A long journey ended for me this week (WOT fans can relate)

WARNING: This post might not mean much to you, especially if you're not a WOT fan



A journey that I started on over 23 years ago ended for me earlier this week when I finished A Memory of Light. Right as the final book of WOT was released, I decided to go through the whole series one last time. Finishing the series felt weird to me - something that had been a small part of my life for over 2 decades was over.



Anyway, not that you care (I'm writing this for me, not you), here are some of my post-WOT thoughts (WARNING: SPOILERS!):



1. The best characters in this series not named Rand are, in order: Mat Cauthon, Lan, and Loial. (wish Loial had received more time in the final few books - and would love for Sanderson to write Loial's book).



2. The worst characters in the series are in reverse order: Nynaeve (although a bit redeemed at the end), Cadsuane, and every single one of the Seafolk (not sure why they had to be made a completely despicable people).



3. The best supporting characters: Tam, Gaul, Talmanes



4. The parts of the series that I enjoyed the most, besides the ending of course: Perrin's rise to Lord Goldeneyes of the Two Rivers, Egwene's rise to Amyrlin and healing of the Tower (especially her time as a captive "novice" under Elaida's rule), Rand's reconciliation with Tam and others.



5. The best books in the series were, in order: The Eye of the World, a Memory of Light, and Fires of Heaven.



6. The worst books in the series were: Crossroads of Twilight, Winter's Heart, Path of Daggers. These books could have been condensed into a few chapters and the series would have been better and not lost readers.



7. The best villians were: Lanfear, Semirhage (should have been given more time and attention), Demandred (ditto w/ Semirhage), the Seanchan (at least, while they were villians)



8. The worst villians (as in, most boring, annoying, and/or weeniest) : Asmodean, Taim, Moghedien.



9. Main characters who lived that I was sure were going to die: Perrin, Lan, Cadsuane



10. Main characters who's deaths surprised me: Egwene, Bashere (not that he died, but that it was practically a footnote), Rhuarc.



11. Biggest surprises: When the Sharans arrived on the battlefield (didn't see that coming); Egwene's death; Moiraine's "death";



12. The most satisfying moments (besides the end): When Elaida was taken captive by the Seanchan, when young Bornhald killed Byar to save Perrin (small part, I know), when Gawyn discovers that Morgase is still alive and has to eat crow about Rand, every time that Mat is vindicated (especially when Avienda explains to Elayne and Nynaeve how much toh they have towards him).



13. Best groups of people in the series: Two Rivers folk, Aiel, Borderlanders; the Band of the Red Hand



14. Worst groups of people in the series: Seafolk (seriously...hated everything about them), Aes Sedai, the Kin (super annoying)



15. Side stories that I would love to have told (come on, Sanderson/Jordan, don't let this world you created rot!): Loial's book (as previously mentioned); Mat/Tuon/Seanchan after the end of the Final Battle; how termites infest every Seafolk vessel and they all simultaneously disintegrate in the middle of the ocean and everyone drowns and the rest of the world barely notices except for thinking "wow...this place is a lot less annoying with out the Seafolk around..."; The Travels of Jain Farstrider; Tam al'Thor's life pre-Rand.



Anyway, after finishing the series, i had to write something about it. Maybe you care, maybe you don't. But now, I need a new series to read. Any suggestions?

Biggest character Sanderson completely forgot about: Padan Fain.



He was a huge character the first several books. Seemed like neither author knew what to do about him so he became a complete after thought.



the series could have been stronger if it was shorter and some extra characters were completely eliminated. I'm talking about every scene with the White Cloaks. They only detracted from y the story.



It was a highly satisfactory completion to the series. Good read. I bet going back and rereading now will be even better since we now know how it ends.



I hope the editors and estate owners change their minds and allow for a WOT expanded universe. I'd love to see multiple books about "Rand-land". If the concern is continuity there is plenty to write about that wouldn't affect the series. If the concern is "sharecropping" the world is built on the work that others before us did.

I know exactly how you feel, Rand and co and I have been friends since 1990 and it was a surreal experience to see it come to an end. I'm glad that it ended well. It was by no means perfect, but there's no other series I'd place in front of it in terms of pure epicness.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Biggest character Sanderson completely forgot about: Padan Fain.



He was a huge character the first several books. Seemed like neither author knew what to do about him so he became a complete after thought.



the series could have been stronger if it was shorter and some extra characters were completely eliminated. I'm talking about every scene with the White Cloaks. They only detracted from y the story.



It was a highly satisfactory completion to the series. Good read. I bet going back and rereading now will be even better since we now know how it ends.



I hope the editors and estate owners change their minds and allow for a WOT expanded universe. I'd love to see multiple books about "Rand-land". If the concern is continuity there is plenty to write about that wouldn't affect the series. If the concern is "sharecropping" the world is built on the work that others before us did.

Agree 100% about fain. It was weird how they just kind of stuffed him in at the end. Either needed to develop him more, or eliminate him earlier in the series.



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There were several threads that begin early, middle our late in the series that had no effect on the plot. Fain. The White Cloaks. The Green Man. Jordan and Sanderson threw a lot in the series some of which added to it. Some of which didn't so the scrapped it, but usually only after we'd read about them. The Ways were another one.

Sanderson saved Jordan's bacon. He tied things up that were descending into a Seafolkian morass. The ending, indeed the last book, was epic.

I'd love to see someone (aka show time, hbo, amc) pick up WOT and do a series ala game of thrones. I think it would take a good 9 or 10 seasons to do it justice, so they would have to be committed to it. And it would need to be someone that had the $$ to do a really good job. That's why I'm thinking hbo or show time. I used to hope for movies, but I think the high end tv series are better than movies these days - walking dead, breaking bad, game of thrones. Plus 1 movie per book would feel very rushed, and wouldn't have time for character development, etc. plus they'd never get 10-14 movies made.



I think that the first 7-8 books would each need a good 9-10 episodes each to be done right - so 1 season per book. 8-11 could be combined into a single season, and the final books would each need their own season.



Anyway, don't think there's probably anyone willing to take on a project this enormous (at least that would do a good job), but I would love it.



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My main issue with the series besides how they said it would be four then five then six then seven books. I finally gave up expecting it to end! But as for story lines, the way they constantly had women mad at the men. It drove me crazy!



Another series (although only three books) I would put up to this one is the CrystL Shard Series. Maybe even the first Dragon Lance series.



Here's a thought who would you cast in each of the roles (two thoughts from today's pool of actors and from any age).



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Haven't read WOT yet, but I can't say enough about The Monstrumologist series. Check it out, you'll thank me.

Schmoe wrote:
Haven't read WOT yet, but I can't say enough about The Monstrumologist series. Check it out, you'll thank me.

Who wrote the series?



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Y 4 Ever wrote:

Haven't read WOT yet, but I can't say enough about The Monstrumologist series. Check it out, you'll thank me.

Who wrote the series?



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Rick Yancey

imuakahuku wrote:
My main issue with the series besides how they said it would be four then five then six then seven books. I finally gave up expecting it to end! But as for story lines, the way they constantly had women mad at the men. It drove me crazy!



Another series (although only three books) I would put up to this one is the CrystL Shard Series. Maybe even the first Dragon Lance series.



Here's a thought who would you cast in each of the roles (two thoughts from today's pool of actors and from any age).



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I can't fathom putting a dragon lance or forgotten realms book or trilogy in the same category or level as WOT. That's like putting a Benz in an economy class category! And I loved the fact that the series went 10+ books. I didn't really want it to end.



As far as actors goes, I'd have to say they be better off getting relatively unknown actors. Mainstream actors would be too distracting I think.



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Schmoe wrote:

Schmoe wrote:
Haven't read WOT yet, but I can't say enough about The Monstrumologist series. Check it out, you'll thank me.

Who wrote the series?



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Rick Yancey

What genre?



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Y 4 Ever wrote:

Y 4 Ever wrote:

Haven't read WOT yet, but I can't say enough about The Monstrumologist series. Check it out, you'll thank me.

Who wrote the series?



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Rick Yancey

What genre?



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I'd call it Gothic-Horror, so I have no idea why I'm bringing it up on a WOT thread other than the fact that it's been my favorite read in the past three years, and it's technically YA lit, but I read a LOT of stuff (between 50-60 books a year) and I haven't found anything I liked as much.

Schmoe wrote:

Schmoe wrote:

Schmoe wrote:
Haven't read WOT yet, but I can't say enough about The Monstrumologist series. Check it out, you'll thank me.

Who wrote the series?



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Rick Yancey

What genre?



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I'd call it Gothic-Horror, so I have no idea why I'm bringing it up on a WOT thread other than the fact that it's been my favorite read in the past three years, and it's technically YA lit, but I read a LOT of stuff (between 50-60 books a year) and I haven't found anything I liked as much.

Thanks for the recommendation. Always looking for something new and different



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I also just finished MOL a few short months ago and had the same type of experience. I didn't re-read the whole series like I used to do everytime a new book came out.



I liked the whole dynamic that the "good guys" were filled not just with darkfriends, but also with mal-intentioned good guys who gummed everything up. I love the Aes Sedai because they were well-intentioned, largely misguided, proud, haughty, and very powerful.



Didn't identify with mat, but it was clear to me this was who Robert jordan wanted to be most like. Was mad at Perrin for trying to reject such an awesome gift that the wolves were. I thought Thom was pretty annoying and I got really tired about hearing how often someone's "cheeks colored".



I would love for the "One power" to eventually gain Jedi Force status. Seriously, is there anything quite so cool as channeling? it's like Jedi Powers explained in a way that goes beyond stretching out your hand, exertion and magic happening.



I loved the Black Tower. I loved that a guy who could barely channel wins. I really didn't like Loial. Ogiers were okay. White cloaks were my least favorite story-line. They seemed like the embodiment of what Utah fans think of BYU.



I love naming sword fighting forms into ballet dance moves. I always thought the Aes-sedai bond with warders would be developed more. The green man made no sense to me ever. The wolf-killer villain was pretty sick. Favorite moment was probably Rand cleansing Saidin.

I finally finished after a 13-year break. Book 8 killed my interest in the series, and I have to agree with the suggestion that Brandon Sanderson saved Jordan big time. It wasn't a perfect ending, but it was better than the ending for Lost by a long shot and it had many times over more loose ends than lost did.

Mars wrote:


Book 9 killed me. I read 1-8 straight over the past 8 months... and then I just kinda pooped out. I mean, hey, it's football season now!

If you thought Book 9 was bad, just wait til you get to Book 10. But seriously, power through those slow books - the pace of the series starts to pick back up in book 11, and really kicks into gear at book 12. And the ending is quite satisfactory. You'll be glad that you did.

Sammich wrote:
I finally finished after a 13-year break. Book 8 killed my interest in the series, and I have to agree with the suggestion that Brandon Sanderson saved Jordan big time. It wasn't a perfect ending, but it was better than the ending for Lost by a long shot and it had many times over more loose ends than lost did.

Just out of curiosity, what were some of the loose ends that you thought were still kicking around at the end? I thought they wrapped things up pretty nicely - can only think of a couple myself... not bad for a14 book, 12,000 page series.