The Wheel of Time
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In my opinion, it's 80% resolved by the end of each book, 20% setup for the next one.
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Is #2 better than #1? #1 was close to being okay,
even with Troy McClure narrating, but I don’t know that I want to dedicate another 50 hours to it if it isn’t a little better. -
They're not really cliffhanger books, but there is a long, long main story.
It's a long time ago but I seem to think I wasn't mad keen on the first book, I thought they improved.
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Went ahead and got the second book based on Aqua and Phibes generally positive reviews. It’s much better. I am still only halfway through, but it is much better so far.
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Ok, through book 2 it was much better. Book 3 is off to a good start.
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@LuFins-Dad said in The Wheel of Time:
Ok, through book 2 it was much better. Book 3 is off to a good start.
Thanks for the update.
I'm about halfway through my re-read of "Dune" and, frankly, I'm finding it a bit tiresome. Perhaps it's because I'm already familiar with the characters, the "Dune Universe" etc. I found that all so amazing back in 1980 (or so). Now, not so much.
Thinking about giving up on it.
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Have you read the stuff written by Herbert’s son and Kevin Anderson? I came to like some of those better than the original Dune books. Dune was great. Dune Messiah was okay, but by the time you got to Children and God Emperor, it was all downhill. But the Butlerian Jihad and The Machine Crusade were decent reads and laid a nice foundation for Dune.
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@LuFins-Dad said in The Wheel of Time:
Have you read the stuff written by Herbert’s son and Kevin Anderson? I came to like some of those better than the original Dune books. Dune was great. Dune Messiah was okay, but by the time you got to Children and God Emperor, it was all downhill. But the Butlerian Jihad and The Machine Crusade were decent reads and laid a nice foundation for Dune.
No, I haven't. I really got fed up with the Dune sequels. The whole messianic stuff grated on me and I gave up (though I don't remember on which book).
If the prequels are good, I might give them a shot.
What I loved about "Dune" was the world-building - a whole society and universe totally invented, unlike anything I'd read before. I should explore those.
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@George-K said in The Wheel of Time:
What I loved about "Dune" was the world-building - a whole society and universe totally invented, unlike anything I'd read before. I should explore those.
William Gibson's really good at that, too. I'm also fairly certain he did an X-files episode or two.
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@George-K Get the books. I am up to The Shadow Rising and am engrossed. I think you will like it, just bear with the first book...
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@LuFins-Dad said in The Wheel of Time:
@George-K Get the books. I am up to The Shadow Rising and am engrossed. I think you will like it, just bear with the first book...
Thanks LuFins-Dad!
What with the crappy weather (too hot!), I'm way behind on my audio reading. The "Full Cast" recording of Dune is wearing thin, and I'm up to the part where Paul Muad'dib is in the desert with his mother, and she's going to teach the "weirding ways" to Stilgar.
It was at this point that I remember I got bored with the first book. This is where it all started to get a bit to messianic for my taste.
I think I'll give up after another hour or so, unless it really engrosses me again, though I'm not optimistic (see my "Have you ever given up on a book" comments).
If WoT is that good, I'm willing to give it a shot, with the understanding that the first book is a "meh."
Thanks for the update.
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@Aqua-Letifer @Doctor-Phibes Okay, just finished Knife of Dreams. I can only assume that Jordan received his diagnosis sometime in the middle of writing this book? There were like 10 long running storylines that were resolved very quickly and suddenly. In some cases, it felt like they were even abandoned just so he could get to the final story.
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By the way, this series was definitely better as an audio book than on the written page. As I was cleaning out my office, I found that I had a copy of Wheel of Time that I had started years ago but abandoned due to all of the strange spellings. I always hated when fantasy authors just add a whole bunch of letters and apostrophes to make names and places sound more exotic...
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Luke and I are planning on watching when he gets back next week. I have low expectations.
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I watched the first couple, and thought it was OK. They seemed to make a number of rather unnecessary changes, and it’s really rushing along, but I think I will watch the rest. They’re going to have to cut quite a bit out, I think.
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@george-k said in The Wheel of Time:
Reviews, for what it's worth, are mixed.
The reviews I’ve seen were clearly written by people who hadn’t read the books. Complaining about it being derivative of Tolkien is like complaining about there being sex scenes in Lady Chatterley.
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@doctor-phibes said in The Wheel of Time:
The reviews I’ve seen were clearly written by people who hadn’t read the books.
As I said, I haven't read the books. The book/film debate is decades old, of course.
Look no further than the Dune franchise to see how well, and badly, it can be done.
Look no further than Foundation to see how almost unrelated to the book it can be.
I watched the first 15 minutes and it just didn't move me. I'll pass for now.