Kevin's Watch

Ok. Taking the plunge. Reading the Wheel of Time. I'm on the second book now. Does anyone have any advice for a firsttime reader (such as don't throw it down after chap. 7 oh sorry wrong series) ?

Erm.. well, just keep at it. Don't give up when Perrin gets on your nerves in book 3. Be prepared for the pace slowing after book six, and don't get too frustrated with the girls' PoV chapters in book eight.
It's not the greatest thing ever written, but it is entertaining.

Right about the entertaining bit. I, because of having read fanfic, crossovers, etc., have been yelling at the books. It is scary. heh

Turiya Foul wrote:any advice for a firsttime reader

Stop. While you can. Heh.-jay

Alas, alas, I cannot. It's only the pretty color scheme of the Watch that has drawn me away in the first place.

Well, if you've got every book in the series so far and read the whole thing straight through, it's alright. Once you have to wait for a book, though... That's when I gave up on it. Oh, and also because everyone said the last few books really weren't worth the time. And if the last book I read (no idea which it was) was just a taste of how bad it was going to get... that's alright, I'll pass.

So, the advice... when it seems like it's getting really, really bad (after book 8, I think), it is getting really, really bad. That would be the time to quit.

I liked the first three books of the series the best, I think...and I didn't find Perrin annoying at all (I'm a little biased, though; Perrin's my favourite character )

My advice is this: If the descriptions of the clothing get annoying, feel free to skim them, or skip them entirely. They're very rarely important, if at all. I used to force myself to read his long descriptions of dresses and other such things, thinking that maybe he was telling the reader these things for a reason...turns out, he just has an unhealthy obsession with women's dresses

Turiya Foul wrote:Ok. Taking the plunge. Reading the Wheel of Time. I'm on the second book now. Does anyone have any advice for a firsttime reader (such as don't throw it down after chap. 7 oh sorry wrong series) ?

Don't be surprised if the quality of the books degrades after a while (around Book 7). The Great Hunt and The Shadow Rising are probably the best of the books in the series, IMHO.

Try not to get annoyed by the attitude of the women later on in the series. Not that the men in the series are perfect or anything, but some of the main female characters really started to grate on my nerves later on in the series.

Finally...I have no freaking clue why Jordan can't kill off a few characters here and there, for no reason other than to reduce the cast of thousands he throws at us later in the books. Waaaaay too many Aes Sedai to keep track of, for one thing.

Wondered where you'd been recently Turiya. Stick with it. They're not that bad, and while the first six are the best so far, (Book 2 was in fact the one I liked least of those first 6), if you get that far you're pretty much sucked in whether you like it or not.

It does get a bit (OK, a lot) drawn out later in the series, but as Iryssa says, just skim the long boring descriptive bits, and don't worry about trying to keep track of all the characters.

(I quite enjoyed the prequel too.)

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