Opinions of Wheel of Time

[LordStoneheart]

I guess I should have worded that better. Yes, he likes big city life, but without the complexity of Aes Sedai entanglement. He's also a highly reluctant warrior and scoffs at being considered a "lord." He just wants to be himself is what I meant and live life for its simpler pleasures, gambling and women.

It's not immature. And I believe the Aes Sedai's reputation is very well deserved. They're a bunch of political manipulators with spies and agents in every corner of the land. While their intentions are good, I feel a lot of their methods can be extremely questionable, even if they think it's for everyone's benefit. Don't forget that Aes Sedai are exceptionally prone to hubris and internal bickering between the Ajahs for their own right. Mat doesn't like their "Big Br—erm, Sister"-like nature as do many other people. An Aes Sedai's attention is not without its price.

As to the first point, that kind of life isn't possible for him because of his status as taveren. And that's not the Aes Sedai's fault. It happened to him, and because of it things will always happen around him. The Aes Sedai wanting to keep a watch on that isn't a bad thing.

It's very immature for Mat considering he would be dead or a darkfriend or a soulless man if it wasn't for the Aes Sedai. They're by no means perfect but ultimately they are in this for the greater good. We know that the greater good really does exist in the form of the Creator, the Wheel, and the One Power. I suppose this is just a political difference we may never agree on, but Mat being distrustful of "Big Sister" to his extent is very very ignorant when considering the big picture. Which he knows he's a part of.

[Kojiro]

As to the first point, that kind of life isn't possible for him because of his status as taveren. And that's not the Aes Sedai's fault. It happened to him, and because of it things will always happen around him. The Aes Sedai wanting to keep a watch on that isn't a bad thing.

It's very immature for Mat considering he would be dead or a darkfriend or a soulless man if it wasn't for the Aes Sedai. They're by no means perfect but ultimately they are in this for the greater good. We know that the greater good really does exist in the form of the Creator, the Wheel, and the One Power. I suppose this is just a political difference we may never agree on, but Mat being distrustful of "Big Sister" to his extent is very very ignorant when considering the big picture. Which he knows he's a part of.

Yes, saving his life twice is quite well and good, but trying to follow him everywhere is annoying. I know I'd strain under that kind of attention. So perhaps it's a political difference indeed, I just know that I've found most of the Aes Sedai characters to be rather obnoxious for most of the time because they feel they need to "guide" everything to its "proper" outcome. I tend to hate that kind of organization. Keep reading though, Matrim's story gets even more enjoyable after book 7 as his interactions build him further into the hero he needs to be.

[Gertrude]

The whole point of Mat's character, to me, is that he is immature. A lovable rogue with a good heart. The perfect foil to Perrin's seriouslness. Nyneave is just as unself-aware as Mat, but you like her. (She's my fave character too, but I do get tired of all of them as the series dragged on). I guess it's personal taste.

And I also think the Aes Sedai rep is well deserved. Sure, there are a few good ones, but overall it's best not to get tangled in their affairs. There are several who have a big picture of the Greater Good, but so many more are in it for personal advantage that the larger picture gets lost on them until they are forced to see it and act on it. Even benevolent tyrants are tyrants.

[Darth Richard II]

See, I don't get the "lovable" part. I just want to punch Matt in the face 99percent of the time.

[LordStoneheart]

See, I don't get the "lovable" part. I just want to punch Matt in the face 99percent of the time.

:agree: :agree: :agree:

I don't mean to be negative about Jordan because I really do admire a lot about his writing, but if he was trying to make Mat a "lovable" rogue he failed miserably by making him just a plain awful person.

[The Evil Queen]

I always had trouble with Egwene and how easily she became Aes Sedai, to the point of blindness. On the flip side whilst I found Nynaeve aggravating I enjoyed her far more than Egwene because her eyes opened rather than closed, she became more trusting in Rand rather than more suspicious (even if sometimes she shouldn't have). I feel like if Nynaeve wasn't there for Rand, then Egwene would have screwed things up royally with Rand and the Black Tower.

That said, it's been a while since I read the books, and I only read the last two once each, so it may be I have forgotten things.

My fave character was, I think, Siuan. I loved reading her struggle to transition. I hated Faile (sp?) the most though :angry2:

[SerArthurHeath]

Except that this never happened (thankfully).

Ah yeah, he threatened to spark Nynaeve and actually spanked Jolene. Gods, from books 3-7 (where Nynaeve and Elayne improved and kept improving, albeit one in a bath and still making ridiculous life choices, Aviendah got better a tad earlier. Egwene noticeable by her omission from improvement) were sooooooo insufferable. It's amazing how much Nynaeve grew on me when she started to grow up though

[Kojiro]

Ah yeah, he threatened to spark Nynaeve and actually spanked Jolene. Gods, from books 3-7 (where Nynaeve and Elayne improved and kept improving, albeit one in a bath and still making ridiculous life choices, Aviendah got better a tad earlier. Egwene noticeable by her omission from improvement) were sooooooo insufferable. It's amazing how much Nynaeve grew on me when she started to grow up though

Indeed... I think Egwene actually got worse, making even stupider decisions as she went on. Doesn't bode well for the future of the Aes Sedai.

[David Selig]

I used to love Mat, but I find him much more annoying now. He whines way too much, and his luck make his successes feel unearned. No matter what he does, his luck will save his butt, so it gets boring. He never trains with a weapon, he never had to study strategy and tactics, yet he is a super awesome fighter and even more awesome general. He was a pretty terrible friend to Rand for most of the series too, trying his best to abandon him once he learned he could channel. Worst though is him repeatedly trying to run away from his fate and go somewhere to have fun while Rand, Perrin and co work on saving the world, even though he knew this literally means the world will fall under the control of the Dark One if he doesn't help Rand.

[messem]

I just finished the WoT series and it was a fun ride. While it had some lengths particularly in the middle it was a compelling read.

If I had to compare it to ASoIaF I'd say that it misses depths. The end is as predictable as the tides and character development is lazy. There are a lot of ever repeating stereotypes (Fist on hips, stumbling while walking, etc.) and sometimes I was under the impression that the off-screen characters spend their time in a stasis field because it appears nothing happened to them. The only thing one did not know was which few characters will be allowed to die a heroic dead.

The magic and its rules looks new and innovative but lazy as well. They had something in the former age which is now for no reason at all forgotten? (I'm looking at you traveling). Well, let it be rediscovered. Because magic ex machina. Because The wheel weaves as the wheel wills. Because Ta'veren.

The subplots are all to Hollywood. The always find the right tool the solve a particular problem exactly when they need it. Because need. Because Ta'veren.

Speaking of Ta'veren. The Old Tongue is annoying. It unnecessarily complicates the reading and does not make sense. If it was the "common tongue" before the breaking of the world why would the Sharan speak the "New Tongue" as well?

My summary might sound bit harsh but I want to repeat: fun and compelling read. AND the series is already finished.

[Corvinus85]

Also nice to see a friendly face from old Wotmania on here

I was on Wotmania, too. Same name. Dragonmount, on the other hand, only after Wotmania closed, and only around the releases of books 12 and 13.

[Corvinus85]

Books 1-3 are good.

Books 4-6 are superb.

Books 7-11 grow progressively weaker, but at least still retain the internal coherence of the worldbuilding that preceded it.

Books 11-14 are well intentioned fanfiction. Necessary to wrap things up, but impossible to see as a contination of the same characters and worldbuilding that went before. Sad, but necessitated by fate, else there would have been no conclusion to the plot whatsoever.

Towers of Midnight is one of my favorites, but yes, 4 and 5 are the best. 6 is actually quite long and boring at times, with the exception of the ending.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Towers of Midnight is one of my favorites, but yes, 4 and 5 are the best. 6 is actually quite long and boring at times, with the exception of the ending.

I agree. And 11 is still Jordan, his best since 6 or 7.

[Ser Eric]

I was pleasantly surprised as to how good Eye of the world was considering some of the unrelenting criticism I have seen of the books on these forums. I am looking forward to reading the rest.

And I like Mat's character so far.

[Balefont]

Towers of Midnight is one of my favorites, but yes, 4 and 5 are the best. 6 is actually quite long and boring at times, with the exception of the ending.

10 made me want to stab myself (because I waited for so long for that damn book) and what a slog! I almost gave up on the series until Stego bought me Knife of Dreams when he took me to an RJ signing in CT.

[jr_72]

There is probably a WoT forum, would it be safe to look at theories without spoiling the entire series?

There are certainly forums (e.g., Dragonmount) but not sure easy to navigate without spoiling.

However there do exist summaries of the various theories that existed at various points in time. For example, here is one such summary that covers just through Book 7, so safe (and interesting) to read if you have read through Book 7:

http://www.drosi.de/wot/wt_faq.htm

The "final" version of this document with spoilers through all books is on Dragonmount. Other versions of that same document probably exist at other points throughout the series somewhere.

[sToNED_CAT]

I was pleasantly surprised as to how good Eye of the world was considering some of the unrelenting criticism I have seen of the books on these forums. I am looking forward to reading the rest.

I don't think EotW is target of unrelenting criticism, early books were well liked. There's a reason why WoT was such huge commercial success after all... BUt wait until you read book 10 for example. I think you'll understand unrelenting critics after that crap.

[Kojiro]

Yeah, 10 was the worst. "Oh, let's have a book about all the Aes Sedai reacting to SPOILER while Rand wastes time in some city trying to bait Padan Fain so he can kill him." Such a waste. 8 was almost as bad, too.

[Suttree]

Yeah, 10 was the worst. "Oh, let's have a book about all the Aes Sedai reacting to SPOILER while Rand wastes time in some city trying to bait Padan Fain so he can kill him." Such a waste. 8 was almost as bad, too.

In relation to the above I think it just depends on what a reader is looking for. While the pace certainly suffered the overall quality of writing didn't drop. So people who had to wait a long time got annoyed by RJ's failed experiment that was CoT. TPoD was also slower but has some of the best writing in the series(Damona Mountain Campaign, LTT/Rand dialog, Cup of Sleep).

The pace is much better for something like ToM(as it should be at that stage of the story) but on the other hand writing is appallingly bad at times and the book is riddled with mistakes and errors. Those last two books were far too rushed by the publisher and it shows in the end result. Especially considering how much material Sanderson had to create with zero guidance from the notes.

[Kojiro]

You could write a book with the most beautiful prose in the universe, but if it doesn't tell a story, it's not worth the time.