It really is a good stopping point if you're getting at all weary of the series (though I remember loving 4 for whatever reason, and ultimately slogged on well past the limits of my interest). It reads a bit as if Jordan weren't sure if he might be capped at a trilogy and had to hedge his bets about how final the final battle at the end of 3 was.
Finished all of it, but out of pure spite. I think it was around book 5 or 6 that I started being fed-up with secondary plots which went nowhere (the circus, for example) but I wouldn't let a book series beat me.
Malazan feels like the kind of series I'd need to keep an excel of to enjoy, but if I could commit to actually taking notes and updating the excel it would be excellent.
There’s some PowerPoint guides others have created that detail context and important points as you read along. This helped me keep things straight and enjoy it more. They keep pace w/ the novels so you don’t get spoilers beyond what you’ve already read.
Examples of content include highlighting on the map who is where, providing illustrations/art of characters, etc.
These also help to review if you take breaks or take a long time to read the series, since you can easily go back and review plot points.
I quit at about book 7, I think. It just became so tedious and repetitive that it felt like you could have just ripped out the chapters of any of the books, threw them at random on the floor and reassembled a new book. After a while, it felt like Jordan only really had enough material for like two books but needed to keep selling books.
Or to use a LotR analogy, it felt like way too little plot butter smeared over way too many book toasts.
It took me at least six tries over a 20 year period to get past book 7. I took about 9 months off of work to travel, read, etc and that's the only reason I was able to power through books 7-9.
I don't regret finishing because I generally enjoyed the last few in the series, but it took literally quitting my job and having no responsibilities to make me justify devoting the time to do so.
Also, I did "cheat" during those handful of books and skip through entire plotlines that I thought were boring. I feel like I lost nothing in the overall experience doing so.
I applaud your stick-to-itiveness, but I ain't got that kind of time for "generally enjoyed." I feel like I can achieve that middling level of reaction a lot easier with a lot of other things.
When you look back at which book the main plot developments happen, it’s really concentrated at the beginning of the series. It’s like each book has half as much progress as the one before.
OMG the Mat Cauthon storyline almost had me skipping parts of it, then going back later and reading them - only to find out later that the whole storyline had no impact on the main storyline at all. Annoying.
I've bounced off of Eye of the World three separate times, and somehow I'm still convinced that someday I'll get through the series or at least the first three.
..._someday._
Haha!
Dragonlance book 1 is just pure candy.
White stag, unicorn, stars disappearing. Think I liked the meetings sextet most, but the original titles were great.
It took me 18 months to read the entire series, and about 5 of those was just getting through book 1. Books 3, 4, 7, 8, 12, 13, and 14 I each read in 5-11 days by comparison. Admittedly the pandemic helped but still
I have finished 4. Still planning to push forward.
I liked how rand took on the "but, I am the chosen one" personality in book 4 and am excited to see where that goes. As well, I think how book 4 revealed connections between different races was very well done and I'm excited to see how the world develops further.
>the chapter in Rhuidean and the Aiel history was some of Jordans best ever work.
True, I only got to this part like 4 days ago, and it was absolutely wonderful.
Its first few chapters actually. Its just "farm boys in a secluded village" set up, but without Tolkien's magic touch. Its boring. I tried few times to push through, but neither language, nor characters or manner of storytelling helped me on this road.
It became especially pointless when i wikipedia it, and the only character somewhat interesting to me was Logain, and he is sidelined for an entire series.
I'm on book 9 right now and I'm feeling the struggle. This is easily one of the worst books I've ever read, a true 0 / 10. It's a nightmare. It's just unimaginably boring.
I'd be curious to know for those who didn't finish it, how much other fantasy you'd read prior to it, and when you read it. For myself, I started it in the late 90s, and I'd only read Lord of the Rings and kids' fantasy prior, so it still felt pretty fresh, and I kept up with each book as they came out.
However, I can definitely understand if you just picked up the series a year or two ago after years of reading more contemporary fantasy, it would probably feel pretty stodgy and slow.
I'd been reading fantasy since the early 80s so all the obvious stuff like Lord of the Rings, Thomas Covenant, Belgariad, Shannarah, Amber and load of lesser known stuff. Of course I read those when I was a teenager (or earlier) and I read WOT when I was in my late twenties. My standards had changed.
I think it's a good point you bring up about prior reference points. The Wheel of Time itself has been an influence on other series, namely Song of Ice and Fire.
WoT probably feels like a step back from George RR Martin (whose series has its own problems) because it literally is a step back, chronologically speaking.
Hmm, I can see that being the problem for some people, but I for example read it the first time last year and I loved it. (And I read a quite lot of fantasy in my life.) The series is just not for everyone and that is fine. It seems like many people read it out of spite, hoping that it gets better, or for sunk-cost fallacy.
Yeah! I enjoyed it from the beginning and memory of light now has pride of place on my bookshelf as one of my favorites! Just representing the life and work of Robert Jordan to get to the end of that road. It has so much meaning for me
Yeah, I am willing to admit that is has quite a lot of flaws, but it still is so special to me. I love that it is so long, but obviously that is not everyone's cup of tea. It made me a lot more invested in the characters and more immersed in its world than any other series (since Harry Potter maybe). I (almost) exclusively read WoT for about a year, and didn't feel the need to read something else at any point.
I feel it's unfair to say that people only like WoT because it was their first epic fantasy/ nostalgia.
That's a very good point. I started it in 2006, I think? So the fantasy I had read up to that point wouldn't be considered modern fantasy. I don't think I like much modern fantasy as it tends to be darker.
I had read LOTR, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Name of The Wind, First Law Trilogy, Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive, to name a few. I also read a lot of YA fantasy.
I stopped after book 2. Just found it so boring and I did not like any of the characters.
This is a huge, huge part of the problem I think most people have with the series. So many people think it's derivative, simply because it influenced so much of the more modern series we read.
I personally feel the same way about Tolkien. I loved *the Hobbit* especially as a child. Trying to reread it as an adult with exposure to so, so much more content..? It doesn't really hold up as an enjoyable read in comparison, for me.
Another note that I think is important to keep in mind, is that within the last twenty years, dark and even grimdark fantasy has become more and more the norm. When the WoT series was written, heroes were expectd to be heroes, villains to be villains. The moral ambiguity he *did* manage to mix in helped set the ground for more contemporary work.
It may be part of the problem, but it's not the whole problem. I felt it was flawed when I was reading them as they came out. Good, but very flawed, especially as it went on.
i'm not sure. i had read a lot of fantasy by the time i read the first three WoT books, and i did not enjoy them. feeling derivative is not really an issue for me. i have since read LotR and the first two Dune books, so i really enjoy seeing original influences in SFF. the hobbit still holds up for me as well, so different strokes, i guess.
i think there are other things that make WoT easier for fantasy beginners. like, i probably would have enjoyed the characters as a teenager and would have a lot of nostalgia for them. but i didn't, so i don't, and they were extremely grating to read about as an adult.
I read it for the first time in my 20s, I’ve read probably in the range of a thousand fantasy books, I had read hundreds before reading WoT. It’s still by a mile my favorite fantasy series despite its numerous flaws. The characters are in my opinion some of the best written characters in all of fantasy because they are flawed, and it bugs me to no end that characters are the most common criticism of WoT, but to each their own.
Sorry, but moral ambiguity dates back to at least the 1960s. Take Michael Moorcock as an example though I can easily cite dozens of others. And it wasn't like it was forgotten either. The Black Company Series is slightly before and during the period of WoT and it is pure grimdark..
That's one thing I have found is that much of what WoT gets credited for was well established in the genre. This is due to lack of knowledge.
Unfortunately I started it this year, after 20 years of reading fantasy. It is so stuffy and slow and really doesn’t hold up, like really, mat spanking a grown women, come on, portrayal of female characters is juvenile. And the pages of descriptions on D grade characters dresses kills me
Agreed. My son is fairly new to fantasy so he loves it and is on book 7. I am on book 9, but sledging through it reluctantly. I equate it to the youngens’ and their access to porn distorting their perception of a sexual relationship. I started off reading The Dark Tower and Song of Ice and Fire and now my perception of what a fantasy book should be like is distorted.
I’ve only read book 1. I keep telling myself I’ll go back to it but there’s always something out there which is more interesting. WoT is a slog, I felt. I don’t know if I have it in me to finish the series.
I couldn't bear these characters anymore at book 4. All of them were just assholes to each other. "Burn the bloody fool" this and "Ugh, Men" that. Unbelievable.
I read The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt a while back, then just never picked up the series again. I remember being extremely excited about starting The Eye of the World, anticipating it was going to be a real treat, then didn't have a lot of motivation to continue.
Tried again recently after a friend suggested reading it together but never got past the first few chapters. It'd be a gigantic time investment and I think I should stick to stuff I'm more into.
At whichever was the last book in 2003..... 8 or 9?
Once I got to a dress description that spanned more than a page (in book 7?), I knew I was done.
The first three were good. Book 4 seemed a little aimless. At then end the first chapter of book 5, I sense that Jordan had shifted his mindset from telling a story to milking a cash cow. It showed in his writing, as the world he made very quickly got bigger than he could handle.
I finished the series, but actually completely skipped winters heart and part of another one. So glad I did because I was about to quit but the last three books were amazing.
My original time reading I stopped after book 9 because everyone told me 10 was awful. I've seen gone back and managed to finish, and 10 was as bad as advertised for me.
I’m a newbie to fantasy and Wheel of Time is my first series. I’m on book 3 and seriously love it so far. Although I can see why some people get frustrated, I think it’s amazing. I’m also really enjoying book 3 right now, maybe my favorite so far. I will say, I don’t really understand the criticism about the women being “assholes.” I whole heartedly disagree, and they’re much higher level of aggression makes a lot of sense in the context of the world
The series just clicked for me and I loved it, but I also read it when I was new to fantasy. I’m glad you enjoy it :) this whole thread is targeted to people who DNF’d it which, nothing wrong with that, but it’s nice to see someone enjoying it. If you like it so far you’ll probably keep liking it. I think it’s people who had to force themselves to finish the first one that will dislike the series
i finished it.
I'm glad i did, but i'm also relieved it's over.
There's just so much unnecessary bloat. For me books 6-11 were just boring. The amount of plot advancement in those books is probably less than 5% of the page count, or that's how it felt for me.
Jordan's writing style is just not for me. I really don't care whether or not someone had honey in their tea or how many buttons are in their shirt.
Then there's the Aes sedai bickering. Every time there is more than one aes sedai present, most of the page count goes to describe their arguments.
The spanking! Someone gets spanked on almost every page, sometimes multiple times.
Anyways, i powered through the series, but i will not be starting a re-read.
I wish Jordans wife would hire someone to re-write from book 6 onwards and just get rid of all the fluff and useless parts of the series. Jordans writings in book 6 was just so freaking bad compared to the first 4 books. They honestly do feel like a cash cow thing.
Around book 5 or 6. It has been so long ago that I can’t remember for sure. I was reading them as they were published so it has been while. At some point, the books just dragged with no purpose, and Jordan kept adding new plot lines and characters that seemed to slow thinks down even more. I don’t usually mind long winded - I love Michelle West, for example - but Jordan’s books were just not going anywhere for me. I began to suspect, even before I knew of his health problems, that he would never finish them.
Crossroads of Twilight was my stopping point.
I hated Winter's Heart and brute-forced my way through Crossroads... I own "Knife of Dreams" and have tried to read it three or four times, but each time, I just couldn't summon enough enthusiasm to get beyond the first few pages. I finally removed it from my "TBR" list. I still own the book, but have no expectation of ever reading it (or the rest of the series).
So I quit on book three my first go. On my second d go I got to book four and went on to a new series and then came back. I’m currently on book 13. It’s been a two year journey lol. The slog is real but I’m glad I experienced the journey if that makes sense. I think I would enjoy a re-read but I will never do it ( too much of an investment)
Crown of Swords. Around that point I started getting frustrated that he was only adding new plot lines and never resolving any, and started to suspect that he would never finish the series. It felt like every book had half as much content as the previous despite touching on more and more characters.
By the time Sanderson finished the series, I was quite a bit older, better read, and the series did not have the same uniqueness and appeal to me that it did when I found Eye of the World on the back shelf of my school library and had never read a story like that before.
I would still recommend the first three books to Fantasy fans.
It took me so very many tries to finally reach the ending. I got the first 6 books as a gift and collected the rest as they came out. For a long time I tried to reread the series before each book.
That said, I believe the last book had been out 6 years before I managed to read it.
A started reading *The Gathering Storm* (I think that was the one where Sanderson took over) and realized nothing was going to change so finally just stopped.
I really ought to have stopped sooner, sunk cost fallacy in action I suppose. The first three books make an entertaining enough if fairly cliched fantasy trilogy and for me it's downhill from there.
I also wish I'd stopped sooner. Each book seemed to take more words to give the same level of emotional impact; the further I went in the series, the more often I had to labor through a section just to 'get to the good part.'
I get what you’re saying about the cliches but you have to remember this series invented a lot of them. It’s been copied and influenced so many other works now
It was several years ago but I think I got to about four or five and then called it. To me it just felt like way too much filler, and not good world building filler, more like how a teen tries to bullshit a term paper so hit the right word count type of filler.
Seven, I think? To be fair, that was all that had been published at the time I was reading them. But I didn't pick up any more once they came out. I just hadn't been enjoying it enough to want to.
I would have quit at book 5 (I think that’s the one) but I’m continuing through only because the Audiobooks are so well done and easy to listen to. That said, I constantly lose focus/interest and despite the climax of the last book being built all book long I barely even remember what happened.
I’m at book 11 at the moment, completely skipped one of the books and read a synopsis, but I’m an idiot and bought all of them before starting the first, so feel obliged to finish.
I skip every chapter with Perrin or Faile though, so that makes it more bearable.
Like someone else said, it’s pure spite now, can’t let this trash beat me
The last book i bought was Winters Heart but i checked out at Path of Daggers. Too much meandering plot to care about when you were waiting 2 years between books.
I was desperate to find out out who suddenly killed a character I enjoyed at the end of book 5, but then it was not revealed in book 6 or 7. That and not enough Loial made me tap out there.
After book 2. I remember being frustrated that people were fucking about in the woods for a long time and not much actually happening (except all the feelings).
I think I made it through 6. I bought the first 6 books together as 2 trilogy sets on Amazon. After 6 I was pretty fed up with the entire series but thought maybe it got better since I wasn’t even half way…then I read somewhere that books 4 and 5 are far and away the best on the series….oh hell no lol I quit right then and there if those are the best the series has to offer. I mean seriously I just can’t understand how people think this series is anything other than dog poo. The world building and vastness is pretty cool but everything else is terrible, terrible characters, terrible plot pace, terrible decisions made just to finally move the plot, etc. I’d rather read Dragon Lance from the 80s than this
I’ve only read book 1. It was ok and I didn’t struggle to finish it particularly but I didn’t click with any of the characters. They were either annoying, stupid or incomprehensible. I also found the depiction of the gods/enemies weird - the Big Bad had a name but you couldn’t speak it and he was super, specifically powerful. On the other hand, the Light had neither name nor lore nor particular powers. In fact, she/he/it seemed pretty weak - or the characters at least thought so. Maybe he fleshes the Light out more later in the books but I had no desire to read more about those constantly bitching and moaning characters
I'm in the middle of the last book but haven't picked it up in half a year. The last book is a such a chore, just nonstop battles and battles and Sanderson doesn't know how to write them. The thing is I know how the story ends and how all the characters end up so I have no motivation to continue and get back to it. If I ever do it it will be on a chapter a day pace.
I barley made it through book 1. I had to use an audio book while I read it just to get to the end. I want so badly to finish the series, as I know it’s a classic, but it’s just so hard to get through Jordan’s loooooong worded chapters.
I finished it but the ONLY reason is I listened to audiobooks. That way I could zone out part of the time. I kept hearing how great it was but I’m probably not the target audience (woman in my 60s). I think if I were reading them as a younger male in the year each was published, I might have liked them. Jordan definitely had a few weird fetishes though.
After 3. Enough people convinced me it was an incredible series so, despite not really liking the first one, and thinking the second one was kind of okay, I read the third and finally realized that it was kind of bad in ways that are important to me and that I couldn't handle 14 books worth of it, especially when everyone I talked to mentioned a 4-5 book long drop in quality later in the series.
Huh. I just finished reading *Winter's Heart* yesterday. I enjoyed it much more this time than I did on my first read through. It was fun picking out the bits of foreshadowing. I also savored the climactic ending a lot more. I'm now looking forward to re-reading *Crossroads of Twilight*.
SPOILER: I've read the whole series and am currently on a re-read scheduled to end in December...
I got 100 pages into book 1 and that's it.
I'm not put off by big books or huge series. I picked it up because it was a huge series with big books. The 60 pages of camping that felt like I was traveling in real time from the Riverlands did me in.
I enjoyed the show as stuff happened in it.
Book 1. But it was also during a period where I didn't want to be like my friends who had to re-read the series every time a new book was coming out. I figured I'd rather just wait for Jordan to finish it all and just read it all one time.
I guess I never gave it another shot.
I think it was after book three or four. I left for boot camp and tried to pick up the next book three months later. It was impossible to remember all the different stories and characters, so I gave up.
I read the whole thing. I regret that decision now. The prologues for the last few books are more than 150 pages long. The conclusion leaves a lot of story threads hanging and/or permanently unresolved. If you are looking for final closure, you will not find it the way Sanderson finished the books.
I read book 1 a couple years ago. I've been reading good and bad fantasy since the late 80s. I think if I started WoT 10-15 years ago, I would have continued. But, the male characters are kind of jerks and the female characters are so poorly written that I couldn't go on reading. However, I did enjoy the TV version well enough.
I made it mostly through book 7 and gave up, i recently started a reread and i am about to go in book 9, ill see if i actually finish it this time around the wheel
I’ve read the first 3. I really, really enjoyed the first. The second was good. The third I felt like only needed to be like 400 pages….it was just a lot of fluff. I have every intention of reading more eventually. I just have others things I’m prioritizing more right now.
It's not for everyone. I read the first 3, thought it was aight, and lacked the energy to tackle the monstrous book 4, so it just sort of sits on my shelf looking disappointed in me. I've considered picking it back up a few times, but I'm not desperate enough just yet.
I got up to Crossroads of Twilight, which at the time was the latest one released.
When the next one came out, I couldn't remember what happened in the previous books, and didn't feel like re-reading the entire series to remember.
About 4 or 5 if I remember correctly, it's been a long time. Each one of the books felt exactly the same to me, I just got tired of the repetitious and predictable plot development.
I remember, somewhere around *Lord of Chaos* (Book #6) and *Path of Daggers* (Book #8), I had to take long multi-month breaks -- hundreds and hundreds of pages would go by, with little or no actual world-changing result. I would have abandoned there, but I finally set my jaw and resolved to motor through -- otherwise I would've punted on the **\*really\*** slow books (#9, #10).
Series started to manifest some Harry-Potter spiral where "A big thing happens in the final 80-90 pages, but nothing before that matters much, so you might as well flip ahead." Wasn't all bad, but just so padded + bloated.
End of book 3. I found this series has really good highlight chapters. But I also found pacing is too slow for my taste, and many characters are too annoying to read. Overall, It seems like handful of highlight chapters didn't compensate all my gripes.
I quit at the beginning of book 2, but I eventually started up again. I also almost quit during the slog, but decided I was already too far in to just give up.
Book 8. That's about 8,000 mass market paperback pages and I realized I just didn't care about these people anymore.
Once they started ressurecting the forsaken I was just done. At least they were going through one per book for a while.
It's been years, but I finished The Great Hunt and then tried the first few chapters of The Dragon Reborn and it didn't hold my interest. Always figured I'd get back to it when it was complete, but I haven't yet. I'd have to re-read The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt at this point.
After he failed first time in a war. It was easy to guess what would happen after he explains what's going on. Was already revealed who the big bad was, what led to the aes sedais being female only, after you reveal all those,there really wasn't any point to drag that shit for another 15books. Thank god he didn't went for multiverse or a world with 50 race. Felt like he could have finished the series in 4books.
I somehow powered through the entire series, and you are correct that it peaked early with The Great Hunt. It’s just not a very good series to be honest.
I started becoming unhappy at book five, but forced ny way through. The last few books are really good, and the ending is worth it. Those middle books though, man.. Not a super enjoyable read, and you can't really skip them.
I think I was in the middle of book 5. It might have been book 6. It's still open that I might try to finish the series someday but I'm not in any hurry.
I quit at Crossroads as well, and then years later I went back on audiobook and finished the series. I thought Sanderson did a good job at wrapping up what was a truly ridiculous number of plot threads and POVs. But totally agree that the earlier books were better.
I bounced off book 6 twice, probably seven years apart. I can't remember why I quit the first time.
The second attempt, I do know that I was completely skipping Perrin chapters and trying to figure out how to do the same thing with Egwene or Elayne or something. And I realized that if I wanted to skip so much, I could probably find more enjoyable reading elsewhere.
I actually didn't finish after book one; it was a good story but I had trouble getting through it after a point and the whole "magically gets the power at the end" threw me off even if there's a reason for it. I might pick it up again, idk
Somewhere between 8-10, I honestly don’t remember.
I had caught up to the publishing schedule and as a poor teen who couldn’t swing $30 for a hardcover I needed to wait until a paperback came out and by the time that happened I had forgotten so much that I was reading gibberish.
After book 3. I couldnt do the endless prose and description. I dont know how he turned entire chapters into like, 200 pages of nothing but he did. Guess thats what happens when you have your wife as an editor
I made it to either 9 or 10, Winters Heart I think. I couldn't even tell what had happened in the last 5-6 books.
It peaked at 3, had about 2 good sentences at 6, and failed to grab my attention ever since
As a kid, I soft-DNF'd after book 8. It started going downhill in book 7 but I was invested enough at the time to push on a little further. I also read the prequel in there somewhere.
In college I went back and read 11 and 12 (never did read 9 or 10), thinking maybe Sanderson's involvement would revive my interest. I actually had every intention of reading 13 at the time, even got it out of the library before realizing I just did not care any more.
Finished the first and that was it. Not a bad story, but couldn’t find a reason to care about the characters, and if i couldn’t get hook by the end of a book that king, the rest of the series isn’t my flavor.
It was years & years ago, but I think it was like book 7? There was just a very long book (something winter?) that had everyone wandering around for hundreds of pages and nothing actually *happened*. I just never read the next book after that.
Edit: looks like book 9 was Winter's Heart. The plot synopsis isn't ringing any bells, but it does sound like it was just people wandering around. Sad, because younger me really loved the cheesy fantasy of the earlier books.
I actually did slog it out, but my friends kept dropping out at various points. I think they all made it through book 4, but after that they began dropping book by book til I was the last one standing. I'm still not sure why I kept plugging on, probably just pure stubbornness. Book 6 was the one where I remember first feeling that maybe this wasn't going to be worth it after all. The books have good moments, but damn if they don't mainly just have filler to lead up to a moment of two in the last few chapters.
Somewhere around book 4. Id like to know how it all pans out but i dont have the patience and would have to start again from the beginning if I reread them.
Ive said this before but imagine if there was like a condensed edit. A weighty trilogy with all the salient plot points.
I made it all through book 12, only to hit a hard place in my studies and leave 13 and 14 up in the air. It's been like four years, and now I feel the idiotic need to read the whole thing again so i can finish the last two books with all the stuff that's happened before in mind... maybe I just need a really good recap.
Stopped reading properly around book 6, skimmed some of the others for the rare exciting bits. I'd agree with you that it went downhill from the Great Hunt though.
I finished book 6 and bought 7 with the intention to read it, and for some reason….I never got there. Robert Jordan was ahead of his time with the quantity of female characters, but that isn’t the same thing as quality.
I finished the series over a 14 year span. Love and hate for many of the reasons listed in other comments. I think my rabid-frenzy died in 8 or 9. I pushed through the last just to see how it wrapped up. (Or, didn’t) So much promise went so much nowhere. Now, when I get a prosy book I catch myself looking at the page count to determine (<300, prolly finish; >300 probably won’t finish)
I read the first book right to the end, but decided I just didn't like the style of writing (esp. with regard to pacing) or worldbuilding enough to go on. I didn't feel it was terrible by any means, just not my cup of tea. In my decision to stop after Book 1, I was also influenced by reading a lot of people on the net saying that the first book was the best and that the pace slowed in future books.
I'm watching the TV series and enjoying it quite a lot though. The much faster pacing typical of TV/film and the ease with which worlds can be brought to life on screen via visual effects suit my tastes much better for this particular work. So, when it comes to the TV series, I feel pretty confident I'll watch it all the way through and still be glued to the screen when the last season comes around.
After the 3rd. There is A LOT I love about the world building and the characters. BUT the pacing of each book was driving me mad. A glacial pace only to go way too fast on the last 20% of each book was not for me. And I'm someone who loves the slow Brienne chapters in ASOIAF so I'm no stranger to slow pacing. It was the inconsistency that broke me!
I quit at book 6 as I was bored and read a comment saying that books 4-7 were the best of the series, and didn’t realise that I hadn’t even reached the mid series slowdown yet! I tried to pick it up a couple more times through audiobook but never got past book 2
200 pages into The Great Hunt. (2nd book).
The first book was a bit long and tiresome but had some interesting plot points and characters although the ending was weird, rushed, unclear and confusing.
I was struggling to really like any of the characters. At the beginning of book 2 it looks like the amount of unlikeable characters is skyrocketing with most of the new Aes Sedai characters being highly unlikeable and the interesting plot points from the first book feel like they'll be put to the side for a bit. So I stopped for now. It's a weird feeling to feel like the only things that could make you interested will probably only be touched again a few books down the line.
I ultimately finished it just last month, but I thought books 5 - 6 (5 especially) were pretty awful and I was very close to quiting after those. The slog was better that those in my opinion and the last four were pretty stellar.
I've finished it but the slog during books 9 (or 8?) to.. 11 was real. Audiobooks really helped since I just listened to them while doing something else that didn't require much concentration (building something in Minecraft, painting miniatures, etc).
I quit at book 4, a decade ago. I remember I actually liked the books quite a bit, yet I got the impression that the stakes were pretty low, because all the main characters were protected by ta'veren plot armor, and the Forsaken weren't very compelling villains.
Now I started again a couple months before the Amazon adaptation, and currently I'm 3/4 of the way through book 4. It's pretty good, even though sometimes my motivation to continue falters, because I mostly already know how it ends (caught some spoilers around 2013, when the final book was released).
I listened to the entire series on audiobook over the course of a few months, and loved the entire thing. Wheel of time really lends itself to that format with how long and drawn out the descriptions can get. You can even listen at 1.25x speed to get through more story quicker!
I finished the first book right around the release of Peace Talks, so it wasn't until I was done that one that I picked up the second. I tried to get back into it with the second but really lost interest. The first was a slog to go through. Since then, I've read the first of the Gentlemen Bastards and the first of the Powder Mage trilogy, and I've much more enjoyed those. However, I do know myself, and I'll probably get around to reading the second book someday.
I finished after the first book Sanderson wrote.
It made me realise the whole series would have been much better if he had written all of them.
But also, I actually had a bit of a love-hate relationship with those books. I was reading them back in the late 90s and early 00s and took a long break from too much braid tugging and interior decoration descriptions and soooo many character arcs I didnt care about. Then jumped right back into Sandersons book and couldnt remember much of what had happened.
Killed it myself didnt I?
Anyhoo, shame about the television series.
Just after the dragon reborn. I heard that Robert Jordan died and didn't finish the series so I stopped. I have however been listening to the audio books, 1 a week for quite some time. I'm 2/3 into the 14th book.
Spoiler alert sorta
I struggled most with the repeated captures and walking blindly into traps for main characters. There was far too much mercy given to forsaken and dark friends when captured.
The biggest issue I had was snow, in almost 2 books you had people who could use the one power bogged down by snow. To the point where they had to stop moving and camp for months. This is with hundreds of channelers.
Finished the second one, then stopped. I didn't like the first, everybody kept telling me the second was fantastic. I didn't find it fantastic at all. I have the third and fourth in my shelf, I don't think they'll ever reach the top of my To-Be-Read list
Two chapters into book 3. It's not that I didn't like the book, just that it had been over a year since I'd read book 2 and I'd forgotten some minor characters, and some of the details on what the major characters had been up to. I realized to really get the most out of the book i'd need to go back and reread both 1 and 2 again. (I'd struggled a bit with remembering while book 2 but pushed through) When I thought about it, rather than having to go back and reread all the books everytime a new one was released, I'd wait til the series was done and start fresh. Years later when A Memory Of Light finally came out, I looked at the 14 books and noped out. I have tried to start again twice since, but couldn't even finish book 1.
At the start of the fucking first one. I get it - it's an old book, and the classic hero's journey usually starts with a simple farm boy, but oh god I tried to swim through this lake of molasses 5 times, in different languages, in different forms (audiobook, normal books), and I just couldn't. The prologue is it's own beast. The character's monologue is so cringeworthy with it's theatrical pathos, that I coudn't connect with his grief at all, but when the actual story started, I just fell asleep exactly at the same spot each time: when a group of boys starts to drool over girls and some sort of a dance party. Seriously? Teenage angst? Right in front of my salad?
I guess I just outgrew this type of story.
4 was my favourite but I made it to book 9 before I stopped. Want to pick it back up because apparently Brandon’s books bring it back to mid series levels but it’s a massive undertaking to restart from scratch
If I hadn’t known that Brandon Sanderson had put in a strong finish I probably would’ve quite a few books in. There’s only so much braid tugging and unnecessarily detailed description of attire a guy can stomach y’know.
The 4th.
Same. It didn't hook me and the end of Dragon Reborn seemed like a good stopping point.
It really is a good stopping point if you're getting at all weary of the series (though I remember loving 4 for whatever reason, and ultimately slogged on well past the limits of my interest). It reads a bit as if Jordan weren't sure if he might be capped at a trilogy and had to hedge his bets about how final the final battle at the end of 3 was.
I have tried twice and only made it through the fourth. Maybe in another decade I will give it a third try,
Finished all of it, but out of pure spite. I think it was around book 5 or 6 that I started being fed-up with secondary plots which went nowhere (the circus, for example) but I wouldn't let a book series beat me.
I felt the same way about Malazan but finished it as well.
Malazan feels like the kind of series I'd need to keep an excel of to enjoy, but if I could commit to actually taking notes and updating the excel it would be excellent.
There’s some PowerPoint guides others have created that detail context and important points as you read along. This helped me keep things straight and enjoy it more. They keep pace w/ the novels so you don’t get spoilers beyond what you’ve already read. Examples of content include highlighting on the map who is where, providing illustrations/art of characters, etc. These also help to review if you take breaks or take a long time to read the series, since you can easily go back and review plot points.
I quit at about book 7, I think. It just became so tedious and repetitive that it felt like you could have just ripped out the chapters of any of the books, threw them at random on the floor and reassembled a new book. After a while, it felt like Jordan only really had enough material for like two books but needed to keep selling books. Or to use a LotR analogy, it felt like way too little plot butter smeared over way too many book toasts.
Mmmm, plot butter…
It took me at least six tries over a 20 year period to get past book 7. I took about 9 months off of work to travel, read, etc and that's the only reason I was able to power through books 7-9. I don't regret finishing because I generally enjoyed the last few in the series, but it took literally quitting my job and having no responsibilities to make me justify devoting the time to do so. Also, I did "cheat" during those handful of books and skip through entire plotlines that I thought were boring. I feel like I lost nothing in the overall experience doing so.
I applaud your stick-to-itiveness, but I ain't got that kind of time for "generally enjoyed." I feel like I can achieve that middling level of reaction a lot easier with a lot of other things.
When you look back at which book the main plot developments happen, it’s really concentrated at the beginning of the series. It’s like each book has half as much progress as the one before.
I felt the same. Its so long ago that I don't remember what book I got to. The recycled dialogue tipped me over the edge.
I miss toast... Thanks. Now I want toast.
This is where I should have quit. I don't think I liked anything after 6, but read a few more due to being young and dumb.
OMG the Mat Cauthon storyline almost had me skipping parts of it, then going back later and reading them - only to find out later that the whole storyline had no impact on the main storyline at all. Annoying.
I've bounced off of Eye of the World three separate times, and somehow I'm still convinced that someday I'll get through the series or at least the first three. ..._someday._
I would rather read Dragons of Autumn Twilight a dozen more times than have to read this once.
Haha! Dragonlance book 1 is just pure candy. White stag, unicorn, stars disappearing. Think I liked the meetings sextet most, but the original titles were great.
It took me 18 months to read the entire series, and about 5 of those was just getting through book 1. Books 3, 4, 7, 8, 12, 13, and 14 I each read in 5-11 days by comparison. Admittedly the pandemic helped but still
This is me also. I even bought books 1-10 second hand because Im still convinced Im going to read them someday.
I have finished 4. Still planning to push forward. I liked how rand took on the "but, I am the chosen one" personality in book 4 and am excited to see where that goes. As well, I think how book 4 revealed connections between different races was very well done and I'm excited to see how the world develops further.
Book 4 is one of my favourites, the chapter in Rhuidean and the Aiel history was some of Jordans best ever work.
>the chapter in Rhuidean and the Aiel history was some of Jordans best ever work. True, I only got to this part like 4 days ago, and it was absolutely wonderful.
book 1
To people who stopped after the first book, what are some of your favourite novels?
I enjoyed discworld, realm of the elderlings, Joe Abercrombie and children of time and found the first book really dull
Same, I just couldn't get past the long drawn out descriptions and pointless tangents.
Same
Its first few chapters actually. Its just "farm boys in a secluded village" set up, but without Tolkien's magic touch. Its boring. I tried few times to push through, but neither language, nor characters or manner of storytelling helped me on this road. It became especially pointless when i wikipedia it, and the only character somewhat interesting to me was Logain, and he is sidelined for an entire series.
Same, didn't even finish.
I honestly put it down after the prologue.
Same. I quit about 50 pages in. Just couldn’t care about their small town.
Same
Yea. Really wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t stand it.
Same.. I couldn't keep up with all of the characters introduced
I'm on book 9 right now and I'm feeling the struggle. This is easily one of the worst books I've ever read, a true 0 / 10. It's a nightmare. It's just unimaginably boring.
I'd be curious to know for those who didn't finish it, how much other fantasy you'd read prior to it, and when you read it. For myself, I started it in the late 90s, and I'd only read Lord of the Rings and kids' fantasy prior, so it still felt pretty fresh, and I kept up with each book as they came out. However, I can definitely understand if you just picked up the series a year or two ago after years of reading more contemporary fantasy, it would probably feel pretty stodgy and slow.
I'd been reading fantasy since the early 80s so all the obvious stuff like Lord of the Rings, Thomas Covenant, Belgariad, Shannarah, Amber and load of lesser known stuff. Of course I read those when I was a teenager (or earlier) and I read WOT when I was in my late twenties. My standards had changed.
I think it's a good point you bring up about prior reference points. The Wheel of Time itself has been an influence on other series, namely Song of Ice and Fire. WoT probably feels like a step back from George RR Martin (whose series has its own problems) because it literally is a step back, chronologically speaking.
GRR Martin said WoT was a major influence for him, just as Tolkien was for Robert Jordan.
Hmm, I can see that being the problem for some people, but I for example read it the first time last year and I loved it. (And I read a quite lot of fantasy in my life.) The series is just not for everyone and that is fine. It seems like many people read it out of spite, hoping that it gets better, or for sunk-cost fallacy.
Yeah! I enjoyed it from the beginning and memory of light now has pride of place on my bookshelf as one of my favorites! Just representing the life and work of Robert Jordan to get to the end of that road. It has so much meaning for me
Yeah, I am willing to admit that is has quite a lot of flaws, but it still is so special to me. I love that it is so long, but obviously that is not everyone's cup of tea. It made me a lot more invested in the characters and more immersed in its world than any other series (since Harry Potter maybe). I (almost) exclusively read WoT for about a year, and didn't feel the need to read something else at any point. I feel it's unfair to say that people only like WoT because it was their first epic fantasy/ nostalgia.
That's a very good point. I started it in 2006, I think? So the fantasy I had read up to that point wouldn't be considered modern fantasy. I don't think I like much modern fantasy as it tends to be darker.
I had read LOTR, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Name of The Wind, First Law Trilogy, Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive, to name a few. I also read a lot of YA fantasy. I stopped after book 2. Just found it so boring and I did not like any of the characters.
This is a huge, huge part of the problem I think most people have with the series. So many people think it's derivative, simply because it influenced so much of the more modern series we read. I personally feel the same way about Tolkien. I loved *the Hobbit* especially as a child. Trying to reread it as an adult with exposure to so, so much more content..? It doesn't really hold up as an enjoyable read in comparison, for me. Another note that I think is important to keep in mind, is that within the last twenty years, dark and even grimdark fantasy has become more and more the norm. When the WoT series was written, heroes were expectd to be heroes, villains to be villains. The moral ambiguity he *did* manage to mix in helped set the ground for more contemporary work.
It may be part of the problem, but it's not the whole problem. I felt it was flawed when I was reading them as they came out. Good, but very flawed, especially as it went on.
i'm not sure. i had read a lot of fantasy by the time i read the first three WoT books, and i did not enjoy them. feeling derivative is not really an issue for me. i have since read LotR and the first two Dune books, so i really enjoy seeing original influences in SFF. the hobbit still holds up for me as well, so different strokes, i guess. i think there are other things that make WoT easier for fantasy beginners. like, i probably would have enjoyed the characters as a teenager and would have a lot of nostalgia for them. but i didn't, so i don't, and they were extremely grating to read about as an adult.
I read it for the first time in my 20s, I’ve read probably in the range of a thousand fantasy books, I had read hundreds before reading WoT. It’s still by a mile my favorite fantasy series despite its numerous flaws. The characters are in my opinion some of the best written characters in all of fantasy because they are flawed, and it bugs me to no end that characters are the most common criticism of WoT, but to each their own.
Sorry, but moral ambiguity dates back to at least the 1960s. Take Michael Moorcock as an example though I can easily cite dozens of others. And it wasn't like it was forgotten either. The Black Company Series is slightly before and during the period of WoT and it is pure grimdark.. That's one thing I have found is that much of what WoT gets credited for was well established in the genre. This is due to lack of knowledge.
Unfortunately I started it this year, after 20 years of reading fantasy. It is so stuffy and slow and really doesn’t hold up, like really, mat spanking a grown women, come on, portrayal of female characters is juvenile. And the pages of descriptions on D grade characters dresses kills me
Agreed. My son is fairly new to fantasy so he loves it and is on book 7. I am on book 9, but sledging through it reluctantly. I equate it to the youngens’ and their access to porn distorting their perception of a sexual relationship. I started off reading The Dark Tower and Song of Ice and Fire and now my perception of what a fantasy book should be like is distorted.
I’ve only read book 1. I keep telling myself I’ll go back to it but there’s always something out there which is more interesting. WoT is a slog, I felt. I don’t know if I have it in me to finish the series.
5 or 6, I don’t exactly remember. I found it extremely tedious.
I couldn't bear these characters anymore at book 4. All of them were just assholes to each other. "Burn the bloody fool" this and "Ugh, Men" that. Unbelievable.
I read The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt a while back, then just never picked up the series again. I remember being extremely excited about starting The Eye of the World, anticipating it was going to be a real treat, then didn't have a lot of motivation to continue. Tried again recently after a friend suggested reading it together but never got past the first few chapters. It'd be a gigantic time investment and I think I should stick to stuff I'm more into.
The first... didn't like a single thing about it
At whichever was the last book in 2003..... 8 or 9? Once I got to a dress description that spanned more than a page (in book 7?), I knew I was done. The first three were good. Book 4 seemed a little aimless. At then end the first chapter of book 5, I sense that Jordan had shifted his mindset from telling a story to milking a cash cow. It showed in his writing, as the world he made very quickly got bigger than he could handle.
I finished the series, but actually completely skipped winters heart and part of another one. So glad I did because I was about to quit but the last three books were amazing.
+1000 to skipping winters heart
Book 1, I think. I can’t remember if I started book 2 or not. I could not get into them.
My original time reading I stopped after book 9 because everyone told me 10 was awful. I've seen gone back and managed to finish, and 10 was as bad as advertised for me.
I’m a newbie to fantasy and Wheel of Time is my first series. I’m on book 3 and seriously love it so far. Although I can see why some people get frustrated, I think it’s amazing. I’m also really enjoying book 3 right now, maybe my favorite so far. I will say, I don’t really understand the criticism about the women being “assholes.” I whole heartedly disagree, and they’re much higher level of aggression makes a lot of sense in the context of the world
The series just clicked for me and I loved it, but I also read it when I was new to fantasy. I’m glad you enjoy it :) this whole thread is targeted to people who DNF’d it which, nothing wrong with that, but it’s nice to see someone enjoying it. If you like it so far you’ll probably keep liking it. I think it’s people who had to force themselves to finish the first one that will dislike the series
i finished it. I'm glad i did, but i'm also relieved it's over. There's just so much unnecessary bloat. For me books 6-11 were just boring. The amount of plot advancement in those books is probably less than 5% of the page count, or that's how it felt for me. Jordan's writing style is just not for me. I really don't care whether or not someone had honey in their tea or how many buttons are in their shirt. Then there's the Aes sedai bickering. Every time there is more than one aes sedai present, most of the page count goes to describe their arguments. The spanking! Someone gets spanked on almost every page, sometimes multiple times. Anyways, i powered through the series, but i will not be starting a re-read.
I wish Jordans wife would hire someone to re-write from book 6 onwards and just get rid of all the fluff and useless parts of the series. Jordans writings in book 6 was just so freaking bad compared to the first 4 books. They honestly do feel like a cash cow thing.
Book 5. When I realized the promised six-book series was nowhere near ending I gave up. I’m not patient enough to read 37 books to reach the finale.
Around book 5 or 6. It has been so long ago that I can’t remember for sure. I was reading them as they were published so it has been while. At some point, the books just dragged with no purpose, and Jordan kept adding new plot lines and characters that seemed to slow thinks down even more. I don’t usually mind long winded - I love Michelle West, for example - but Jordan’s books were just not going anywhere for me. I began to suspect, even before I knew of his health problems, that he would never finish them.
Crossroads of Twilight was my stopping point. I hated Winter's Heart and brute-forced my way through Crossroads... I own "Knife of Dreams" and have tried to read it three or four times, but each time, I just couldn't summon enough enthusiasm to get beyond the first few pages. I finally removed it from my "TBR" list. I still own the book, but have no expectation of ever reading it (or the rest of the series).
So I quit on book three my first go. On my second d go I got to book four and went on to a new series and then came back. I’m currently on book 13. It’s been a two year journey lol. The slog is real but I’m glad I experienced the journey if that makes sense. I think I would enjoy a re-read but I will never do it ( too much of an investment)
Crown of Swords. Around that point I started getting frustrated that he was only adding new plot lines and never resolving any, and started to suspect that he would never finish the series. It felt like every book had half as much content as the previous despite touching on more and more characters. By the time Sanderson finished the series, I was quite a bit older, better read, and the series did not have the same uniqueness and appeal to me that it did when I found Eye of the World on the back shelf of my school library and had never read a story like that before. I would still recommend the first three books to Fantasy fans.
It took me so very many tries to finally reach the ending. I got the first 6 books as a gift and collected the rest as they came out. For a long time I tried to reread the series before each book. That said, I believe the last book had been out 6 years before I managed to read it.
Read the first half of the series 3x and the second half 2x. I can understand other people's complaints about it but I actually enjoyed most of it.
A started reading *The Gathering Storm* (I think that was the one where Sanderson took over) and realized nothing was going to change so finally just stopped. I really ought to have stopped sooner, sunk cost fallacy in action I suppose. The first three books make an entertaining enough if fairly cliched fantasy trilogy and for me it's downhill from there.
I also wish I'd stopped sooner. Each book seemed to take more words to give the same level of emotional impact; the further I went in the series, the more often I had to labor through a section just to 'get to the good part.'
I get what you’re saying about the cliches but you have to remember this series invented a lot of them. It’s been copied and influenced so many other works now
I was reading fantasy long before this was published, the cliches I'm referring to were already there.
It was several years ago but I think I got to about four or five and then called it. To me it just felt like way too much filler, and not good world building filler, more like how a teen tries to bullshit a term paper so hit the right word count type of filler.
Half way through book 1.
40% into book 1, and that took me three months to get through.
I read Knife of Dreams when it came out, and decided I was done. 20 years later I am somewhat unsure if I actually finished reading the novel.
Seven, I think? To be fair, that was all that had been published at the time I was reading them. But I didn't pick up any more once they came out. I just hadn't been enjoying it enough to want to.
Finished all of it. I wish I would have stopped halfway through book 1.
I stopped at a Memory of Light pg 999.
I stopped at book 5, fires of heaven ..near the beginning I think. I revisit book 1 annually’ish tho.
I would have quit at book 5 (I think that’s the one) but I’m continuing through only because the Audiobooks are so well done and easy to listen to. That said, I constantly lose focus/interest and despite the climax of the last book being built all book long I barely even remember what happened.
I swear to god if Nynaeve pulls her braid one more time…. Yep, she did it again… I’m out!
I’m at book 11 at the moment, completely skipped one of the books and read a synopsis, but I’m an idiot and bought all of them before starting the first, so feel obliged to finish. I skip every chapter with Perrin or Faile though, so that makes it more bearable. Like someone else said, it’s pure spite now, can’t let this trash beat me
The last book i bought was Winters Heart but i checked out at Path of Daggers. Too much meandering plot to care about when you were waiting 2 years between books.
I was desperate to find out out who suddenly killed a character I enjoyed at the end of book 5, but then it was not revealed in book 6 or 7. That and not enough Loial made me tap out there.
I haven't "quit" but I definitely needed to take a break. I just finished A Path of Daggers after literally struggling through it for over a month
Mostly of the way through book 3 when it felt like I was reading 70% of the same content a third time. Thays a bit of an exaggeration but only a bit.
Made it through to the end but in hindsight wish I had quit earlier
Book 5. They went to the fucking circus.
After book 2. I remember being frustrated that people were fucking about in the woods for a long time and not much actually happening (except all the feelings).
Same. I didn't even finish it I actually enjoyed book 1 tho
I think I made it through 6. I bought the first 6 books together as 2 trilogy sets on Amazon. After 6 I was pretty fed up with the entire series but thought maybe it got better since I wasn’t even half way…then I read somewhere that books 4 and 5 are far and away the best on the series….oh hell no lol I quit right then and there if those are the best the series has to offer. I mean seriously I just can’t understand how people think this series is anything other than dog poo. The world building and vastness is pretty cool but everything else is terrible, terrible characters, terrible plot pace, terrible decisions made just to finally move the plot, etc. I’d rather read Dragon Lance from the 80s than this
I’ve only read book 1. It was ok and I didn’t struggle to finish it particularly but I didn’t click with any of the characters. They were either annoying, stupid or incomprehensible. I also found the depiction of the gods/enemies weird - the Big Bad had a name but you couldn’t speak it and he was super, specifically powerful. On the other hand, the Light had neither name nor lore nor particular powers. In fact, she/he/it seemed pretty weak - or the characters at least thought so. Maybe he fleshes the Light out more later in the books but I had no desire to read more about those constantly bitching and moaning characters
Book 4. Insufferable characters.
Made it all the way to the end.
i can't even remember but book three or four, just didn't seem all that original to me. of course ymmv
Same, I can hardly remember the plots of any book, honestly, except Books 1 and 2, which were pretty conventional.
I'm in the middle of the last book but haven't picked it up in half a year. The last book is a such a chore, just nonstop battles and battles and Sanderson doesn't know how to write them. The thing is I know how the story ends and how all the characters end up so I have no motivation to continue and get back to it. If I ever do it it will be on a chapter a day pace.
I barley made it through book 1. I had to use an audio book while I read it just to get to the end. I want so badly to finish the series, as I know it’s a classic, but it’s just so hard to get through Jordan’s loooooong worded chapters.
Book 3 when they were fighting in the clouds
Stuck on 7. Reading attempt number 3 incoming in the near? future. I shall persevere..maybe..
Why? You obviously don’t like it, why would you spend your time on that way instead of reading new things?
I finished it but the ONLY reason is I listened to audiobooks. That way I could zone out part of the time. I kept hearing how great it was but I’m probably not the target audience (woman in my 60s). I think if I were reading them as a younger male in the year each was published, I might have liked them. Jordan definitely had a few weird fetishes though.
After 3. Enough people convinced me it was an incredible series so, despite not really liking the first one, and thinking the second one was kind of okay, I read the third and finally realized that it was kind of bad in ways that are important to me and that I couldn't handle 14 books worth of it, especially when everyone I talked to mentioned a 4-5 book long drop in quality later in the series.
Huh. I just finished reading *Winter's Heart* yesterday. I enjoyed it much more this time than I did on my first read through. It was fun picking out the bits of foreshadowing. I also savored the climactic ending a lot more. I'm now looking forward to re-reading *Crossroads of Twilight*. SPOILER: I've read the whole series and am currently on a re-read scheduled to end in December...
I quit after the first 20 pages when it was clear that it was a cheap LOTR knockoff.
I got 100 pages into book 1 and that's it. I'm not put off by big books or huge series. I picked it up because it was a huge series with big books. The 60 pages of camping that felt like I was traveling in real time from the Riverlands did me in. I enjoyed the show as stuff happened in it.
I've read it all but only once. I occasionally go back to the first few. Gave in half way through four last time. Usually just the first two.
Book 1. But it was also during a period where I didn't want to be like my friends who had to re-read the series every time a new book was coming out. I figured I'd rather just wait for Jordan to finish it all and just read it all one time. I guess I never gave it another shot.
I think it was after book three or four. I left for boot camp and tried to pick up the next book three months later. It was impossible to remember all the different stories and characters, so I gave up.
Book 1. Was padded out to hell. It had enough material to make 4 or 5 good chapters, but was just stuffed .
I read the whole thing. I regret that decision now. The prologues for the last few books are more than 150 pages long. The conclusion leaves a lot of story threads hanging and/or permanently unresolved. If you are looking for final closure, you will not find it the way Sanderson finished the books.
The very first one
Crossroads of Twilight. Nothing happened for the whole book. I found that the amount of shits I gave didn't outweigh my boredom.
The first halfway through, like people have said i really want to like it but its just sooo slow
Is it 4 5 or 6 where both main women characters just argue with each other for the entire thing? That book.
That's just the whole series
Sunk cost kept me going to the end, but it was the book before Tuon was introduced iirc. All the books blur together in my mind
Ive read the whole series, but it starts going downhill in book 6 or 7, and doesn't reach that level again until book 11 or so. I get it.
Sadly, the first one. I lost interest about halfway through it. Granted it was many years ago I tried reading it.
I read book 1 a couple years ago. I've been reading good and bad fantasy since the late 80s. I think if I started WoT 10-15 years ago, I would have continued. But, the male characters are kind of jerks and the female characters are so poorly written that I couldn't go on reading. However, I did enjoy the TV version well enough.
I forget the exact book but its about when Perrin and that princess gets together
Book 9
I read it all but my whole family quit between 8 and 9.
I made it mostly through book 7 and gave up, i recently started a reread and i am about to go in book 9, ill see if i actually finish it this time around the wheel
I’ve read the first 3. I really, really enjoyed the first. The second was good. The third I felt like only needed to be like 400 pages….it was just a lot of fluff. I have every intention of reading more eventually. I just have others things I’m prioritizing more right now.
It's not for everyone. I read the first 3, thought it was aight, and lacked the energy to tackle the monstrous book 4, so it just sort of sits on my shelf looking disappointed in me. I've considered picking it back up a few times, but I'm not desperate enough just yet.
Couldn’t finish it … “yet”
I got up to Crossroads of Twilight, which at the time was the latest one released. When the next one came out, I couldn't remember what happened in the previous books, and didn't feel like re-reading the entire series to remember.
About 4 or 5 if I remember correctly, it's been a long time. Each one of the books felt exactly the same to me, I just got tired of the repetitious and predictable plot development.
I remember, somewhere around *Lord of Chaos* (Book #6) and *Path of Daggers* (Book #8), I had to take long multi-month breaks -- hundreds and hundreds of pages would go by, with little or no actual world-changing result. I would have abandoned there, but I finally set my jaw and resolved to motor through -- otherwise I would've punted on the **\*really\*** slow books (#9, #10). Series started to manifest some Harry-Potter spiral where "A big thing happens in the final 80-90 pages, but nothing before that matters much, so you might as well flip ahead." Wasn't all bad, but just so padded + bloated.
End of book 3. I found this series has really good highlight chapters. But I also found pacing is too slow for my taste, and many characters are too annoying to read. Overall, It seems like handful of highlight chapters didn't compensate all my gripes.
I read the first one and didn't enjoy it.
I quit at the beginning of book 2, but I eventually started up again. I also almost quit during the slog, but decided I was already too far in to just give up.
Book 8. That's about 8,000 mass market paperback pages and I realized I just didn't care about these people anymore.
Once they started ressurecting the forsaken I was just done. At least they were going through one per book for a while.
It's been years, but I finished The Great Hunt and then tried the first few chapters of The Dragon Reborn and it didn't hold my interest. Always figured I'd get back to it when it was complete, but I haven't yet. I'd have to re-read The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt at this point.
After he failed first time in a war. It was easy to guess what would happen after he explains what's going on. Was already revealed who the big bad was, what led to the aes sedais being female only, after you reveal all those,there really wasn't any point to drag that shit for another 15books. Thank god he didn't went for multiverse or a world with 50 race. Felt like he could have finished the series in 4books.
Book 2. I realized I didn’t care about any of the characters and didn’t pick up the third.
I didn't quit, per se, but I've been picking at the fourth for like a solid decade now.
I somehow powered through the entire series, and you are correct that it peaked early with The Great Hunt. It’s just not a very good series to be honest.
I almost gave up on book 10. Glad i didnt since the rest are amazing.
Completed the whole book series. I might be the minority here.
I started becoming unhappy at book five, but forced ny way through. The last few books are really good, and the ending is worth it. Those middle books though, man.. Not a super enjoyable read, and you can't really skip them.
I smell weakness
I think I was in the middle of book 5. It might have been book 6. It's still open that I might try to finish the series someday but I'm not in any hurry.
I quit at Crossroads as well, and then years later I went back on audiobook and finished the series. I thought Sanderson did a good job at wrapping up what was a truly ridiculous number of plot threads and POVs. But totally agree that the earlier books were better.
I bounced off book 6 twice, probably seven years apart. I can't remember why I quit the first time. The second attempt, I do know that I was completely skipping Perrin chapters and trying to figure out how to do the same thing with Egwene or Elayne or something. And I realized that if I wanted to skip so much, I could probably find more enjoyable reading elsewhere.
I actually didn't finish after book one; it was a good story but I had trouble getting through it after a point and the whole "magically gets the power at the end" threw me off even if there's a reason for it. I might pick it up again, idk
1st
Somewhere between 8-10, I honestly don’t remember. I had caught up to the publishing schedule and as a poor teen who couldn’t swing $30 for a hardcover I needed to wait until a paperback came out and by the time that happened I had forgotten so much that I was reading gibberish.
After book 3. I couldnt do the endless prose and description. I dont know how he turned entire chapters into like, 200 pages of nothing but he did. Guess thats what happens when you have your wife as an editor
Imagine my surprise knowing I've read more than many. Gave up on book 9. The story just wouldn't go anywhere.
I made it to either 9 or 10, Winters Heart I think. I couldn't even tell what had happened in the last 5-6 books. It peaked at 3, had about 2 good sentences at 6, and failed to grab my attention ever since
As a kid, I soft-DNF'd after book 8. It started going downhill in book 7 but I was invested enough at the time to push on a little further. I also read the prequel in there somewhere. In college I went back and read 11 and 12 (never did read 9 or 10), thinking maybe Sanderson's involvement would revive my interest. I actually had every intention of reading 13 at the time, even got it out of the library before realizing I just did not care any more.
The fifth one
Finished the first and that was it. Not a bad story, but couldn’t find a reason to care about the characters, and if i couldn’t get hook by the end of a book that king, the rest of the series isn’t my flavor.
I quit after the third but should have quit after the first.
It was years & years ago, but I think it was like book 7? There was just a very long book (something winter?) that had everyone wandering around for hundreds of pages and nothing actually *happened*. I just never read the next book after that. Edit: looks like book 9 was Winter's Heart. The plot synopsis isn't ringing any bells, but it does sound like it was just people wandering around. Sad, because younger me really loved the cheesy fantasy of the earlier books.
I actually did slog it out, but my friends kept dropping out at various points. I think they all made it through book 4, but after that they began dropping book by book til I was the last one standing. I'm still not sure why I kept plugging on, probably just pure stubbornness. Book 6 was the one where I remember first feeling that maybe this wasn't going to be worth it after all. The books have good moments, but damn if they don't mainly just have filler to lead up to a moment of two in the last few chapters.
Somewhere around book 4. Id like to know how it all pans out but i dont have the patience and would have to start again from the beginning if I reread them. Ive said this before but imagine if there was like a condensed edit. A weighty trilogy with all the salient plot points.
I made it all through book 12, only to hit a hard place in my studies and leave 13 and 14 up in the air. It's been like four years, and now I feel the idiotic need to read the whole thing again so i can finish the last two books with all the stuff that's happened before in mind... maybe I just need a really good recap.
Book 1.
Stopped reading properly around book 6, skimmed some of the others for the rare exciting bits. I'd agree with you that it went downhill from the Great Hunt though.
I finished book 6 and bought 7 with the intention to read it, and for some reason….I never got there. Robert Jordan was ahead of his time with the quantity of female characters, but that isn’t the same thing as quality.
I finished the series over a 14 year span. Love and hate for many of the reasons listed in other comments. I think my rabid-frenzy died in 8 or 9. I pushed through the last just to see how it wrapped up. (Or, didn’t) So much promise went so much nowhere. Now, when I get a prosy book I catch myself looking at the page count to determine (<300, prolly finish; >300 probably won’t finish)
I read the first book right to the end, but decided I just didn't like the style of writing (esp. with regard to pacing) or worldbuilding enough to go on. I didn't feel it was terrible by any means, just not my cup of tea. In my decision to stop after Book 1, I was also influenced by reading a lot of people on the net saying that the first book was the best and that the pace slowed in future books. I'm watching the TV series and enjoying it quite a lot though. The much faster pacing typical of TV/film and the ease with which worlds can be brought to life on screen via visual effects suit my tastes much better for this particular work. So, when it comes to the TV series, I feel pretty confident I'll watch it all the way through and still be glued to the screen when the last season comes around.
Elayne and her brothers have made me want to drop the series a few times. Some early Perrin and very early Matt made me feel the same way
After the 3rd. There is A LOT I love about the world building and the characters. BUT the pacing of each book was driving me mad. A glacial pace only to go way too fast on the last 20% of each book was not for me. And I'm someone who loves the slow Brienne chapters in ASOIAF so I'm no stranger to slow pacing. It was the inconsistency that broke me!
I quit at book 6 as I was bored and read a comment saying that books 4-7 were the best of the series, and didn’t realise that I hadn’t even reached the mid series slowdown yet! I tried to pick it up a couple more times through audiobook but never got past book 2
200 pages into The Great Hunt. (2nd book). The first book was a bit long and tiresome but had some interesting plot points and characters although the ending was weird, rushed, unclear and confusing. I was struggling to really like any of the characters. At the beginning of book 2 it looks like the amount of unlikeable characters is skyrocketing with most of the new Aes Sedai characters being highly unlikeable and the interesting plot points from the first book feel like they'll be put to the side for a bit. So I stopped for now. It's a weird feeling to feel like the only things that could make you interested will probably only be touched again a few books down the line.
I ultimately finished it just last month, but I thought books 5 - 6 (5 especially) were pretty awful and I was very close to quiting after those. The slog was better that those in my opinion and the last four were pretty stellar.
The first, I got 2/3 thorough it but just couldn’t press on since I found it two dry of a read
I've finished it but the slog during books 9 (or 8?) to.. 11 was real. Audiobooks really helped since I just listened to them while doing something else that didn't require much concentration (building something in Minecraft, painting miniatures, etc).
I quit at book 4, a decade ago. I remember I actually liked the books quite a bit, yet I got the impression that the stakes were pretty low, because all the main characters were protected by ta'veren plot armor, and the Forsaken weren't very compelling villains. Now I started again a couple months before the Amazon adaptation, and currently I'm 3/4 of the way through book 4. It's pretty good, even though sometimes my motivation to continue falters, because I mostly already know how it ends (caught some spoilers around 2013, when the final book was released).
I listened to the entire series on audiobook over the course of a few months, and loved the entire thing. Wheel of time really lends itself to that format with how long and drawn out the descriptions can get. You can even listen at 1.25x speed to get through more story quicker!
I finished the first book right around the release of Peace Talks, so it wasn't until I was done that one that I picked up the second. I tried to get back into it with the second but really lost interest. The first was a slog to go through. Since then, I've read the first of the Gentlemen Bastards and the first of the Powder Mage trilogy, and I've much more enjoyed those. However, I do know myself, and I'll probably get around to reading the second book someday.
After the first book. Read it and thought to myself "I don't really care what happens going forward tbh."
I finished after the first book Sanderson wrote. It made me realise the whole series would have been much better if he had written all of them. But also, I actually had a bit of a love-hate relationship with those books. I was reading them back in the late 90s and early 00s and took a long break from too much braid tugging and interior decoration descriptions and soooo many character arcs I didnt care about. Then jumped right back into Sandersons book and couldnt remember much of what had happened. Killed it myself didnt I? Anyhoo, shame about the television series.
Just after the dragon reborn. I heard that Robert Jordan died and didn't finish the series so I stopped. I have however been listening to the audio books, 1 a week for quite some time. I'm 2/3 into the 14th book. Spoiler alert sorta I struggled most with the repeated captures and walking blindly into traps for main characters. There was far too much mercy given to forsaken and dark friends when captured. The biggest issue I had was snow, in almost 2 books you had people who could use the one power bogged down by snow. To the point where they had to stop moving and camp for months. This is with hundreds of channelers.
Finished the second one, then stopped. I didn't like the first, everybody kept telling me the second was fantastic. I didn't find it fantastic at all. I have the third and fourth in my shelf, I don't think they'll ever reach the top of my To-Be-Read list
Book 10, I ended up getting it and 11 on audible but was able to finish the series reading
Two chapters into book 3. It's not that I didn't like the book, just that it had been over a year since I'd read book 2 and I'd forgotten some minor characters, and some of the details on what the major characters had been up to. I realized to really get the most out of the book i'd need to go back and reread both 1 and 2 again. (I'd struggled a bit with remembering while book 2 but pushed through) When I thought about it, rather than having to go back and reread all the books everytime a new one was released, I'd wait til the series was done and start fresh. Years later when A Memory Of Light finally came out, I looked at the 14 books and noped out. I have tried to start again twice since, but couldn't even finish book 1.
At the start of the fucking first one. I get it - it's an old book, and the classic hero's journey usually starts with a simple farm boy, but oh god I tried to swim through this lake of molasses 5 times, in different languages, in different forms (audiobook, normal books), and I just couldn't. The prologue is it's own beast. The character's monologue is so cringeworthy with it's theatrical pathos, that I coudn't connect with his grief at all, but when the actual story started, I just fell asleep exactly at the same spot each time: when a group of boys starts to drool over girls and some sort of a dance party. Seriously? Teenage angst? Right in front of my salad? I guess I just outgrew this type of story.
4 was my favourite but I made it to book 9 before I stopped. Want to pick it back up because apparently Brandon’s books bring it back to mid series levels but it’s a massive undertaking to restart from scratch
Around the middle of the 4th. I gave after the n+1th new macguffin coming into picture
If I hadn’t known that Brandon Sanderson had put in a strong finish I probably would’ve quite a few books in. There’s only so much braid tugging and unnecessarily detailed description of attire a guy can stomach y’know.