Reading and Ramblings of Fantastical Fiction discussion

For those of you who read much fantasy at all, you should have at least heard of this series. It's one of the big ones.

I started this series about 9 years ago. It's been ongoing for the last 20 years or so. Luckily I've only been waiting for the last 4 or five books instead of all of them. This is a big world with lots of sprawl, side stories and many characters.

The last book should be out next year. It's being finished by Brandon Sanderson, since Robert Jordan, the author, sadly passed away about 4 years ago without finishing the series. Sanderson took the lost threads up at the request of Jordan's widow and has been doing an excellent job finishing the series using loads of notes that Jordan had prepared in advance.

I like to immerse myself in 'Randland' every once in a while. (Although book 10 was quite painful to read and then have to wait a few more years for the next one. It held up better in my reread when I didn't have to wait so long in-between books.)

Here are the books in this series, including the last one:
1. The Eye of the World
2. The Great Hunt
3. The Dragon Reborn
4. The Shadow Rising
5. The Fires of Heaven
6. Lord of Chaos
7. A Crown of Swords
8. The Path of Daggers
9. Winter's Heart
10. Crossroads of Twilight
11. Knife of Dreams
12. The Gathering Storm & Brandon Sanderson
13. Towers of Midnight & Brandon Sanderson
14. A Memory of Light & Brandon Sanderson, to be published early 2012, if everything is on schedule.

I started this series many years ago. In my opinion, books 1-5 are the best, although I agree that Sanderson has managed to put the series back in good standing with the last two books.

I really like the first few as well. They are definitely his stonger ones. Perrin used to be my favorite of the three big male protags, probably because he reminded me of myself, until the whole chasing Faile thread. That was so annoying. I'm glad he's back on track now instead of chasing those rogue Aiel. Now Mat is my favorite. He's so dang funny. Egwene did shine in The Gathering Storm though. She was more annoying in the earlier books.

Amelia wrote: "I really like the first few as well. They are definitely his stonger ones. Perrin used to be my favorite of the three big male protags, probably because he reminded me of myself, until the whole ..."

I agree, Mat is highly entertaining.

I started reading them and liked them but got bogged down in book 6 (I think). When it's finished I may restart them but that seems like so much to go through. I can't even imagine trying to read them all through plus the new ones.

This is a massive series for sure and a huge time commitment. I reread them when the Gathering Storm came out. I didn't think I would reread them before the last book comes out. Now I've started listening to them in the audio version. That way it doesn't take away my normal reading time. I'm on the Great Hunt now. I still have a lot of hours to go.

Rereading the series by listening to the audio version has been a very good experience and I would recommend it for anyone who is trying to reread the series before the last book comes out. The first time that I read the series I had a hard time being interested in a lot of the side plots of the forsaken and other character become there was so much to take it, but every time that I reread the series the side plots become more interesting as I can see how they connect with everything else.