The Wheel of Time - in development for Amazon 0

[lordisam]

Looked and didn't see a Wheel of Time thread.  Apologies if I missed one.  I'm sure 90% of the people here do not like the books.  I love them.  Books 1 through 6 are amazing.  7, 8, 9, 10 drag a bit.  11 is good.  The final 3 books are page turners.  (Brandon Sanderson took over as co-writer when RJ knew he was dying of a rare blood disease.  The two writers worked together, with RJ giving notes and writing the final chapter himself. before he died.)  The last chapter is almost 100 pages by itself.   Battles within battles, all over the world, characters developed over thousands of pages clashing and killing each other.  No thread is left untied.  I'm sure the writers on the show will cut/condense the middle slog, where we watch Perrin hunt for his wife through snow for three books and Elayne learns to get nobles to....vote for Queen, when we all know she will eventually win.

Also are some shots of the comic books based on the books.  I think there is some good art there.

There is a Facebook page run by the producers where book fans are currently debating casting ideas.

 

[Crimebuster]

This series of books derailed in the most spectacular fashion I have ever seen. It was painfully obvious reading them that Jordan completely lost track of where the story was going partway through and he just wrote in pointless circles for book after book until his untimely end. The first four books are pretty solid, but starting with book 5, it's just a descent into pointless navel gazing until Sanderson takes over. 

I'd have to think the TV show would be better because they can take the 5000 words in the middle and condense it into like 3 episodes so there's an actual narrative. 

[media_junkie]

Sounds interesting.  I flamed out at book six, just couldn't put up with all the braid tugging anymore. 

[Antpark]

3 hours ago, media_junkie said:

Sounds interesting.  I flamed out at book six, just couldn't put up with all the braid tugging anymore. 

Same here. I had hoped to go back and finish them one day, but that's looking more and more unlikely. 

[bane]

Started book 1 in 2001, present day I’m halfway through book 9. Not compelling reading.

[Pete Marino]

19 hours ago, media_junkie said:

Sounds interesting.  I flamed out at book six, just couldn't put up with all the braid tugging anymore. 

That sums my experience up as well. I think I finished 6 and read 20 pages of 7 and gave up.

I agree with what other said, a condensed story on TV might be great.

[lordisam]

I think a lot of the readers here get impatient fast, for whatever reason, and I agree that the middle chunk of the books drag.  I couldn't stand Elayne at all, or Perrin and Tallanvor tromping through snow after Faile and Morgase tromping through snow.  Also - watching Elayne learn about basic decency by Aviendha about the horrible way she treated Mat back in Book 3.

The first 6 books were awesome and the last 4 were too.  

[lordisam]

8 hours ago, Pete Marino said:

That sums my experience up as well. I think I finished 6 and read 20 pages of 7 and gave up.

I agree with what other said, a condensed story on TV might be great.

Side note: The last book's final epic battle is amazing, fought simultaneously over two or three locations.  in the midst of all this madness scores are settled.  Characters who have hated each other over (literally) thousands of pages seek each other out and chase each other down while battles rage around them.

One part that sticks with me (and I will NOT spoil), one of our heroes takes on a major villain, and for a time it seems at least for this battle within the larger battle there will the usual Hollywood ending - a bad guy defeated by a scappy good guy.  The villain seems stymied, his minions falling at the feet of the good guy.... but then the bad guy cleverly sniffs out the hero's plan and things take a surprising turn.

(No spoiler because there are literally dozens of good guys and bad guys.)

 

Edited March 30, 2019 by lordisam