic. It can be overt (if you are familiar with the Gor series, that is filled with red flags bc its gender politics is extremely problematic, there's a reason it's so popular with the BDSM community. Note: problematic doesn't mean bad, it just means that some rather bad implications can easily be drawn and may well be intentional. Starship Troopers by Heinlein is another good example. Problematic bc it could VERY easily lend itself to fascist apologetics. But still a really great read)
But it can ALSO be subtle. So, LoTR is sometimes criticised for its depictions of evil races (species) and this being a red flag for racism. Is it a red flag? Sure. But if you read any of Tolkein's letters or know any of his history, you know the man wasn't only not racist, he literally wrote to the Nazi's telling them to piss off.
Here, you seem to use it to imply... plagiarism?
But earlier in your video you said you "graduated" to your own preferences, including Eragon. Even the biggest fans of those books acknowledge that the first was a fairly obvious homage to earlier authors. It's not unusual... and it CERTAINLY doesn't deserve to be labelled "red flag" which has *serious* connotations.
You're not wrong in pointing out these flaws... but honestly when you sink into the series as a whole you'll see just how little the flaws really matter. Even when you get fed up with certain sections you'll be turning the pages waiting to get back to the characters you're committed to (and typically, by the end of a section you're not that into... you'll be getting into it right before the switch in perspective :P)
Even the most hardcore of Jordan stans will admit that a LOT could have been edited down (but probably less than people think. Lulls in pacing are essential to build drama imo) but they'll ALSO complain that many characters don't get enough time :P
For me, the biggest red flag within the WoT is the reader's reaction to the things Jordan presents.
Anyone who leans to closely to a Red Ajah perspective is not really somebody I want to befriend. Anyone who thinks "this is all female empowerment and that is totally righteous" is missing the extremely large forest for the trees. (I think it's fairly obvious the intention is to parallel and mirror patriarchal attitudes in real history. The idea that men are inherently flawed bc of the actions of men at the dawn of the age is pretty directly analogous to Eve corrupting Adam and the misogyny that has often inspired)
The Aes Sedai not being trusted? They've been in power for thousands of years after the breaking... which was caused by the Aes Sedai. Sure, people "know it was the men"... but it's "all the same power" (to the lay person) and the women ABSOLUTELY have the power to break the world if they choose. I think it's fair that people don't trust them, particularly when you RAFO. One of the BEST elements of WoT is that MOST of the cultures and perspectives are reasonable. From the show, when Dana gives her speech about darkfriends? That was very good, and in keeping with the lore of the books imo. And it humanises the darkfriends. Because they aren't unthinking or unreasonable. They HAVE motives and those motives are very human, even if they're most often not nice.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I can tell you love WoT, I hope I do so myself!
^^
Arguing about interpretation and favourites will never get old to me :P
I'll await your thoughts when you read on, and hopefully I can draw you into an argument! (I promise it's not a negative. If I don't value content... I just switch it off!)
@@FunFantasyBooks
Best world-building in all of fantasy in my opinion, yes even better than Tolkien (although that's just a personal taste).
It is definitely a lot based on the comments I get! I can’t say I feel that yet from book 1 only, but I know things only get better from here!
@@FunFantasyBooks Yes, more and more will get revealed to you as a reader. Places, peoplel, culture, history and so on.
I have read this series a dozen times or so. It is a product of its time however, and the author openly admitted his first book was a tribute to LOTR. There is a 'slog' in the middle for a couple of books but it picks up well for the final 4 books. I look forward to your journey and you have a new sub.
the books get better as they go. Book 1 was very much a tolien homage but it sows some seeds of how the world is different from that, and book 2-3 will do more so. Book 2 is much more fast paced I find than book 1, so hopefully you will find ti less boring. Book 1 had to do a lot of setup. Book 4 is probably the best in the series.
I started with the DragonLance series then the Dark Elf series then LOTR series.
I started WOT while in the Navy in the early 90's and almost gave up during the slog.
But I finally finished it and was grabbed by the characters.
Nynaeve & Perrin were my favs.
here is my take on the books ... 1 being the best and 15 being the worst
1. A Memory of Light Book 14 S Tier
2. The Shadow Rising Book 4 S Tier
3. The Great Hunt- Book 2 S Tier
4. The Gathering Storm Book 12 S Tier
5. Towers of Midnight Book 13 A Tier
6. Dragon Reborn Book 3 A Tier
7. The Fires of Heaven Book 5 A Tier
8. Knife of Dreams Book 11 A Tier
9. Lord of Chaos Book 6 B Tier
10. The Eye of the World Book 1 B Tier
11. Crown of Swords Book 7 B Tier
12. Winter's Heart Book 9 C Tier
13. New Spring Prequal Novel C Tier
14. Path of Daggers Book 8 D Tier
(almost stopped reading after this one)
15. Crossroads of Twilight Book 10 D Tier
Thank you for this tier list! I will definitely revisit it as I continue with the books. Good to know that book 2 is S tier for you 👀. Exciting!!
I hadn't heard about it until I started following Daniel Greene. I bought the series and read it two years ago.
I loved it. Because of the length the character development and world building are great. There are some characters I really hated. And there is consequences. enjoy
If you liked Eye of the World you will love what comes after. Eye was a homage to LoTR with RJs own twist (insane men/magic), but he will come to his own soon enough. To me, books 1 to 3 are the prologue. Books 4 - 6 are masterful world-building and amazing. It slows down after that (I'm sure you've heard about the slog), but book 11 picks up once more and it's top Tier once more then. To me, not many fantasy series from those days come close. Many series that came after took aspects from RJs world & used it in their own writings. Tolkien is grandpa, RJ is fantasy's dad imo.
Glad to hear you loved it and invested. Book 2 here you come!🥰
Book 2!! Here I come!! I definitely will try to read it in Oct/ November!
Great video! Watching again and will probably watch it again in January while our first WoT book for bookclub will be read. I read it recently so not planning to reread the first one, but some recap like this is absolutely amazing!! 😍 Hopefully you will be making video like this for each book? 😅 I can see that I will forget parts in book 2,3,4 while reading book 13😂
Hahahahaha I won’t be reading eye of the world neither! And yes!! My plan is to do a video for each of the books because it is probably toooooo much!!!
The Dark One does not win every time. That's his lie. The good guys always win, which you can tell, because reality is still here. It might be an ugly win, it might have a horrific cost, but they win. The guy wandering around insane in the prologue has WON. The bad guy shows up to mock him, and claim he has won, but it's just a sour grapes spin on his defeat. He is laughing at the good guy saying "Ha ha, you failed to kill me, and now you and your allies are insane and the world is getting trashed," but the truth is, a few days ago, his faction was winning the war and it seemed hopeless for the good guys. Now most of the bad guy leaders are off the board, the power of the evil forces are greatly reduced, and their armies are being hunted down and exterminated. Yes, it came at a huge cost to the good guys, and their whole civilization and society is being sacrificed as the price of their victory, but humanity has a chance. They can build again, even if it's not going to be as nice as it was before, it's still better than what would have happened without that costly victory.
The first proper chapter opens up on a young man with a relatively carefree life, having had a happy childhood, with a loving father and a close-knit community, who stand by each other and help each other out. He has friends and neighbors who would (and do) go to the ends of the earth to help him, and people he loves enough to take a bullet for. ALL of this, is because the good guy in the prologue WON his war. NONE of it could have been possible if the bad guy in the prologue had stopped him.
Winning is not always a triumphant victory parade and happily ever after, sometimes, it's the hero dying so that everyone else can live, or an army being wiped out so their homeland can survive, or civilization falling so that humanity can carry on in peace and freedom.
Ummm, that is a very good point. I guess I am used to the forever peace endings when you know you have defeated something for good, not “just” pause it for a bit. But 100% agree with your comment!
Wow. That was a great summary of book one. Good job. Very entertaining.
Thank you so much! Sorry it took me a bit to answer, got the comment lost!!
@@FunFantasyBooks I can't wait for the next one!
Book 1 is far from the best book in the series so you have a lot to look forward to. For me, I liked Books 1 & 2, but Book 3 is what made me a Wheel of Time fan and Book 4's my favorite, with Books 5, 6 and 12 close behind.
Oh man! That makes me super excited! I will be reading a book each month starting February, so can’t wait to continue!
I'm in my first read also, my problem is that I read multiple books at a time, and yeah reading wheel while reading Karl Ove Knausgaard has been odd lol..
hahahah! that is like reading at a PRO mode!
I just couldn't leave the characters alone, not even mentioning the grandiose plot. It's beautiful and it completely leaves its LOTR roots behind by book 3/4. But you do have to WANT to read it.
hahah I've heard / been convinced I need to keep reading until at least book 4 to decide if I want to continue reading or not. It seems that if by that point I don't love it, I won't do it later on. And if I love it, then I will be blown away!
You might be the first person who read the book and didn't like Perrin. So more power to you. What didn't you like about him?
Hahah i liked him fine when we didn't have his PoV, lol! I had a bit of trouble seeing how he thought about Egwene (although I really enjoyed the wolfs part!)
@@FunFantasyBooks That's the first time I've ever heard that. What didn't you like about how the thought about Egwene?
RJ admitted the first book was in 7:33 Tolken world
Yes! that makes sense!
Isn't it great? :D keep on reading
LoL definitely a series to pace yourself on ... To be honest I love the characters and the magic series .. I only like the first 6 books but I'm obsessed with those
hahaha I know! I will take my time, and probably try to read 1 book a month if I can. But it is so massive, it will take me too much I fear!
Lolol yeah it’s not perfect 😂 but I still am liking the series so far
hahaha it is not! (it was not for me!). In which book are you at the moment? I also kind of liked it!
@@FunFantasyBooks I’ve read the 1st 2 books ❤️
Basically, you are Perrin on the horse and Robert Jordan is Egwene.
You are really good at pattern recognition and summarizing your thoughts throughout a very good breakdown of the book. I enjoyed it immensely. Cheers!
I think if you are going to mention things you dislike, it would be more beneficial to have more criticism than "well please". It doesn't explain your problem at all.
Loves your comparison to lord of the rings. But overall left me wondering where that accent is from?
And this book is the only one that you can stop after. The rest of the books leave too many unresolved stories so you have to keep reading. And you didn’t include the prequel book New Spring in your counting of how many books there are.
More books? :') !!!!! Ahh so happy you enjoyed the GoT comparison!
I am a spaniard, so probably the accent is a blend of american and british?? so weird and messy?
@@FunFantasyBooks no the accent isn’t messy it works for you well.
The Wheel of Time isn't just one book, it's 14 books + 2 novellas. So when you say "I've read Wheel of Time and it's messy and borderline crap but I want to continue reading it", what it means to people watching is that you've actually only read The Eye of the World. But then you go on as though you've read the whole saga, which thus contradicts your own statement. Weird. I'll put it on bad writing.
Then you compare WoT's word count with ASOIAF's 5 books word count and you conclude that the Wheel of Time is waaay longer than ASOIAF.
...
...
First reaction is: so what? Since when do you judge the quality of a book by its word count? That in itself is extremely bizarre.
But the second reaction is: can you actually count? 5.9 million words in 14 books makes it 350,000 words per book; 1.736 million words in 5 books makes it 347,000 words per book... which means that ASOIAF is EXACTLY AS LONG as WoT. Which, in turn, kind of demolishes your already bizarre argument. Have you read ASOIAF? Did you know that it's not finished and has a terrible slump, not in the middle, but for the whole duration of the last two books? What on Earth made you think that any comparison, even on a purely superficial and nonsensical level, between WoT and ASOIAF would be favourable to the latter?
All in all, it's just as if I just watched the 2 first minutes of your video and said "it's messy, incoherent and borderline non sensical", and then it's 52 minutes long, while the average UA-cam video is 15 minutes long! Which has to mean that this video is waaaay too long. Besides, people will tell you that there's a slump in the middle and the end is uninteresting.
Imagine that. Maybe I should get over the very bad first two minutes of this video and see if it's any good overall... but experience tells me that when you're unable to make sense in the first to minutes of a video, there's a very high probability that the rest won't be any good. I'll trust probability.
I hope you will be able to finish the series.
Thank you!! I hope so as well 🥲🥹
@@FunFantasyBooks Friend of mine did it in about 6 months)
I think I'm late but still want to tell that LoTR references in first books are misdirection. You will get much better payoff if you will use them to notice differences between settings, not when you build your expectations on LoTR.
Um, this is point blank amazing review. You, are amazing. Carry on :-)
me recommending wheel of time to people: "It's terrible. Probably my favorite book series ever."
Hahaha I hope to find it to be one of my favorite series of all time as well!!
The show can't spoil the books anymore
No? It's because the books are very different?
@@FunFantasyBooks They are very different especially starting with the last ep of season 1
"And I HATE Perrin"...My Girl 😍
Hahahaha 🥹
You should check out the podcast Everybody Hates Rand. They like Wheel of Time, they're Wheel of Time fans, but they have kind of a love/hate relationship with it, with Robert Jordan and mostly just a hate/hate relationship with Rand. :p They'll talk about things the series does well sometimes, but they tear a lot of stuff completely apart. I love Wot too, but I find their commentary and the way they trouble various things in the series very interesting and often pretty hilarious. :p
Hahaha I am all here for the hilarious commentary!!! Will def check them out!
Honestly, book 1 is very good BUT not one of the good books in the series. Out of the 14 books, I would certainly place it in the bottom half. On the contrary, Book 2 is very good and one of top 3-4 books in the series in my opinion.
I am very excited about book 2! Although not sure if I am destroying my experience with wot season 2?
@@FunFantasyBooks I honestly don't think so. The show and the books are very different.
Great video! Very helpfull! ❤
Ahh thank you!! I am so happy you enjoyed it!
you can't read a 90s book with 2020 eyes. the whole the other guy is better with girls is meant to be a funny nod to mens insecurities with woman. this is a medieval society with no birth control, courtships and love interests have a completely different context than they do today.
I understand the gap and I've heard it gets better over time! But still, it is very hard to not react with my 2023 brain haha!
eye is definitely not his best work by far (and it was written as a homage to lotr) - the the series is incredible and if you made it though eye of the world you will love the next 2 as the divergence from classic LoTR type of story is fast and extreme.
First 3 books are the worst of the series. Im on book ten and I think it gets better as it goes. The characters grow into not so terrible people. And the terrible people become more human.
The Dark One didn't always win, else the Wheel would be Broken. Loved the prolog, but didn't get that take. I took it as with the making of Dragonmount everything was stunted or put on hold. The "sexist" parts and the long descriptions, sometimes much, so to put " reality into the story. People in power will oppress/utilize said power for their "humane" visions of how they believe everything should be requardless of born characteristics.
Uhh! Interesting! I thought the Wheel will continue even if the Dark One won- why would it break? (wouldn't it be a certain turn of the Wheel?, same as if the good wins?)
@@FunFantasyBooks it was my first take, thats all. Thats why i love books. I wouldn't want to spoil. I will keep watching. Enjoy
@@FunFantasyBooks Because the Dark One would be free. The first of the Forsaken servants of the Dark One realized that humanity would have to continually fend the Dark One off so long as the Pattern existed, and that each victory by humanity simply led to another battle. The Dark One, on the other hand, needed to win only once. His first victory would be final because once freed from his prison he would destroy the earth! Ishmael of the Forsaken realized that because the Dark One had a theoretically infinite number of chances to win, it became a statistical certainty that he eventually would. However this argument is fatally flawed! However many cycles in which Rand confronts the Dark One - or serves him!; if the Dark One could possibly be freed in any cycle of the wheel, then it would already have happened once (given how many times the wheel has turned)! And if it happened once, then he wins! And if he wins the world is destroyed. Destroyed once, its destroyed forever. Since that hasn't happened yet, it cannot happen, will never happen. The Dark One can never learn from his mistakes and never wins! He repeats the same blunders over and over.
@@FunFantasyBooks I don't think this is really spoilers. The Dark One is the antithesis of the Creator. The Creator creates, the Dark One wants un-creation. Not even destruction, just the ceasing of existence.
repeat jokes like '----- is good with women' , nynaeve thinking she is the most rational person are almost a hallmark for this series
BTW false dragon means he is not the dragon or the chosen one it doesn't mean he is dark friend
Thank you for clarifying! I guess I struggle a bit understanding how the Aes Sedai will react to Rand beign the "true" dragon. Are they going to accept it? does it even matter for them? or they will nonetheless need to "take care of him" because potentially will become mad and can break the world?
If u loved book 1, the rest will blow your mind. :)
Oh yeah?? Ahh i really want to keep loving it and for it to become all time favorite!
@FunFantasyBooks yea, gets way better. Don't worry about the slow middle part, yes it is slow compared to the rest, but it was really a problem back when u had to wait years between books lol.
Always love to see people starting the books :)
Awesome. The Eye of the World was the first adult fantasy book i read, and I'm so sad I was 36 when I read it, because it instantly made me love the genre, and now all i read is fantasy, but I'm behind for my age. After devouring 4 wheel of time books, I've now read Hobb, Rothfus and Tolkien. I only finished four wheel of time books, because for me 4 was enough in that world. I love following characters through series but 4 huge WOT was enough Rand for me. Also people say book4 of wheel of time is the best, but i found it actually boring, the Aiel in the desert just lost me, and bored me, but people say the Aiel are their favourite. For me, nothing has beat 'The name of the wind'. But I've got so much more to go!
I love Rothfuss. Joe Abercrombie is good too, as a sort of Antithesis of Sanderson.
So happy you found your love for fantasy!! I actually love playing catch up with great books - I think you're ahead of a year(s) of great 5-star reads if you keep reading those mentioned!!
If your not hooked by book 4 ..You wont make it through all 15
I didn't know there was some sort of consensus here? I got this message multiple times! that al least I need to reach book 4 and then decide! Will 100% do - but I feel / hope I will love it!
Could not get through the first book. It is a chocolate mess. Weird dynamic between male and female. Odd. Not at all like Tolkien who had common themes and central plot that all storylines wove through. WOT was not focused, seemed to lack conviction, written like a guy who wrote the story to impress a girl, saying things he thought she wanted to hear. Maybe the series gets better. 🤷🏻♀️ I probably would have looked past that if the story had not kept introducing new characters and concepts. I just didn’t care after a while. Not sure why I like Tolkien & Lewis & Chesterton’ and dislike so many other more modern fantasy writers. One of my pet peeves is definitely about the amount of characters. I dislike books that constantly add new lines and people without a coherent storyline discernible within the first book.
Thank you for sharing! It definitely took me almost 70% of the book to get really engaged with the plot (and invested with the characters!). People keeps telling me that the writing style improves in the following books, although it seems that a lot of new character lines are opened haha, so if it's your pet peeve... then maybe not give this one a second chance😆
Rand is annoying. The side characters are more interesting here than the main characters 😂 Elayas good example with the wolf abilities. And the female characters… facepalm…. 😂 Mat is the best from later tho. Airbnb I had to laugh on that. 😂 the Lord of the Rings effect wears of when RJ realizes it’s now modern fantasy. But the sexism not. 😂 You will discover how the power of the men can be used and how powerful are they. The TV series is a …. Not like this… you already see why and you don’t know yet why the changes are important for the story going forward.
It would be impossible to write a 14 volume series and have it all come together and be really good. Had this been a 7 volume series, with a LOT of editing, it could have been a tight narrative that didn't feel over-burdened. And if the final novel feels crammed trying to complete all the major plot points, that's because it is! I'm amazed it wasn't horrible like Season 8 of Game of Thrones! The final volume doesn't suck! Brian Sanderson got a lot of flack for the way he finished the series, but nothing that sprawling could ever have been concluded well. He deserves a lot of credit for finishing it off. Was the ending satisfying? Well, at least Jon didn't kill Daenerys in book 14! I didn't leave the ending wanting to beat the author with a tire-iron!
haha it really makes me happy to learn that you are satisfied with how the story finishes! Hopefully I will also love it!
@@FunFantasyBooks I really want to hear what you think of the other books in this series as you read them. You will have to produce more videos on this.
The show was so horribly cast. And had even worse design choices. I hate that new readers will picture them as they read this story. lol
Hahaha I am only happy with Moiraine and Lan ✨
loved hearing your perspective on this series! Agreed on the vast majority :)
Thank you so much for letting me know! It was a complex video to make, and it really makes me happy that was enjoyable!
@9:00 the idea is you need men AND women in anything.
Makes sense!
I had the exact same thoughts
Yay!! I am glad I wasn't the only one!!
Two things. 1) Moiraine used compulsion on the boys at the beginning of the story. 2) Mat, Rand, and Perrin are pillow friends.
You've now read the most derivative and technically sloppy book of the entire series. It only gets better from here. Oh, and rumors of the slog are imagined. There's no such thing.
Hahah I am happy to read that it only gets better from here!!
Thank you for saying all of this. I was so bored with the book. Everyone who reads it loves it though. I Dont get it. I read 3/4 of the way through book 2 and dnf’d it because it was sooooooo boring and the characters made me crazy!
Ahhh, my experience with the book is that it has a certain charm. Yes, it took me 70% of the book to get hooked to it, but then the epicness, the high stakes. The "classic" fight between good & evil,...
I did read the whole series twice. I liked how involving it was, the world building, and many of the characters. But I don't think I'll ever read it again. The relationships between women and men are "off," there's sexism, the overemphasis on the magical hierarchy of the Aes Sedai, the slavery issue. Some of these things are left hanging. (I didn't like Matt in the first couple books; he seemed like a drag and a whiner. He becomes such a great character in the later books as a master military strategist and lots of satiric humor).
Okay, I don't know if I should have know that Mat was still alive by the end hahaha. BUT i love that I know it now, because he was in a weird way my favorite character!!
RJ was not good at writing most relationships, Rand-Elayne was particularly unconvincing throughout. Rand-Min was bad to begin with but got a bit better later on basically because RJ wrote Min to be the type of girlfriend that most men loved. Rand-Aviendha was the best out of the three, though they only had a good start but seemed to fizzle out later on.
Ahhh nooooooo! spoileeeeeeer 🙈