Which books in the Wheel of Time series should I skip?

[glen]

I just finished TFoH.
Start the next one, LoC? or read summaries, and skip to KoD?

 

[pontifex]

why would you want to skip?

has this series been finished yet?

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: pontifex
why would you want to skip?

Some books don't talk about anything.

 

[djheater]

I skipped all of them and waited for the George R.R. Martin books. Just as much pain, but greater reward.

 

[wvtalbot]

*.*

 

[waggy]

after book 8 they got worthless. he is stringing it out way to much

 

[JDrake]

Has this series been made into a movie?

 

[glen]

Originally posted by: waggy
after book 8 they got worthless. he is stringing it out way to much

So, skip from LoC to KoD or what?

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: djheater
I skipped all of them and waited for the George R.R. Martin books. Just as much pain, but greater reward.

:thumbsup:

I just finished "A Game of Thrones" and loved it. I'll probably be starting on the second book in the series this week.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: djheater
I skipped all of them and waited for the George R.R. Martin books. Just as much pain, but greater reward.

Disagree. Even though WoT is severely flawed as a whole series in that it gets worse with each book, I'd still rather read it. Then again I'm only going by Game of Thrones or whatever, which I found to be mediocre or at the least flawed severely as individual novels.

 

[azazyel]

Skip them all and pick up

Gardens of the Moon : Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

I swear this series is the best I have ever read. I used to think the RR Martin was the top of the fantasy game until I read these. They are more intricate and well planned out then anything I have ever read before. The level this guy writes on is amazing. The first book is rather hard to get through though. It took me about 300 pages until I started to understand his style. Erickson even knows that people have trouble with it but everything in there is perfect.

What the auther had to say about it in an interview...

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give the younger Steven Erikson concerning his writing career?

SE: Find the secret potion that would de-complicate Gardens of the Moon. It must exist. Problem was/is, I don't see anything confusing in it. Wish I could, wish I did. The world was as full for me then as it is now -- and to write a history the way I wanted to, well, I still haven't got an answer. Poor young Steven Erikson -- sorry, mate, you're on your own.

http://www.sffworld.com/mul/165p1.html

/sorry for the off topic rant

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Skip #1 and all numbers greater than 1.

 

[glen]

?

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: azazyel
Skip them all and pick up

Gardens of the Moon : Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

I swear this series is the best I have ever read. I used to think the RR Martin was the top of the fantasy game until I read these. They are more intricate and well planned out then anything I have ever read before. The level this guy writes on is amazing. The first book is rather hard to get through though. It took me about 300 pages until I started to understand his style. Erickson even knows that people have trouble with it but everything in there is perfect.

What the auther had to say about it in an interview...

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give the younger Steven Erikson concerning his writing career?

SE: Find the secret potion that would de-complicate Gardens of the Moon. It must exist. Problem was/is, I don't see anything confusing in it. Wish I could, wish I did. The world was as full for me then as it is now -- and to write a history the way I wanted to, well, I still haven't got an answer. Poor young Steven Erikson -- sorry, mate, you're on your own.

http://www.sffworld.com/mul/165p1.html

/sorry for the off topic rant

Cool recommendation... almost prime'd it but I am a bit worried because I found George R R Martin to be mediocre, preferring WoT and Gene Wolfe at the least. Should I be trying a different Martin series? Is there some author whose books the above book resembles?

 

[BlueFlamme]

Honestly I wouldn't skip them anyway. Of course I have read every mind-numbing detail about 10 times (prior to each new release, i re-read the previous books)

I believe it was the last book that he started using a new method of giving a quick hint as to what is occuring with one storyline while focusing on another (as in you get a Perrin story, then swap to mat's story and in between you get a quick glimpse that gives you a time-reference to what Perrin's storyline is doing at that moment)


As far as the movie comment, iirc CBS has the right to produce the movies which means they will exclusively suck.

 

[glen]

Does anyone have a recomendation such as skip books 6 to 9, rather than the advise, don't read any, or read Martin, etc....?

 

[Brainonska511]

I read all of them and I would recommend the same. As for the series being drawn out (I don't remember where I saw/heard this) but I think there will be only 2 or 3 more books before the series.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
I read all of them and I would recommend the same. As for the series being drawn out (I don't remember where I saw/heard this) but I think there will be only 2 or 3 more books before the series.

Agreed. You may be able to skip some without being utterly confused but it would detract from the story quite a bit.

Drawn out would be one way to describe it. Poorly paced at times and seeming at times to lack a coherent plan during certain stretches is what I would say.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: torpid

Cool recommendation... almost prime'd it but I am a bit worried because I found George R R Martin to be mediocre, preferring WoT and Gene Wolfe at the least. Should I be trying a different Martin series? Is there some author whose books the above book resembles?

Gene Wolfe absolutely rocks. The Second Half of the Book of the New Sun should be arriving within the next hour or two.

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: azazyel
Skip them all and pick up

Gardens of the Moon : Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

I swear this series is the best I have ever read. I used to think the RR Martin was the top of the fantasy game until I read these. They are more intricate and well planned out then anything I have ever read before. The level this guy writes on is amazing. The first book is rather hard to get through though. It took me about 300 pages until I started to understand his style. Erickson even knows that people have trouble with it but everything in there is perfect.

What the auther had to say about it in an interview...

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give the younger Steven Erikson concerning his writing career?

SE: Find the secret potion that would de-complicate Gardens of the Moon. It must exist. Problem was/is, I don't see anything confusing in it. Wish I could, wish I did. The world was as full for me then as it is now -- and to write a history the way I wanted to, well, I still haven't got an answer. Poor young Steven Erikson -- sorry, mate, you're on your own.

http://www.sffworld.com/mul/165p1.html

/sorry for the off topic rant

Cool recommendation... almost prime'd it but I am a bit worried because I found George R R Martin to be mediocre, preferring WoT and Gene Wolfe at the least. Should I be trying a different Martin series? Is there some author whose books the above book resembles?

Well, A Song of Ice and Fire is his really big series and what a lot of people tend to picture when you mention his books. His other stuff wasn't that good in my opinion, but as a big fan of is ASoIaF series, it was nice to see other stuff he's written.

For WoT, I'd skip 5 through ~. Basically read through 4 and make up your own ending. Maybe pick up the last one if it ever comes out.

I like Michael Moorcock's eternal champion series too.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: djheater
I skipped all of them and waited for the George R.R. Martin books. Just as much pain, but greater reward.

Disagree. Even though WoT is severely flawed as a whole series in that it gets worse with each book, I'd still rather read it. Then again I'm only going by Game of Thrones or whatever, which I found to be mediocre or at the least flawed severely as individual novels.

Your love of the Wheel of Time has clearly slowed your mind.

 

[puffpio]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
I read all of them and I would recommend the same. As for the series being drawn out (I don't remember where I saw/heard this) but I think there will be only 2 or 3 more books before the series.

Robert Jordan has stated that there will be only 1 more book..and he will make it a 2000 page monter if he has to. Of course there is talk about prequel books and stuff..

Read em all...sure the plot stall..but the character development is still there..and the interests shifts to political manuevering..which is just as interesting

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: torpid

Cool recommendation... almost prime'd it but I am a bit worried because I found George R R Martin to be mediocre, preferring WoT and Gene Wolfe at the least. Should I be trying a different Martin series? Is there some author whose books the above book resembles?

Gene Wolfe absolutely rocks. The Second Half of the Book of the New Sun should be arriving within the next hour or two.

Yeah... although I must admit sometimes I felt like I needed a translator, and the series is in english.

 

[azazyel]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: azazyel
Skip them all and pick up

Gardens of the Moon : Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

I swear this series is the best I have ever read. I used to think the RR Martin was the top of the fantasy game until I read these. They are more intricate and well planned out then anything I have ever read before. The level this guy writes on is amazing. The first book is rather hard to get through though. It took me about 300 pages until I started to understand his style. Erickson even knows that people have trouble with it but everything in there is perfect.

What the auther had to say about it in an interview...

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give the younger Steven Erikson concerning his writing career?

SE: Find the secret potion that would de-complicate Gardens of the Moon. It must exist. Problem was/is, I don't see anything confusing in it. Wish I could, wish I did. The world was as full for me then as it is now -- and to write a history the way I wanted to, well, I still haven't got an answer. Poor young Steven Erikson -- sorry, mate, you're on your own.

http://www.sffworld.com/mul/165p1.html

/sorry for the off topic rant

Cool recommendation... almost prime'd it but I am a bit worried because I found George R R Martin to be mediocre, preferring WoT and Gene Wolfe at the least. Should I be trying a different Martin series? Is there some author whose books the above book resembles?

Not really, I just got into Fantasy a little over a year ago. I had a friend at work who is really into fantasy get me into them. I can't even go and talk to him anymore at work because we can honestly talk about this book for hours. It's just so huge and so in-depth but also very hard to put down. I reread all five of the books that are currently out (all about 1K pages and there will be 10 in all) in about 4 weeks. They were even better the second time. The dialog is amazing as well as the characters themselves. The story is also on an epic scale. To give you an idea after the first book some of the main characters split up and the following 2 books take place on the same timeline but on different continent. These book are also almost solely about war but it doesn't get boring like they did in RR Martin's books.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: djheater
I skipped all of them and waited for the George R.R. Martin books. Just as much pain, but greater reward.

Disagree. Even though WoT is severely flawed as a whole series in that it gets worse with each book, I'd still rather read it. Then again I'm only going by Game of Thrones or whatever, which I found to be mediocre or at the least flawed severely as individual novels.

Your love of the Wheel of Time has clearly slowed your mind.

It's not that I love WoT, more like mildly enjoy. It's just that I found Game of Thrones to be uneven in quality. The most imaginative things that seemed to happen in large stretches of the book is the overly explicit sex.