That live stream will be happening this afternoon! Keep an eye out. :)

Sometimes, when WoT gets criticised, I imagine Daniel tugging on an imaginary braid.

Fantasy: Everyone agrees the Dark Lord is evil and must be destroyed. It's just that they don't agree on how. Real Life: Everyone agrees there is a Dark Lord but no one agrees on WHO that Dark Lord is let alone how to destroy them.

The real antagonists were the 'friends' we made along the way

I'm halfway through Crown of Swords and the biggest problem I have is that everyone just jumps to their first assumptions, they never go like "Hm, maybe this person I've known all my life might not be such an ass, maybe I need a bit more info"

You know, one weird thing in WoT I’ve never seen mentioned is how it handles punishment. When a person is punished, it’s either scrubbing pots and a spanking or brutal torture and execution with nothing in between. And there’s a lot of spanking. It’s weird.

"Don't start Fantasy with the Wheel of Time" Well six books in, I ain't stopping

I really struggled to get through the books. There are massive chunks where you go from a great action sequence to a slow arduous crawl. Jordan describes every little detail of an Aes Sedai tea party, half the time these are character introductions so you feel you have to pay attention despite the painful pacing. For those who can get through these sequences, the rewards of the series are great!

A lot of people just can't wrap their heads around liking something while also acknowledging and indeed criticizing its flaws. It's so often I get into a discussion with someone that thinks I hate the topic of discussion simply because I'm aware of its drawbacks lmao

"It's one of the few fantasy series that shows the struggles of trying to unite everyone to fight armageddon." *laughs in Dalinar Kholin*

Given the 14,000 page count I feel like a lot of praise and criticism are very natural, its like 30+ normal books.

It's refreshing to hear a confirmed WoT fanboy say that a new fantasy reader should NOT start with WoT. Over on Facebook WoT fan groups the idea that you should recommend anything else first is considered heresy by some. In fact, I did a poll once because I was fairly sure a majority of the page's members had read nothing in the genre besides WoT and maybe, perhaps, Lord of the Rings, years after re-reading WoT for the tenth time, because they'd been told Jordan was inspired by it. The poll indeed found that most of the page's members had read few, if any, other fantasy authors. If they had, it was Tolkien, Sanderson and maybe Hobb or someone who got compared to Jordan a lot. It went a long way to explaining why so many believe RJ was the greatest writer in the genre. I love WoT (really, I do) but I don't even think RJ was the greatest fantasy writer of his day, let alone all time. He crafted an amazing story with a rich, developed world with a complete history...and spent five books dithering over minutiae that truly did not matter. Within his sprawling 14-book ramble was a truly great 6 or 7-book series struggling to get out. As I put it on a message board a while back: "If I had to compare writers I love to family members, then JRR Tolkien was my wise grandfather who'd truly lived and had a vivid way of talking to you about life and important matters. When he spoke, the room shut up and listened. George RR Martin is my Viet Nam-vet uncle, maybe with a bit of PTSD, who also likes to tell stories but you have to be careful what you ask him about, and who's listening when you do, because he won't hold back on gory details or profanity, but dangit if his stories aren't just as fascinating, if in a very different way. Robert Jordan is that absent-minded college professor of an uncle who has a lot of knowledge in his head and some wisdom as well, and you often enjoy listen to him wax eloquent, even if he often forgets what he was talking about and goes off on tangents about stuff that doesn't matter, particularly recalling what women were wearing, only occasionally saying "but where was I?" and getting back to the point. By the time he finally remembers he was going somewhere with this story, the ending seems a tad underwhelming." Oh boy am I asking for it with this.

I had an odd experience with the series growing up; online, anywhere I looked basically everyone hated the series with a burning passion and had many harsh words about the author. Up until the author died, then suddenly everyone loved the series.

Hot take: WOT reads like a shounen anime, complete with power creep and filler arcs (most of WH)

Funny enough, for me the WoT's issues have less to do with aging and the cultural zeitgeist of the time and more to do with the fact that, after reading it, I couldn't remember half of what had happened. I've read other series and have a much better recollection going into the 7th/8th book than I did going into the 3rd book of this series.

I think that Robert Jordan wanted to show just how life happens all at once, like the battle descriptions, the personal entanglements, and the struggles with rallying all the peoples to a singular cause. The very long descriptive segments add a pause of reflection. A lot like real life.

This is a very intellectually honest conversation - props! I am one of those people. I started reading it in the 90’s then went back in the early 00’s, I just couldn’t motivate myself to keep going in Book 3. I respect it. Love the story and the epic endings, but man he loses me in the middle, and the story is about the journey not the destination.

I’ve been trying to get my brother to read Wheel of Time forever. The other day as I was rhapsodizing about it, he asked my why I wanted him to read it when I complained about it so much (which I apparently do, though I never really thought about it) and I honestly had no idea what to tell him. I have more criticisms for WoT that most people do, especially more than most fans. I don’t really even like the ending that much. There’s just something about it that I can’t quite put my finger on which, despite the fact that when asked about any specific aspect of the book I could tell exactly what’s wrong with it, makes it one if my favorites. I guess it’s just an example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

I was having this feeling lately to. I really like the "trope" (if you would call it that) of all the power of humanity united against a big bad. You can see this in sci-fi and mainly in anime. But honestly I find it really depresing that all those media properties that showed me all humanity would unite against a comon enemy were wrong.

I always thought it was clear that generally people enjoy the first few books because the cast of characters is contained a lot better. Then people don't love how anyone that gets run into (especially early) suddenly becomes a mainish character so we get to hear about their at time tangential adventures that take attention away from the main 3-4 story lines. I personally like this; its sort of like perspective creep instead of plot creep... but in conversations with people through the years it seems to be a big turn off for some people.

I have always had a suspicion that a large part of the problems with WoT can be pointed at Harriet. Not that she was a bad editor, as she was already an experienced editor before meeting him, but as his wife, she was probably too involved throughout the writing process to be an *impartial* editor.

Daniel, you are the main reason I have even given this series a chance. That and I have a job where I spend a lot of time in a clean room and I'm allowed to wear headphones. So, 8 hours a day, I can dedicate to listening to audiobooks. I figured why not go through a massively long series like Wheel of Time? And it's probably only because of that that I have gotten as far as I have. I'm in the first quarter of book four and I'm struggling. I know this one is a personal favorite of yours so I'm here for a little help. I'm struggling with these characters. It seems as if the beginning of each book, at least the first half, starts with all the characters being stubborn just for the sake of being stubborn. The plot doesn't really move forward or come together until the last 20 pages. And that's when my excitement for this series really peaks. I start loving these characters because of the courage and growth that I'm seeing just in those 20 pages. Then the beginning of the next book happens and they seem to be right back where they were at the beginning of the previous book, being stubborn little s**** just for the sake of being stubborn. I don't like any of these characters and the one character that I do like gets s*** on constantly by these egotistical, self-centered, entitled Little children from The two Rivers. So please Daniel, help me. I love RJ's world building, the culture, I even love the exposition dumps where I get to learn more about the world as it becomes relevant. It felt like RJ took what annoyed me about Tolkien and made it amazing. So please help me because I really really want to like this series

Many feelings. So mixed. When I read Eye of the World it was like falling in love. By book 7 I realised that I wasn't having fun anymore, and actually I had probably stopped having fun about 2 whole books ago. I stopped reading and I'm glad I did. I feel like the series could have been really great if it were maybe a third as long. I wish somebody would edit the series down and release a 5 book version. I would read that.

I got the first three books, read half of the first one but just keep imagining them all as hobbits 😂

How to start a never ending debate amongst WOT fans: ask them to pick which character is the most stubborn. EDIT: my response All valid choices in the replies, but what about Rand, Moiraine, Lan , Elayne, Aviendha, Siuan Sanche, Cadusane, any of the Aes sedai, Sorilea, any of the Aiel Wise Ones, etc. My point is this: while I liked WOT well enough, it will never be on my top favorites list (and I have been reading fantasy since the 80’s), but the main reason is a flaw that I haven’t seen mentioned a lot in the usual long list of grievances. I didn’t mind the long descriptions, the food pornography, the abundance of characters, etc…What really bothered me is that for Jordan it seems that having character = being stubborn. This has a lot of consequences, so I’ll take only one. Most if not all of the romances felt fake to me, e.g., I could buy the Rand/Min romance, but with Elayne and Aviendha, I really don’t see why they would be in love, except if you accept the logic that “the more they fight the more they love each other deep down”. That is a bit cliche and can only work so far, at the very least there should be other moments when they show a deep connection too, and that was lacking (unless you confound that with having sex). In the end I can only see two justifications for their relation, lust or fate. You could put that all on a fate “from the heavens”, a passion one cannot escape (Rand being Ta’veren etc.) even if it has no reasons, but that feels cheap and is not a conception of love that I find very appealing or grown up. Overall their relation feels childish to an extent that their age and character development would not justify. Then again, however much I love the genre, it is true that a lot of fantasy series have a tendency to be somewhat childish about characters and relations. But I don’t think that the age of the series can be used as an excuse. Two series that are on my top favorite list are the chronicles of Thomas Covenant and The Chronicles of Morgaine, both of which predate WOT. One of the big differences is that they have grown up characters with grown up relations.

I just started WoT on audible and am on book 4 now. I am loving it. I feel like having it read to me makes the slower parts easier to get through

This reminds me of an exchange I had at a writer's workshop a while back. I was exchanging inspirations with another attendee & brought up The Wheel of Time. She said she'd heard good things about it, but most of the recommendations came from bad friends-turned-bullies in high school. I remember telling her something along the lines of "It was a good read for me, but don't feel pressured to pursue it. There are already more books out there than we can read on our lifetime. To waste it forcing yourself to read something with that baggage isn't worth it." I do hope she got into the series, but I was trying to not be another pushing force. The last thing she probably wanted was being told "your bullies were right," & I didn't want to be associated with that crowd.

Who else remembers when all this channel was was WoT? Most of the fan base had read all the books or was reading them. Now most of the comments on WoT videos are ‘I’m trying to decide if I should read WoT’. Which is great, read it

My first fantasy series was WoT But guess what I'm still here. All healthy and lovin fantasy

You must make a review of Elric of Melnibone saga, the grand dady of dark fantasy

The thing that grates on me the hardest is that everyone in the series describes things the same way. Every single person uses multiple similes to describe everything, whether in conversation or in their internal monologues. It makes it feel like it's Robert Jordan telling what they are thinking and saying, instead of them naturally thinking and saying things.

Whenever I want to recommend an intro to fantasy series I just go to Mistborn

I “may” have found Robert Jordan’s inspiration for Perrin. The Slavic god of the wild/warfare was named Perrin and also wielded an axe in battle. Just an interesting tidbit I wanted to share.

Starting with Wheel of Time as your first fantasy series is like learning self defense by entering into the UFC.

I like the vids a lot. Anyone else? The casual format gives room to improvisation and organic pauses and it’s just a bit more laid back than, say, your Why You Should Read or Author Deep Dives. Keep these vids, they’re fun to watch!

Regarding your tweet, the one thing about the Wheel of Time that NOBODY understands easily is: You have an easier time herding CATS than you do to try to get people to agree on how to wage war. Heck, look at war movies, and how impassioned they get about how they should run the plan, or to even run it in the first place! And Jordan captures that so well. It also goes to show that Rand's Talent as Ta'veren can't even help him get everyone in line, and we spend more time in the books watching him bribe, cajole, force, or beg with people to go along with it, or even work together. IT is also one of the reasons why I can't see what anyone would ever really want to be the "Hero" as they have to play overlord, babysitter, Guidance counselor, teacher and life coach to everyone just to get them to agree that "water is wet." Now, for the first part: I will say form having read a LOT of fantasy, SciFi, et. that every long series has flaws, but at the same time, there can be something good in each. HOWEVER... And this is the biggest problem with reading in general: Writers are not perfect. True there are great ones out there like Jordan or Sanderson or Bujold or Weber, but each, while good, has their own flaws that could come form a million places, such as: Editor changes they don't always agree with, Editor changes they agree with, The character "got away from them" and they had a burst of inspiration then, after it settled they are like "I like it, but what the hell do I do now?" and one of my favorites: there was something about the scene they "needed" for plot, but they could never get subtly why they didn't like what they read, even though it is "good". So with these few examples, you can probably guess there are myriad others that can cause a dissonance to the readers at times. And for others; it is just "not their cup of tea" - I mean I like Green, but dislike Earl Grey, hot, but somoene else might like Black and hate Jasmine teas. You can't please everyone as a writer - you just have to try to keep things working as best as you can for the people that do like it - even if you add too much sugar to the "tea" at times.

my canned response to anything WOT... "You lose again Lews Therin."

I really should read wheel of time!

I started on Daniel’s recommendation and am halfway through book two now- I love it, but a lot of things people say are making me nervous to keep going. Particularly, I love Perrin but he seems to get a good deal of hate, so I’m worried about his future 😅

I am currently on the 4th book of the series and I am reeeeally loving it. I want to thank Daniel for being a brand ambassador of TWOT and making so much interesting content to inspire me to go for it.

One thing I've noticed immediately, reading the entire series through in one large pandemic go at it - The Brandon Sanderson volumes were the only ones in which I caught myself laughing loudly at Telmanes and Mat. There were a couple of smirks in the earlier books but the last three had some actual moments of true levity amongst the impending doom...and a bit less scenery (Jordan would write 5 pages of scenery and you could picture everything in the minds eye as intended; Sanderson let peoples imagination take charge of much more of the landscapes and so forth.

I would recommend ra salvatore's Drizzt series as a starter for fantasy.

Wheel of time and stormlight archive definitely hit the mark for me on character development and intense cultural clashes. I love that kind of stuff and totally agree with how you've related it to current events. To me WOT can potentially be a mirror for how we are in the real world both culturally and personally. But I agree, not a starter series and it can be seriously tedious! WOT was my second series after LOTR and I was lucky to have grown up with it being released and the novelty of each new book drove me on!

When they say that the Iron Tower is a ripoff of the Lord of the Rings, here's where that comes from. It was written as an unofficial sequel to the Lord of the Rings. When the author couldn't get the rights, he just rewrote the Lord of the Rings in the first book of the series and put the series in a vaguely new world. So of any series that can be called a Lord of the Rings ripoff, I think that Iron Tower is the one that might actually deserve it.

As we get closer to the show, a lot more "I don't like it/it's actively bad" posts keep popping up on reddit and other places. As something grows in popularity there will always be people ready to tear it down.

I think Shai'Tan quite literally signifies the "gap" that humans have to cross between one another to cooperate and the petty infighting mirrored that perfectly.

I just finished the eye of the world and honestly what took me out of it a little is the over description. I love the story but I came from reading Stormlight archives and I was expecting to read the book with the same enthusiasm but in some instances it just felt like a chore trying to read through it. Though those moments were small, it still made the reading experience a little tedious in those moments. And it’s the reason why it took so long for me to finish reading it, those long moment made it difficult to be motivated and want to read on.

Every time I hear this man talk about Wheel of Time, it makes me want to give it another shot. But then I read half a book and I just feel eh. I hope Daniel keeps pumping out more of these videos till I accidentally finish the series.

Literally about to start The Eye of the World this instant, basically after watching a lot of your videos I finally decided to dive in, wish me luck! ;)

I'm only on book three now, The Dragon Reborn, and I can already tell I'm going to have a hard time making myself get through the rest of the series. I'm just not feeling super invested. I can't put my finger on why. I only know that with some books, when a tense moment is happening I have to cover the bottom of the page (except for the line I'm reading) to keep my eyes from skipping down to see how things turn out, and I feel truly concerned for the fates of the characters. I don't feel any of that with this series - or haven't yet, anyway. When I try to remind myself to pick it up and read a few chapters I find other things to do instead. And I already want someone to cut Nynaeve's damn braid off, lol.

Thanks for the video - I don’t read much fantasy but during this lockdown I have begun this series - currently on book 4. I chose it after watching one of your previous videos. I am definitely enjoying the series - its scope and the time it takes over details is a refreshing change of pace from my regular 300-400 page novels. I also have the audio books and am dipping into them when out walking/ running although I often find I am reading sections I have listened to. Anyway thanks again for your videos.

I think Stormlight also does the world uniting against a common enemy problem quite well as well. It shows how even though they want to fight this common enemy, they are still obsessed by personal gain and greed.

Short answer is that the series started off so perfectly and then fell off the rails before it got to the halfway point. I will re-read the first six or seven volumes at some point, but that’s it.

I remember the boards on Dragonmount before Knife of Dreams came out. This series has been picked apart to death and beyond (and is awesome) (minus certain parts)

As someone who fell off the series by book 5, it’s really nice to see Daniel addressing the cons that (I my experienced) outweighed the pros. Keep it up!

Always great to catch your impressions of writing and the world! As an older (OK, a LOT older) guy, I find it refreshing to see a younger take that is thoughtful, engaging and fun to watch and hear.

Mistborn was the 1st fantasy I got my gf to read and now shes hooked on the genre, and currently loving the wheel of time journey she's on

I started Fantasy with Lord of the Rings and then Wheel of Time and loved them both.

I am in book 5 of Wheel and love it. What confuses me is that right before starting it I read the 30+ books that is Terry Brooks Shannara which I also loved. Both are well written. Both start similarly to LOTR with the farm boy/chosen one, Gandolf-like figure, other races and creeping evil threatening the full universe of the book, but Shannara is hated and Wheel is loved.

My problem wasn't that i hated the early books and kept going despite hating them. It's that i loved the early books, then hated the subsequent books.

I read it again as an adult and my views completely flipped from when I was younger. I was shocked to find out I really didn't love it as an adult. But my main criticism that deeply annoyed and bothered me was the aggressive determinism. I don't really love determinism as a philosophy, and I didn't love that anyone who rebelled against the repeating of fate by the Wheel is inherently coded as "evil". I could go on but tldr, I don't like a determinist narrative because it strips agency away from the main characters and I end up asking "why did any of this matter if it was always gonna end this way?"

I think the quality of the fist books descend rapidly by the 8th book or so. I’m virtually addicted to the first book, most of the earliest ones are mostly excellent and Sanderson wraps the story well considering his time constraints though.

I fully endorse more discussion videos. This was soooo much fun to watch and just hear your response on a series you love.

Daniel: Do not start wheel of time as your first fantasy series "Holy god don't do that, no." ....Me: On book 7, it being my first fantasy series aside from ASoIaF.

Love the video. Please do more in this format! Good luck with the move.

Great video, and commentary on the series. I have just finished reading WOT (yes, all of the books) last month, and I agree with many of the criticisms. Some of the story lines in the middle are quite weak and pulling one's hair and straightening clothes seems to be talked about way too much. I would also say that even the weakest of the books compare pretty well to many other of my favorite books, and are enjoyable to read. This series brought me back to Fantasy and to many other enjoyable series, but none can compare to the breadth and depth of WOT.

I was a non-traditional college student ( i.e., started at 33 yrs ) when I and a friend shared a Japanese language class in '92 and both started reading the series. I continued thru the entire series, happily. You have no idea the shock I felt walking thru the bookstore and for the first time seeing an end-cap as a memorial to Jordan. Froze in my tracks and locked eyes with the nearest worker. She asked what was wrong. After explaining his loss I was so disappointed that we would never know the end. I followed the drama of finding the writer to carry the series to its conclusion. I felt Sanderson did an excellent job ( it also helped that he just can't say in two paragraphs what he writes in five pages, god bless 'im ). Yes, the first experience of following six main characters carrying on five to six paths thru the story was difficult. Yes, the host of secondary and tertiary level characters you had to keep track of, especially the ranks of morphing baddies, was mind numbing. Yes, my head almost exploded when I read a long awaited book and found it to represent the same two week period running into a critical plot action at then end of the previous book. Yeah, it was two weeks for everyone, everywhere, and a "Where were you when JFK was shot?" kind of moment that locked all the paths to a single moment in time to kind of reorient the reader but, daaang it. But, it was ahead of its time, kept you engaged, and always left you thirsty for the next episode. You can't really ask more for your money. Your synopsis was well and honestly done.

I always thought of it as a great story with terrible writing. And it felt that way, at the time. Great Great story tho. But man, painful to get thru at times.

It took me 6 years to plaugh through the first 4 chapters, and two days to finish the rest of book 1. In other words I've finally got into loving it

When the 6th to 8th books came out we were utterly frustrated because the story went nowhere and we decided not to continue reading the rest which at the time were not yet published.

Good convo about weighing the pros and cons of WOT. I’m very mixed on my view of it. I do appreciate it for breaking ground with typical fantasy tropes. I will say though, once I read Dune, I realized a lot of credit I gave WOT Dune covered first.

I've just recently started the Wheel of Time after having my friends recommend it to me for years, so far I'm enjoying it, though I'm only about 30% through The Eye Of The World.

I tried to like it. I tried to read it and to listen to it on audio book. Couldn't do it. A big issue I had with it was I hated the way he wrote women. The only woman I didn't completely hate was Moiraine and I didn't get past the 3rd book, so maybe I'd end up hating her too. I can generally empathize with characters who have different motivations than I do. I can even empathize with characters whose worldview is different than mine. But I had a severe, near-immediate gut reaction to nearly every woman in that book. I could give reasons, but that would be a ridiculously long comment.

Interesting. I actually just started book 1 so I look forward to watching the story unfold :)

The one thing that stood out to me when I reread it when the series was finished, is how much of the material that felt like somewhat chugging filler material the first time, especially through the ~6th-9th books or so, now was clearly and visibly strong foreshadowing and setup because I knew what it was building towards. And that each scene was deliberately moving things forward, even if they weren't in the most decisive or dynamic ways possible. It made the books a lot better on a second read-through. (as someone who liked the books thoroughly on a first read as-well), because a lot of what felt stagnant the first time felt like it progressed the story meaningfully the second.

I'm a very fast reader, I usually read a book or two a week but I've been working on the wheel of Time for at least two years and I'm only on the fourth book. I keep coming back to it though and just lately I'm getting through them faster because after the second book it's starting to get interesting. I hope it keeps getting better, then I'll probably finish before the year is out.

My biggest gripe with the series, was the ending. We never got to find out what happens after, in the new Era of peace (or did that peace actually work?). We just don't get any real conclusion to everything we've been following.

Tbh one of my least fave parts is Jordan's lack of variety with women's personalities, a lot of them seem like little variations of like 3 types.

I started reading fantasy(and in general) seriously(as in, non forgotten realms related) around 9th or 10th grade, so while Wheel of Time was somewhat known to me, I had gravitated towards things like Sword of Truth, Song of Ice and Fire, Malazan series, among others. For some reason Wheel of Time never really caught my attention, except when I heard Jordan died. I've always wondered if it was worth me getting into now or would I just not get the same feeling from it as older or original readers did.

I love the series, but my biggest complaint has always been the forsaken. They were built up so much and just turned out to be monumental letdowns for the most part.

It's actually one of the reasons I'm happy with them making changes to the TV series. It's an opportunity to go through the great moments through a more modern lens.

The problem with really long series is that any major problems along the way will derail the entire thing. It doesn't matter how good the series is overall, because even a single book or even a bad chapter can cause someone to drop the series. It isn't a serial, so it isn't like you can skip one book you don't like, and just continue it later on.

I accedentaly picked up The Eye of The World 3 years ago at the airport on my way from Norway to the US just as entertainment for the plane and 2 week vacation. little did I know that it was a fourteen book series, with a really complex worldbuilding and story. It was also my first fantasy other than Harry Potter. I have yet to finish the series, but have picked it up lately!

I'm not new to fantasy and WoT has always come up as a recommendation for my TBR pile. I finally picked up the first 5 books this month and I am looking forward to getting stuck into them, flaws and all! Subscribing to this channel was the nudge that finally made me take the plunge. Thank you :)

I'm fine being called a fantasy fan. It is one of the many things I am.

With how often the Emond's Fielders call him by Ba'alzamon, I forget that he is also called The Dark One. I'm also only on book 3, though

Wheel of Time was the first fantasy series I've ever read and I loved it! (I only finished it a few months ago).

The way I view it is, it's the polar opposite of one of its fantasy contemporaries (A Song of Ice and Fire). Where ASOIAF is grounded and real, WOT is focused on real characters doing fantastic things.

Funny, The Wheel is Time was one of the first fantasy series I’ve ever read.

Before watching the video, I can say that I have read WoT and loved it BUT there are many problems in the series. I think the author or his editor should have taken more time to edit the books. There is far too much filler, cut 2-300 pages per book and that would give a much better series.

I started reading WOT because of Daniel's recommendation. I'm on book 6 and Im totally hooked

I've just bought my first Wheel of Time book (along with Edgedancer, Expanse book 8, Ahsoka and The Case for Space :D ) entirely because of your channel :)

As to your second point, I thought the great thing about WoT was that it was a commentary on heroic narratives. The characters think about how they're not heroes all the time, because things aren't so easy. In The Shadow Rising, Rand even thinks "In stories everyone just goes along with the hero. Someone says 'Behold!' And the story is over." This metafictional aspect is really what got me. That's what The Wheel of Time is about at its core.

I was just cackling that your mic pinched your shirt to say "thad"

Okay so beginning Wheel of Time and with the hardy "Why Read WoT" video and companions, plus the stunning first dozen chapters rolling in and that moment of a character noticing hands is so on point. The right book series for our time right now! I wish i had gotten more advanced pretty paperbacks to have stocked up had I known. Doing a straight hefty read-through. Good comes out of wonky phone battery issues, laptop charger/sound issues and hence less social media but sadly less youtube because no laptop sound but happily more reading for the spirit and soul! Sincerely! Criticize away...I'm good! :)

Started reading WOT early 2000s my dad had the first 4/5 books he said he'd gotten bored as it dragged, I however blitzed them until I ran out of books, 12. Never finished the series though and now audio booking them at work. Can't wait to finish the series I love how in-depth it goes.

Best part of reading for the second time is knowing what chapters to skip.

I'd love to see Wheel of Time re-written and condensed by the guy who took over after Jordan passed. Remove the flaws and filler, keep the wonderful characters and arcs, and it could be the best fantasy series ever written.

I got back into WoT when I found your chanel, finished and loved it. Found it a bit standard at the start but for me, I respect series that used a trope first or best, which is prevalent in WoT.

I started WoT when I was twelve years old. It informed so much of my experience and preference about fantasy. But I would not say that it should be one's first fantasy series.