The "What book are you reading" Thread

[FreeKnight]

I was never able to make it through all 14 (?) books in the series. I think I read maybe 7 or 9 of them? Perhaps I should give them another go now that I'm ahem more mature...

I don't think it's a maturity/age (free time) issue. The books have a real reverse bell curve with some greats at the start, and a real slog through a few of them. If I hadn't "Yarrr'd" them on to Kindle I probably wouldn't bother, I wouldn't re-buy them definitely.

I think they're worth a try though. It's a series that while I really liked parts of it, it's not enough of a literary masterpiece that I'd tell people to grind through it to get to the end if you lost steam while reading.
(Unlike Cosmos or 'The Varieties of Scientific Experience' by Carl Sagan, which everyone should read, even if it's a grind for them)

 

[TheWanderer]

 

[Marzipan]

View attachment 41695

sorta but not really alternate history story.

 

[lowfat]

 

[Marzipan]

it's got an interesting spin on time travel.

 

[Marzipan]

 

[FreeKnight]

Moved onto, and finished, book 3 of the WoT series. This is where the series starts to swell under the size of it's cast to a degree. The MC of the series is in all of 2-3 chapters out of 50 or so. There's really good character development in the other two main-ish characters, and RJ continues doing well in keeping the female cast involved and independent (unlike say a Tolkien novel). Perrin's chapters were particularly well done IMO.

I think it returns a bit more to form in book 4 with Rand being more central, though the plot a little more scattered and it's 5 or 6 that really start to become a slog. Still enjoying them a lot though.

 

[Lysrin]

Moved onto, and finished, book 3 of the WoT series. This is where the series starts to swell under the size of it's cast to a degree. The MC of the series is in all of 2-3 chapters out of 50 or so. There's really good character development in the other two main-ish characters, and RJ continues doing well in keeping the female cast involved and independent (unlike say a Tolkien novel). Perrin's chapters were particularly well done IMO.

I think it returns a bit more to form in book 4 with Rand being more central, though the plot a little more scattered and it's 5 or 6 that really start to become a slog. Still enjoying them a lot though.

You may yet convince me to go back to these

 

[FreeKnight]

Moved onto book IV and this is where I start to really notice some of the growing pains in the series. I'm about 25% through the book. The first chapter was insanely long. Could have been broken into 3-4 chapters and it just jumps tonally so much in that chapter between areas/characters that it's a bit silly the editors didn't divide it up.

Main character is back in the actual plot which is nice. The two 'side-mains' are also getting well fleshed out (Mat in particular as he hadn't been developed as well as Perrin). The male/female dynamics in romance do get worse in this one. Some of them say or act in particularly stupid ways with their love interest (Perrin/Faile in particular). I get they're all around 18-21 so I don't expect wizened adults, but it's a little silly (plus the 'men are like this' comments from the female cast and the 'women are like this' is getting a bit tired or very 'boomer humor-y').

Still good and well written, and I still think RJ does so much better with his female cast than most fantasy authors, but my pacing has definitely slown a bit. I don't remember if it was the Shadow Rising or Fires of Heaven that really felt like the first of the slog, so a less than glowing mini-review will probably happen somewhere between this one and the next 2-3.

 

[sswilson]

It's been a while, but it seems to me it was either 3,4, and 5 or 4,5, & 6 which really bogged down into too many plots.