The Wheel of Time is complete!

[fionwe1987]

Brandon Sanderson has just tweeted that he has completed writing the Wheel of Time! A Memory of Light is done, with the final scenes written by Robert Jordan added to new material from Sanderson, in what looks like an all night marathon.

In some ways, this seems like a momentous event. That we could actually follow the completion of this series live on the internet just seems to emphasize how long it has been going on.

On the other hand, the great length of this series does offer one advantage... there is potential for a hugely explosive finale (something Jordan always excelled at, especially early on). If nothing, the 12 preceeding books have created all sorts of expectations and driven home all sorts of beleifs about what this series is and is not.

But, given both RJ's propensity for leaving minute clues that have major impact throughout the series, several book finales that were greatly satisfying and Brandon Sanderson's own use of great twists (which may have played a role in his being selected to complete the series), what do you expect from what will certainly be the most awaited series finale in a long time?

[Howdyphillip]

I read the first six or seven of these books, and then lost interest... It has been an incredibly long time, and would probably have to re read everything in order to get to the conclusion. My initial thoughts are that it just isn't worth it.

My question is, has anyone else on this board had the same experience with this series? I absolutely loved it at one point, and just want to know what others might think of revisiting this series.

[Lyanna Stark]

Great news for Mr Sanderson.

Now onto the exciting bits: spoilers! Does anyone on the "good" side actually die?

[Axiomatic]

It's perfectly reasonabe to lost interest in that area. It's...it's not quite as bad as Crossroads of Twilight, which is so bad and pointless you can just skip it without losing any of the plot, but it does enter the glacial pace part of the series.

Then Knife of Dreams comes along and things turn to awesome again.

[Muttering Bill]

So.. how long until it's released?

[Arataniello]

Over at Dragonmount, it's estimated to be in the fall.

[a wooden chair]

I read the first six or seven of these books, and then lost interest... It has been an incredibly long time, and would probably have to re read everything in order to get to the conclusion. My initial thoughts are that it just isn't worth it.

My question is, has anyone else on this board had the same experience with this series? I absolutely loved it at one point, and just want to know what others might think of revisiting this series.

Same experience with me. I plan to do a read from the start again just to be able to say I did it. Good or bad, fond memories destroyed or justified. It's a completionist pride thing for me.

[Liffguard]

Woo! Happy time. I'm really looking forward to this. Whatever else you might say about Robert Jordan's writing, the man could do epic endings.

[Switchback]

great news!

if you're considering a re-read, i'd say do it. the slow books are MUCH less painful now that you can just run right through them back to back without having to wait for the next's one release.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I gave up on the series until it was finished. Like many boarders here, I thought Wheel of Time was the greatest fantasy I ever read until I encountered authors such as GRRM. I do plan to re-read the series in 2012 (up to Crown of Swords) and read for the first time, the rest of the books after Crown of Swords. Personally, I'm looking forward to reading it and I hope the earlier novels hold up to my pleasant memories for it. I do want to find out how it all ends, good or bad.

[Myrddin]

I saw his Tweet trail this morning. He worked all night to finish the last 20 "scenes" (which he defined as plot points). The man is a machine.

I'm looking forward to finishing a journey I began back in November of 1991. Wow. 20 years ago. People born when the first book came out are now the same age as our protagonists. :)

[TerraPrime]

Re: Howdyphilips

No, not strange at all. The mid part of the series is, by the account of most people I've read, pretty horrid due to the pacing issues. I'd say books 6/7 to book 11 can be read as excerpted summaries available on the internet.

Re: Lyanna

Now onto the exciting bits: spoilers! Does anyone on the "good" side actually die?

:lol:

[Shryke]

Re: Howdyphilips

No, not strange at all. The mid part of the series is, by the account of most people I've read, pretty horrid due to the pacing issues. I'd say books 6/7 to book 11 can be read as excerpted summaries available on the internet.

I'd say probably 7 to 10 are the slower ones, although most aren't that bad if you can just jump to the next book afterwords.

And reading summaries on the internet will probably make the experience worse since even more stuff will seem "pointless" since you didn't read the parts from the previous books that explained sideplot X or whatever.

[Axiomatic]

I'd argue you should still read the one directly BEFORE Crossroads of Twilight, because it actually does have big things happen in it. So big, in fact, that Crossroads of Twilight doesn't advance the plot at all, rather going for 800 pages of minor and side characters reacting to news of the events of the previous book.

[Eponine]

I read the first six or seven of these books, and then lost interest... It has been an incredibly long time, and would probably have to re read everything in order to get to the conclusion. My initial thoughts are that it just isn't worth it.

My question is, has anyone else on this board had the same experience with this series? I absolutely loved it at one point, and just want to know what others might think of revisiting this series.

Exactly the same experience. I started WOT when I was 17 and my tastes were rather different. Lost interest after struggling through book 8.

About a year ago, after hearing good things about Sanderson moving the story along, I thought I would try to read them again. The first chapter of the first book was excruciating and I thought - there is no way I'm wasting my time with this.

However, I do greatly admire Sanderson without even needing to read a word, just for the way he's been able to pull the story together and complete the series in a timely manner. If you guys read the last book and say that the ending is fantastic and satisfying, I might decide to not care about remembering every detail (and reading every travelogue) and just pick up where Sanderson started.

[awesome possum]

I read the first six or seven of these books, and then lost interest... It has been an incredibly long time, and would probably have to re read everything in order to get to the conclusion. My initial thoughts are that it just isn't worth it.

My question is, has anyone else on this board had the same experience with this series? I absolutely loved it at one point, and just want to know what others might think of revisiting this series.

I think a lot of people felt the same. Books 1 through 6 were OMG AMAZING!!! before Martin came and said, "oh yeah, well hows about this for OMG AMAZING!"

Then books 7 through 9.75 just shat all over the series with pointless, drawn-out subplots and side characters. The Forsaken become jokes while everyone becomes uber-powerful bad asses with massive armies and special powers that coincidentally will help them win in their current quest/the Last Battle.

As I've said before (and will say again), Jordan dying is the best thing that could have happened to this series. It was on a serious path to nowhere and Sanderson has brought back hints of that early feeling.

I'd say probably 7 to 10 are the slower ones, although most aren't that bad if you can just jump to the next book afterwords.

I'd never considered this. It was always the, "I waited two freaking years for this and two more years for the next?" that always pissed me off the most.

[Maia]

My question is, has anyone else on this board had the same experience with this series? I absolutely loved it at one point, and just want to know what others might think of revisiting this series.

Well, I stopped reading after PoD (book 8) and just read summaries on the internet. Then I came across Leigh Butler's re-read on Tor.com a few months before The Gathering Storm (first Sanderson WoT volume) came out and I was hooked again, did a full re-read and first read of the later volumes and really enjoyed the 2 Sanderson volumes so far.

I'd definitely recommend this re-read - it is detailed, well-written and very amusing.

I still prefer books 1-6 to everything that came after, with book 4 being the best, IMHO, but for me the Sanderson volumes are much better than several of the later Jordan installments.

So, yea - Memory of Light, day one for me.

As to good guys dying, Lyanna? Surely, you jest :) !

[awesome possum]

Oh course good guys are going to die! They'll just be very minor good guys whose names and characteristics happen to be incredibly similar to, well, just about every other minor good guy.

I'm betting that Birgitte will be the biggest "name" to die... and she is immediately reincarnated as one of Elayne's twins or something.

[Axiomatic]

Or he could just kill off Rand. I mean, it's the last book, it's not like he needs him around afterwards.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

Same here for the most part. Stopped after the first 7 or so because they got too tedious. I did pick up one of the more recent ones recently (honestly can't remember the title), and it was better. But despite skipping 4 or so books, I had no trouble following events.

But I never did think it was truly great. There were signs early on that it had that kind of potential, sort of LOTR meets Dune. To me, Moirane recounting what happened to Manetheren was a hint of potential that went unfulfilled.