Thanks for coming back, blog reader! Anyone who has read my post on How To Be an Author will see Robert Jordan listed as one of my favourite authors, and reading the books you will see why. I know a year is a significant commitment, but if you take my recommendation, I think its worth the effort. First of all, no, they are not short books, and I'm not a slow reader. Each book is in the region of 800 to 1000 pages, so if you want to get this polished off in a year, you are looking at about 30 pages a day on average. It's also not the type of book to have large words and wide margins; the writing is small and as much space is taken up on the page as possible - my kind of book! The Wheel of Time series was also the first fiction book I had ever read with a glossary at the back of each volume. Not only do you have a wealth of information in the books themselves, but you can also gain additional fun information by going through the back pages. The series follows many main characters and periodically changes point of view to follow these stories, but the main arc centres on a young man and his discovery of his ability to wield the source. A terrifying find when it is something men cannot do without going mad. As he learns to control the force, gathers allies and fulfils prophecies, his eventual showdown with the evil entity known as "the dark one" seems inevitable. In the very simplest of terms, it is a story about a young man who finds himself out of his depth in a vast new world as everyone looks to him to save them. He is helped and hindered in equal measure by both friends and enemies. You can see the questions in my post How to Plan a Novel have been used perfectly in each of the books. Without giving away any spoilers, I always thought the ending of book one seemed like there was only ever to be book one, but the depth of detail created by Jordan is so significant and believable it stretches out into an epic saga of fourteen books - yep fourteen! As you can see below, they changed the covers after book nine (still prefer the colour ones) I first started reading these books in my early teens (around the millennium), ploughing through them at pace and hunting down the next book before beginning the last chapter of the previous one. The first book was published in 1990, so I was in luck as I had a few to catch up on, before having to wait for another to be released. I came to the point where I was waiting for the next book in the series and then disaster! In 2007 with the stories beginning to culminate and the reader kept guessing, Jordan, unfortunately, passed away from heart disease. Fortunately, following Jordan's diagnosis, he left substantial notes and instructions to allow another author to finish the series to his wishes. Therefore the last three books were ghostwritten by Brandon Sanderson. While the style changes slightly for these last three, it is not enough to be significant, and Sanderson keeps so close to the subject matter, it's almost as if Jordan had written it himself. At the time I didn't know any of this. I had found out about the death of the author and given up on ever seeing the fruition of the series, resigning the volumes to my bookshelf to be little more than ornaments. After all, with all the other books I had to read and no ending to The Wheel of Time, what was the point in re-reading them? It wasn't until after the release of the final book a few years later I found out Sanderson had finished the saga. I immediately went out and bought the last three. However, this left me with a predicament. It had been years since I had read any of the others and I didn't think I could remember them in enough detail to enjoy them truly, so I made a decision. I placed the three books on my bookshelf, untouched, and started again. Knowing it would take me the better part of a year to get to them, but those volumes would be all the better for me re-reading the preceding eleven, and it was worth every late night, lunch break and quick half hour reading my way through.
I had forgotten so much of the nuances of the plot and various groups within, that I know I would not have done the last three books justice. After finishing the last page of the final book I felt as if a weight had been lifted, I had a sense of accomplishment I hadn't had reading other book series. I never really understood how this series didn't have the reach of the Lord of the Rings trilogy; the world is equally, if not more, substantive and has plenty of action and drama to be a rival. Although I am speaking from a UK perspective, and I believe there is a cult following of the series in America with an annual convention. There are even rumours there is to be a TV series based on the books. Now I don't watch a great deal of TV anymore, but count me glued to the screen and uncontactable for the duration of this program if or when it appears. So in conclusion, I would heartily recommend setting aside a year of your reading time and stacking all of your other "to read" pile to one side, to work your way through the epic saga of The Wheel of Time. If you are a reader, this is the kind of book series which you will hold dear for years to come, and if you are a writer, it is a masterclass in world creation. Without wanting to sound cheesy, I would give the series 70 stars - 5 for each book!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Craig BoldyBorn in South Yorkshire, he lives there with his wife and Labrador. Working a normal 9-5 while filling his nights with writing. Categories
All
Archives
November 2018
|