is the "wheel of time" series worth reading?

[MoanaLisa]

The first four or five are fine; the middle group is something of a slog; and the last few are very good, especially the Sanderson stuff. Overall I think it's worth the read but the whole middle third was difficult.

[apepi]

Personally, it is my favorite series of all time.

I see what you did there!

I have been thinking about putting this on my books to read list, I was able to pick up the 12th one for free.

I consider anything that shies away sex and violence to be YA. He describes the moments leading up to that point and then ends the scene. It doesn't need to be "Hostile" or "50 Shades of Grey" in content, but if the books were made into a show it could air on Nickelodeon or ABC at the least.

You must have not read the YA stuff that I have read...

[Coombs]

People have sex all the time in WoT. People get murdered, often horribly, all the time in WoT. I'm not sure what you look for in your "adult" fiction but explicit sex scenes generally aren't a hallmark of mature writing.

Over 13 books I think sexual encounters were mentioned what...8 times? I can't think of any more off the top of my head. As far as murder I can't think of a single one. Killing Forsaken/Trollocs or the forces of darkness killing anyone else isn't really murder. Maybe the Forsaken kill some people here and there but it's few and far between.

[Pendulous]

It's wordy. Really wordy. One of my best friends is a huge fan (and we even played a D20 game base in the world fora short time. Would have gone longer but we got whacked), but I couldn't get into it. Got bored after the first two books. I think I learned more about the lore playing the D20 game than actually reading them.

I will say, though, that if by chance it got turned into a TV miniseries or a series of movies, I would watch them in a heartbeat.

[Mahourai]

Over 13 books I think sexual encounters were mentioned what...8 times? I can't think of any more off the top of my head. As far as murder I can't think of a single one. Killing Forsaken/Trollocs or the forces of darkness killing anyone else isn't really murder. Maybe the Forsaken kill some people here and there but it's few and far between.

Saying "fuck" or having Mat get in an explicit threesome with whores would make Wheel of Time less adult, not more.

[Mihalik]

Over 13 books I think sexual encounters were mentioned what...8 times? I can't think of any more off the top of my head. As far as murder I can't think of a single one. Killing Forsaken/Trollocs or the forces of darkness killing anyone else isn't really murder. Maybe the Forsaken kill some people here and there but it's few and far between.

I'm sorry but you are coming off as the "Dark and Edgy Kid". You realize murder/sex is not a necessary staple of adult literature?

[Coombs]

Saying "fuck" or having Mat get in an explicit threesome with whores would make Wheel of Time less adult, not more.

The adult thing is to close one's eyes until the naughty parts are over? Lol anyways. "Blood and ashes" is probably analogous to "fuck", which is everywhere so profanity isn't really an issue.

[Aquinan]

My dad has been reading the series for years and years...the the author died lol

[Coombs]

I'm sorry but you are coming off as the "Dark and Edgy Kid". You realize murder/sex is not a necessary staple of adult literature?

Obviously, but if you're going to mention it and then present it in a childish manner then it becomes that.

[Summer]

Wheel of Time is "the" fantasy series for me, though that has more to do with the age I was when starting it than anything else. In any case, the first book is very traditional fantasy, very small circles and then the plot starts expanding in the following books to something pretty uncontrolled to the degree Jordan died before being able to finish it. But all the minor annoyances like the women's tendency to tug their braids or Elaine taking 20 page baths just fades away next to the fact that the overall plot is amazing and and despite the tedious bits no-one can build a climax at the end of a book like Jordan, or leave open questions hanging for several books so the reader goes crazy trying to decide what happened (who killed Asmodean?!)

Don't really see how someone can say lack of explicit sex / violence makes a book less for adults, that would mean everything from Dostoyevski to Tolkien is YA books...?!

[Mahourai]

The adult thing is to close one's eyes until the naughty parts are over? Lol anyways.

Explicit sex scenes are for jerkoff material. I've never read an explicit sex scene in genre fiction that wasn't totally cringe-inducing. So, basically, yes.

Rand al'Thor's sex life is a relatively major plot point in WoT. He has three lovers and fathers children with one of them. A great deal of time is devoted to the emotional and, yes, sexual tension his relationships entail. In no way would the book be more mature or adult if I got a lurid description of him blowing his load. You have confused pornography for literature somehow.

[c000]

its too bad robert jordan died, i would have liked to have read a few 'after years' books. like 'mat visits the seanchan empire' etc.

[Haemon90]

Its definately worth the read. But if you cant get through it due to the pace I would recommend reading Brandon Sandersons' books. He quickly became my favorite author.

But as far as WoT goes, the story starts out pretty slow but definately gets better and once sanderson took over I think he helped develope a FEW of the women better then jordan. Egweene (spelling?) Was my favorite character at the end

[Coombs]

Explicit sex scenes are for jerkoff material. I've never read an explicit sex scene in genre fiction that wasn't totally cringe-inducing. So, basically, yes.

Rand al'Thor's sex life is a relatively major plot point in WoT. He has three lovers and fathers children with one of them. A great deal of time is devoted to the emotional and, yes, sexual tension his relationships entail. In no way would the book be more mature or adult if I got a lurid description of him blowing his load. You have confused pornography for literature somehow.

Lol well if we are just going to drop some spoilers then so be it. He sleeps with Aviendha once on a passionate whim after they jump to the land of the Seanchan and then whines about how she ignores him the rest of the time. He makes out with Min a lot but I think they might have sex once, and he sleeps with Elayne once and I think I recall her forcing it, or at least giving him no choice in the matter. His supposed sex life is really an episode of kissing and being confused about how to deal with loving 3 women. It's rather juvenile. The character is only 20 and the world is oldschool so I accept Rand being the most awkward boy at the dance without really caring too much. But lets call it what it is. The ideas are for the most part juvenile and many of the characters have no depth or progression. There is no moral ambiguity, you are either good or bad. I will say that Jordan always maintains correct points of view unlike other fantasy authors, (Patrick Rothfuss being the most guilty of this) and the story overall is entertaining (the only reason I could make it through all 13). Nevertheless I would definitely consider it a series for the YA (18 yo's are considered YA, and I think they started incorporating it up to 20. I could be wrong. So saying it is YA isn't a bad thing) crowd to bridge into the fantasy genre when they are young. Mainly because of how simple all of the characters are, being that most are only 18-19 when the final battle occurs.

[Mahourai]

It's not "Young Adult". Young adults might read it, but labeling something YA carries a whole bunch of assumptions that don't apply to WoT.

[Adam Jensen]

I finished the first book a month or so ago, and am just starting the second one. I enjoyed it, but I agree it moves very slowly. Things do pick up a bit after the gathering in the village that you mentioned, but there are slow points throughout. I've heard the series is very good aside from Crossroads of Twilight (Book 10?). So far the second book seems to be more engaging than the first, so I think I'd recommend getting through it and checking out the rest of the series, but you should definitely get an opinion from someone who has read all of it already.

Yeah, read the cliffnotes on Crossroads of Twilight. The rest is fine. But that book . . . goddamned Rand Al'thor had like two pages worth of material and I wanted to murder Elayne with my bare hands for being so fucking boring.

[Coombs]

Yeah, read the cliffnotes on Crossroads of Twilight. The rest is fine. But that book . . . goddamned Rand Al'thor had like two pages worth of material and I wanted to murder Elayne with my bare hands for being so fucking boring.

Yea... the chicks take up so much space in the middle. It's important overall, but I wish he would have evened it all out. It's like the first 2 books are Rand and then book 3 he's less in, 4 he is in a bit, and then he just starts disappearing. I would flip through and count the pages until I could get back to Rand and when you're 200-300+ pages away for a 12 page chapter it is just infuriating.

[Adam Jensen]

]The first handful of female characters in the story are pretty heavily flawed characters. Since they're protangists, you will see/hear of them a lot, and some people get very bothered by their constant flaws (braid-pulling, I'm talking about you).

Drinking game! Every time Nynaeve pulls her braid, take a shot!

*one hour later*

Uh 911? I need an ambulansh, I think I have alcohol poishoning . . .

[Poodles]

Lol well if we are just going to drop some spoilers then so be it. He sleeps with Aviendha once on a passionate whim after they jump to the land of the Seanchan and then whines about how she ignores him the rest of the time. He makes out with Min a lot but I think they might have sex once, and he sleeps with Elayne once and I think I recall her forcing it, or at least giving him no choice in the matter. His supposed sex life is really an episode of kissing and being confused about how to deal with loving 3 women. It's rather juvenile. The character is only 20 and the world is oldschool so I accept Rand being the most awkward boy at the dance without really caring too much. But lets call it what it is. The ideas are for the most part juvenile and many of the characters have no depth or progression. There is no moral ambiguity, you are either good or bad. I will say that Jordan always maintains correct points of view unlike other fantasy authors, (Patrick Rothfuss being the most guilty of this) and the story overall is entertaining (the only reason I could make it through all 13). Nevertheless I would definitely consider it a series for the YA (18 yo's are considered YA, and I think they started incorporating it up to 20. I could be wrong. So saying it is YA isn't a bad thing) crowd to bridge into the fantasy genre when they are young. Mainly because of how simple all of the characters are, being that most are only 18-19 when the final battle occurs.

Um, what? It's pretty expressly implied he's having sex ALL. THE. TIME. towards the end of the series. Sure, he doesn't write out every little detail of what happens (unless it's specifically part of the plot or character development), but that's fine. Hell, did you expect him to write about every time the characters took a crap as well?

Also, dunno how you people see the series as people being good or evil and nothing in between. Yes, you have true creatures of darkness, but sides change, Rand's actions in particular walk the line a lot of times, and in general people are people.

Eh, could be worse. Jordan does action and battles masterfully unlike some other famous writers I can think of...

[AceofHarts]

Drinking game! Every time Nynaeve pulls her braid, take a shot!

*one hour later*

Uh 911? I need an ambulansh, I think I have alcohol poishoning . . .

don't forget saying something about ear boxxing or folding arms beneath breasts.