I’ve always been an avid fan of most things fantasy and sci-fi and I’m currently trying to read through the Wheel of Time series. I’m on the sixth book, the Lord of Chaos, and I just feel like the series so far had kind of fallen short of my expectations. Not to say that I don’t like it, after all I’m on the sixth book, it’s just that there’s waaaaaayyyyyy too much content in the books. Let me know what everyone else thinks.
by Rayno97
26 Comments
No I don’t think they are overrated. In my humble opinion, they are a touch underrated, mostly because I find “the slog” to be a bit overblown.
I enjoyed them, but I would argue that they are indeed overrated.
Oh yeah very overrated, but at least it’s finished.
This is a series that is not for everyone. If you are not enjoying it by now walk away. Jordan was making a point and playing with a world setting that isn’t going to resonate with everyone. You gave it a fair shot.
Yes, big time
Lots of better fantasy out there imo
I really enjoy them but I also read them when they were new. A lot of people struggle with the books 6-10 range of things so you aren’t the first to say this. It is even called the slog by many people. Then you get to the last few books and it is a different author which is weird (though glad he finished the series!).
For me they are certainly overrated but mostly because every subsequent book spends an inordinate amount of time recapitulating the story. I gave up at the beginning of the fifth book because I found it so frustrating and annoying. If that doesn’t bother you as a reader then they probably aren’t overrated.
I don’t think so. But then again I am biased. Started reading them as a teenager and read them as they were published. Then a few years ago I read them again back to back over the course of a year. And it’s a good yarn. The build up and world building is slow. The characters do at times act like two dimensional cartoon figures and as Jordan gets older he starts to get a little carried away with the descriptions (if I remember correctly book 8 or 9 goes a little overboard on the whole “describe every detail” thing. But the writing flows and the narrative is interesting and enjoyable. The character development is also very good though some characters take a good while before coming to their full potential.
Sanderson does an excellent job finishing up the tale based on conversations with Jordan, notes and such and his writing of the final books is very good.
I am biased but I see Wheel Of Time as quite an accomplishment in terms of storytelling. I very much enjoyed the twists and turns of the tale when I was teenager / young adult (which I assume is the target audience) and I very much enjoyed reading it as a finished story as a middle aged man. But WoT has been a part of my life for decades so I am very much biased in its favour.
Each one could be about a third shorter without impacting the series too much. That being said, the end of book six is a banger and you should stick with it
The “slog” was not as bad as some people tried to convince me it was. I actually kind of enjoyed the “slog.” Even though there wasn’t much happening plot-wise, it was nice to just live with the characters for a while.
I read the first book and it just seemed like Lord of the Rings..but worse? I am genuinely jealous of the love people show for this series, but the first book really did seem like a worse Fellowship.
If you think it’s too slow now your going to learn just what too slow can mean if you continue. How about a whole book where everyone in the extended cast just says what they think about one event?
I don’t think they are overrated because even most fans caveat praise and they get criticised a lot.
I broadly enjoyed them but they very clearly don’t respect your time and the series could probably be less than half the length and lose nothing (except the numerous plot threads still incomplete after 4.4 million words). The amount of time spent on totally pointless material (perrin for multiple books) or repetition (bubbles of evil lol)…I find it fun but given the above its hard to be effusive.
I mostly enjoyed reading the series, but i felt like there were a few books in the middle that were very slow. My main complaint, however, is that it felt like there were no stakes. I never felt like anyone was really in any danger. So while it was mostly a fun read, it wasn’t particularly compelling or emotional for me.
There’s about 3 good books in there somewhere.
No, I’ve read over 400 books and this series is my favorite of them all. But it has flaws and I believe everyone that has read it knows what they are.
I’m not sure about it being overrated. I understand if some people drop out, though. I’m on book 8, but I hit the wall on book 6 a few times.
*tugs braid*
So for what it’s worth everyone I know whose read the full series (mind you that’s like 6 people, including myself) have taken a decent sized break right around the half way point. Typically between books 5-7 they all got a bit tired of them. I think it’s just tough to do them all in one go. But we all ended up picking back up eventually
I have heard that the “Slog” is from book 5.5-8.
By whom? Personally I rate them appropriately, and everyone who likes them better than I do is overrating them.
I think so. Especially because so many of the fans of the series are always appealing to the sunk cost fallacy to justify them. (I’m not saying it is all) Also while I do recognize that their were lots of good things about them, I just find them terribly written, the characters themselves are unappealing and often infuriating. You can enjoy a concept that the books introduce and not enjoy the books which is also something I feel a lot of people struggle to understand. Should you read them, no. If you want to read them should anything I said stop you, no. When you’re older you’ll start to recognize that buying or renting books does’t buy you the time to read them and wasting your very limited time on a story that just isn’t doing it for you is quite pointless. Have a good one.
Definitely not over rated. When Jordan and WoT is Good it’s incredible 10/10 fantasy. But when it’s bad? P H E W.
You’re in the rut. It’s been years (decades?) since I’ve read the series so I’m going based only limited recollection, but I believe the middle books were particularly onerous when it came to character bloat and pointless side quests. Not uninterested, just a bit repetitive and meandering. It picks up a lot when Sanderson takes over.
Yes, they are overrated.
They’re badly written and annoying, and many of the side plots are boring and pointless.
To this day, I never understood how people praise these books that much. The world building is decent and the characters are ok, but there is simply so much terrible writing there, I dunno how people cope or block that out. I stopped right around where you are, but I had been astonished for about four books how this ever came to be considered as a great series. I thought maybe it’s going to improve but it never did.
Please just stop and read something really good.
Yes…so much so.
Yes. Absolutely. Any book that even hardcore fans say you have to get through the “slog” of the middle books (plural!) is overrated. It does not deserve the place it has in the canon of Fantasy literature.