[TV] The Wheel of Time

[Gallahadd]

I loved Sword of Truth the first time I read it. Reading it through again a few years later and with many great books under my belt... I couldn't get through Stone of Tears.

Tbh I'm surprised that Terry Goodkind hasn't been arrested. Not just for his crimes against literature (or for being a massive cockwomble) but simply because someone who writes THAT much horrific pseudo-sexual content, MUST have a few skeletons in their closet.

And by closet I mean basement.

[Tijuana]

I'm super excited this is a thing! I hope they skip those middle three or so books where literally nothing happens while they walk around the woods though.

[Deleted]

cooooooool

i wonder who will be in it

[Waynhim]

IMNSHO, The Sword of Truth is a steaming pile that stands out as not worth the time it takes to read, even as an example of bad writing - drive by recommending it to innocent forum readers borders on criminal. I read Wizard's First Rule years ago and it stuck with me as one of the worst books I have ever read, certainly the worst SF book; I would be grateful if I could completely expunge the memories of it. If you loved the Twilight books as masterworks of literature, then maybe you ought to give it a try - otherwise steer clear and read something, anything else.

But don't just take my sole opinion:
http://bestfantasybooks.com/worst-fantasy-books.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/com...worth_reading/

This amazon review captures much of what's wrong with the book (but not all of it, by any means):

Granted I read, or in the case of WoT, tried to read, both series ages ago. Since I view the two series very comparable, (written in the same era, both authors milking the readers with sequels), I stated SoT was the better of the two. NOT that I considered them masterworks, nor that I recommended them.

[Gallahadd]

i think it might be worth giving WoT another try. It gets a bit bogged down in the middle but the ending is epic!
It's either that or read GoT clone #372 that is all that remains of modern fantasy ������.

At least when people were making LOTR clones they tried to put a bit of a spin on it...

[Summer]

I, uh. I would love a good series on WoT, despite its faults it is and will likely always be *the* fantasy series for me, if mostly because I grew up reading it, wondering who killed Asmodean and all that.

But... to do this they need to cut the story A LOT. And the question is will it still be a good story after that. This is just going to be so easy to fuck up beyond recognition.

Also if they're looking for a GoT competitor.. this won't be it. The shock values of violence, sex, deaths of favorite characters are simply not in WoT that is much more epic fantasy with a complicated magic system that'll be incredibly difficult to visualize...

[Dasffion]

But... to do this they need to cut the story A LOT.

If they were doing a movie they would have to cut the story a lot. They don't have to do that with a TV show.

[Summer]

If they were doing a movie they would have to cut the story a lot. They don't have to do that with a TV show.

Yeah they have to unless said TV series runs for 20 years. WoT has way too many characters and plotlines to fit in. And some of them deserve to be cut tbh :P

[Acidz]

Damn, that's awesome. I loved the books, so really looking forward to this tv show. I also wonder how they will manage visualizing everything in a convincing way though, as Jordan´s world is not as mundane as GoT´s.

[Ciddy]

Wheel of Time is something I still haven't gotten around to reading, but I've been told that I should since I love just about anything fantasy. Maybe this is a good time to start.

[Gallahadd]

This is a GREAT time to start. The whole series is out so you don't need to wait or anything, you can speed read the bad middle books and get to the awesome last few.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Well with the massive success that the GoT television series has been in mainstream popular culture, more lengthy fantasy novel series adaptations were to be expected. Didn't expect that'd it have taken at least seven years before one was even signed to get started on!

Actually, it's surprising that live-action television is only now really doing what anime and manga have been doing for decades.

A Wheel of Time television series has something going for it that GoT doesn't: A decisive beginning, middle, and end. No need to overtake the source material and have to fumble around with making an ending. No need to setup every single side character and aside mention in the book in the event that down the road it's taken up as a form of foreshadowing or Checkov's gun; you already know what's relevant to the plot. Because the entire story is over, you can restructure the whole thing to be paced well for TV.

- - - Updated - - -

I also wonder how they will manage visualizing everything in a convincing way though, as Jordan´s world is not as mundane as GoT´s.

GoT S5 had a budget of $60 million, and already they've stretched that to the point where the CGI is noticeable and they can't have LotR levels of grandiosity. Fortunate, that GoT wasn't about LotR levels of grandiose and instead about a mundane War of the Roses with three dragons and the Lich King up north. WoT is all about LotR levels of grandiose, and they're (the producers) going to need all the budget we can get. Will be very interesting to see how this assembles in the months going forth.

- - - Updated - - -

Now that I think about it, we might not even see this series air for another two-three years, possibly after the GoT series has ended (and by that time, who knows whether or not mainstream audiences will be exhausted or hungering for more televised fantasy).

- - - Updated - - -

And of course, the WoT series will have to put up with the inevitable GoT series comparisons (despite the two being completely different in scope and tone).

[Deleted]

I never did manage to get through the whole Wheel of Time. The later books just dragged on a lot. I've always compared Wheel of Time to a sunday roast...for school dinners. It's trying to be this great, hearty meal and it's not awful by any stretch of the imagination. But at the end of the day the gravy is watery, the turkey's dry and the roasties are all unlikeable cardboard cutouts which make you seriously question the cook's relationship with potatoes.

I'm excited to see how an adaptation is done, but I'll admit my hopes aren't high. Unlike ASOIAF, WoT gets really fantastical, really fast. It's going to be hard for a TV show to get the budget necessary for all of that magic. And if it doesn't have the budget it'll look cheesy as hell.

[jvbastel]

Also if they're looking for a GoT competitor.. this won't be it. The shock values of violence, sex, deaths of favorite characters are simply not in WoT that is much more epic fantasy with a complicated magic system that'll be incredibly difficult to visualize...

While it doesn't have the shock value moments that GoT has (they're starting to annoy me in season 6 tbh) it has some extremely memorable parts

The ending to book 6 with Dumai's Wells, the shaido meat grinder is one of the most epic fantasy scenes I've read so far and the cleansing of saidin just scream "Season Finale".

I hope it's made by a good production house, because if they cleaned up the story and scrapped some parts, it could become amazing.

[Shadowferal]

I loved Sword of Truth the first time I read it. Reading it through again a few years later and with many great books under my belt... I couldn't get through Stone of Tears.

Tbh I'm surprised that Terry Goodkind hasn't been arrested. Not just for his crimes against literature (or for being a massive cockwomble) but simply because someone who writes THAT much horrific pseudo-sexual content, MUST have a few skeletons in their closet.

And by closet I mean basement.

I read his first book, "Wizard's First Rule," and that's all I'll read.

Other comments from acquaintances of mine were/might be spoilers:

[I]I stopped reading after Faith of the Fallen when Goodkind stops being a fantasy writer with Randian overtones and just makes Richard Rahl into John Galt. The rest started to degenerate into an Objectivism/rapefest. The problem with Faith of the Fallen is that it's less a fantasy novel than a philosophy lesson (it's less rapey than the last two books). I suppose you if don't mind that sort of thing it's fine however after reading the first five books and watching them slide from storytelling to ham-fisted indoctrination with a bunch of gratuitous rape scenes, S&M bodyguards, and naughty nuns thrown in it just got really tiresome.[/I]

Well, they did say it best.

The ending to book 6 with Dumai's Wells, the shaido meat grinder is one of the most epic fantasy scenes I've read so far and the cleansing of saidin just scream "Season Finale".

Dumai's Wells had me nearly yelling at the book. (...and I was in a public place so that was awkward)
But to get to that punch, the whole system and story needs to be bought into in its entirety. That's what made it so amazingly epic.
The book has you nearly forgetting all about the newly created "Black Tower" or the Asha'man, until a hollow boom sounds in that chapter and a black coats come pouring out of a gateway..."OMFG!!11" And then the crowing words that ended that chapter so damnably well; [i]"I said you would be on equal footing with the Tower emissaries, and for bringing nine, you will be. They are on their knees, Aes Sedai. Kneel!

Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt."[/i]

Women never bowed to any man, until that ending.

Random thoughts;
Perrin coming into his own. And a master of the dream world to boot. (Dissipating balefire was awesome) Crafting a Power-wrought war-maul named for Hopper.
Mat, the Raven Prince. And realizing what it meant to give up half of the light of the world to save the world. Damn.
And seeing who Noal truly was, was a loose-end that I wasn't too bothered by had it passed. But now...Jain Farstrider...whoa.
Moiraine and Thom. Did NOT see that coming.

I just can't see any production doing the whole of it justice.

[Rennadrel]

This is a GREAT time to start. The whole series is out so you don't need to wait or anything, you can speed read the bad middle books and get to the awesome last few.

Honestly, there are only really two BAD books in the series, like absolutely horrible. I know a lot of fans have a disdain for Winter's Heart, but I think that was the last good one that RJ wrote. Knife of Dreams and Crossroads of Twilight are basically to WoT what Twilight is to fantasy, a bunch of overly dramatic and emotional nonsense from a couple of characters, then some filler main story shit. Honestly, Perrin was probably most poorly written of all the main WoT characters, particularly towards of the series. I thought the whole Wolf realm thing was convoluted at times, not to mention his whole drama with Faile getting captured was extremely boring. Otherwise, the series was really good throughout. I know a lot of people didn't like TGS much and I believe it could have had some better character writing, but Sanderson made up for it in Towers of Midnight.

[apepi]

If anything that this TV should get right...it should be the clothes. I remember Jordan seemed to be obsessed with describing the clothes people wore.

[Gallahadd]

Honestly, there are only really two BAD books in the series, like absolutely horrible.

Yeah that's a pretty fair statement. The books start to drag pretty hard in the middle, but the only REALLY sucky ones are the two you mentioned. And then the last three MORE than make up for them.

[Rennadrel]

If anything that this TV should get right...it should be the clothes. I remember Jordan seemed to be obsessed with describing the clothes people wore.

You'd hope. They better have some damn good tailors in order to make all the clothes they will need. I swear the women in particular, must have carted around closets full of clothes in some books.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah that's a pretty fair statement. The books start to drag pretty hard in the middle, but the only REALLY sucky ones are the two you mentioned. And then the last three MORE than make up for them.

I think the biggest failure of those books was mainly how the Perrin story arc dragged on. Had it actually wrapped up sooner and other story arcs been covered more, Robert Jordan could seriously have removed an entire book from the series.

[Gallahadd]

Haha yeah pretty much. Most odd, it seems the closer he came to the end, the more he wanted to drag things on.

You'd think it would be reversed.