Currently, two chapters in to the first volume 'The Eye of The World'

No reaction yet. Assuming I'm interested enough in the story to want to finish it, I'll be spending most of the next year on it.

Keep us informed. You're about where I was when I stopped.

Well, I'm now going to contradict my previous statement that I have no reaction by saying that I have already encountered something that could become a problem and which is a common problem in a lot of fantasy and science fiction which is that right away you get hammered with a dozen or more character names and you have no idea who these people are or how they are related to each other. Quickly the reader can be overwhelmed.

I've barely started and I'm already thinking I might need to start over and start making a list of every character named just to try to keep track. George RR Martin is like this too, A Song of Ice And Water has over 2000 named characters who have at least one line of dialogue, I actually had to read it twice just to be able to make sure I understood it,. I find that this is very common for me with epic works of fantasy. Normally, it is not a problem, but when you're talking about a series that is more than 4 'million words long, just starting over and re-reading when I get to the end is not really feasible.

But even though I've already lost track of all the named characters, I'm not sure all the names are important and I didn't have trouble following the story. Basically, the story begins in a small idyllic little village where nothing bad ever happens, but there is a legend of a kind of demon or monster who will bring about the en[d of the age, a kind of antichrist figure if you will, and a bunch of characters whose name I've already forgotten are discussing whether the legend is true and whether a scary figure dressed in black that they saw could be this figure. Given the nature of the story, I'm assuming the answer to both questions will be 'yes'. I'm pretty sure that is all I am supposed to take from it.

I will continue tomorrow and see if the character names are relevant, if they are, they will probably be mentioned often enough that I will eventually catch on. That is usually how it works.

The first 4 books are excellent, IMO. Books 5-6 are very good. With the exception of a few scattered scenes, the rest of the Jordan books are low grade garbage. Sanderson does an admirable job wrapping things up, though, especially considering the abyss he had to haul the series out of.

Well that is pretty common with series of books, they start out great, degrade during the middle and get better towards the end, I don't every book to be equally good, that is a little too much to ask.

I'm much further in now and as I suspected, only two of the named characters are important, and I know who they are now. The story is becoming really engaging, I have tomorrow off and will get much deeper in, I hope to be about 1/4 done by the end of the day, and about 1/2 by Monday, I'll probably finish this.within a week, but it will probably be at least a couple weeks before I can pick up book 2. So far I like it.

Good.

For better or worse, the story is very similar to The Lord of The Rings. You have a group of people who leave on a great journey, as they go along, more people are added there are currently 8 of them, but I bet at least one more will be added before it is over, they get separated and have to go in different directions. The leader is a woman who is part Gandalf and part Aragorn, the bad guy is called 'The Dark One'', similar to 'Dark Rider', they are being pursued by creatures similar to Orcs.

Granted this outline of a group on a great journey is very common in fantasy and wasn't exactly groundbreaking even n Tolkien's day.

The stories aren't really the same except in generic outline and over time, I'm sure the stories will diverge more. Tolkien was an extremely influential author, all high fantasy after him is either Tolkeinesque or its opposite. George RR Martin is the anti Tolkien, Robert Jordan, like most fantasy authors, is Tolkeinesque.

Almost all of my WOT titles were actually bought for my child (after the first couple) since she had rapidly developed a fascination with the series. So she has the complete series. When and assuming I ever do get around to reading them (and I have no objection to that), I'd have to replace or buy for the first time, maybe 7 titles. She and I both possess several signed copies because that's what I do. But I have such a stash of stuff that I can read by stretching my hand out that I have no impetus to go for Jordans. But maybe.

Averaging a book every two days, currently. The backlog gets no smaller. I'll probably slow down. Then speed up.

It's worse on Kindle though, because you buy a dozen or more public domain books for $20, some of them really long, the complete works of St. Augustine for $1.99, the complete Father Brown by GK Chesterton for $2.99, the complete Brothers Grimm for $0.99, it is really easy to just load up a lifetime of books for nothing at all, and it is only after you buy them that you start to realize 'I will never have time to read any of this even if I live to be 200'

Though I do not subscribe to the electronic book heresy, your point, essentially, is well noted. I will never read a tithe of the titles I own, but have yet to read, and that looms larger in my life, every day. And purchase price is not the only expense, when you reach my level of literary lunacy.

And so, of course, I bought 3 books and ordered a fourth last week.

I am nearly, though not quite done with The Eye of The World, but I am close enough to be able to review it.

I think it is exceptional, very good high fantasy, the story, although loosely and consciously based on The Fellowship of the Ring, is not in the least bit predictable, but keeps making unexpected turns. I only bought the first book because I didn't know if I would want to fully commit to such am epic series, but now I'm regretting the decision, I should have picked up at least the two or even three so I wouldn't have to stop reading.

At the rate of one book per week I can finish the series by the end of the year, but there is so much else I want to read I probably won't continue at that pace. I'll probably read one or two volumes of The Wheel of Time, then take a break to read a couple other books, then go back to The Wheel of Time.l, meaning I probably won't finish until next spring. But I think that is okay, there is no law saying I ha e to finish it by some deadline, and if it takes me longer to read it, that just means I get to extend the fun a little longer. Reading 4 million words too quickly almost seems wrong.

I am looking forward to book 2, The Great Hunt.

I can probably borrow back the ones I need from my child. She got them from me, after all. If I get the first three (and I'm not sure they aren't around here somewhere) I'll have the first seven in hand. Enough to be getting on with. And when I am not involved in a page reading contest, as I currently am, and have to maximize my page count (it's an art), I would not mind doing a few Jordans a month.

I bet if you try the first one you'll be hooked just like I am!

I agree with this assessment. By the end of Jordan's time, entire books would pass in which absolutely nothing important happened except in two chapters at the end.

Heck, I got 3 of the first 4 in hand (I think). All I need to do is scare up the first volume and I'll get the meat of the thing, then.

After the current reading contest is over, I might try that.

You do realize that the entire thing is really Jordan's work right? Even the volumes attributed to Sanderson were half-written by Jordan and the rest was based on the notes he left of how he wanted the story to end. Sanderson didn't actually 'fix' anything

I assume you’re responding to Hal and not me.

Well, I've been proceeding quite slowly, starting out reading only one volume per month, but since the new year, I have quickened my pace, at this pace. I expect to be done either in late March or early April. I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but I'm wondering at what point the story is supposed to get 'bad', not only am I not losing interest, but the deeper I get into the story, the more involved I am becoming, once I finish one volume I immediately start the next one. I expect to finish book 10 by the end of the month. I am at a total loss to understand any complaints.

Literally all the complaints I have seen in discussions are problems that are simply inherent to this kind of epic fantasy storytelling.

The story is very slow-paced, nothing actually happens... slow-paced, yes, but do you really expect a story 12,000 pages and 4 million words long to be a thrill ride of constant action?

There is the frequent repetition of certain stock phrases..." box your ears"..."bowed (or curtsied) so low his (her) head nearly touched the floor"..." she straightened her skirt"....." plunging neckline" (boy does he love his plunging necklines), etc but this is typical of all fiction, and even non-fiction, the longer a story lasts, the easier it is to notice, Tolkein does it too....as did Dickens

There are so many characters, and so many made up words that the story is difficult to follow......definitely true....of all fantasy fiction, but as is also true of all fantasy fiction, this really only an obstacle at the beginning...the further you get into the story, the easier it is to understand...

As far as I am concerned, it isn't getting worse as it goes along, it's getting better