"Wheel of Time" series... any good?

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Wheel of Time is awful, terrible garbage. Long-winded, meandering, whiny-self-pitying-characters, nothing-is-actually-happening garbage.

I didn't make it halfway through the first book and I'm glad I put it down.

 

lol, my bookmark made it halfway through heart of winter as well

 

I plodded through 800 pages of book 1, only to have the final battle spit out in 8! On, and on, and on, only to end up so quickly. I made it through about 60 pages og book 2 before giving up.

On a side note, I went by Jordan's house in Charleston, South Carolina, but he wasn't home.

 

I read book 1 what must have been 3 or 4 years ago and haven't picked up a fantasy book since then. Not sure if that's a bad sign.

 

I haven't put a bookmark in Heart of Winter, it's still sitting on the shelf and I doubt I will ever read it. I know at the first mention of the name Nyneave I will throw it at a wall or on to a fire. The females in those books become so annoying that I gave up in disgust.

 

@Darkstrider: I've had female readers on the WoT forums call me a chauvinist for saying Elayne and Nynaeve are whiny neurotic losers...

Feel my PAIN!

 

@Faraaz Interesting that to say a character who is a control-freak, unenlightened, narrow-minded, close-minded, unable to compromise, unable to listen objectively and subjectively, unable to adapt to change, uncompassionate, unempathetic; and say that you don't like that charcter is chauvinistic. I can smell the from here

 

@Darkstrider: Ah, it is good to see that I'm not the only one who just skips the next 2-3 chapters the second I see Nynaeve/Elayne/Egwene in it...

 

I don't skip the chapters, I skip the books

 

@ Faraaz and Darkstrider: I find it amusing that most guys (as I am asuming the two of you are) hate the female characters, while the female audience likes them. Nynaeve is one of my favourite characters in the series, but I am not particularly fond of Elayne.

 

I got partway through book 9 (can't remember the name), flipped to the end, and then gave up. I'd been bored for several books anyway, but I thought the series had started well enough and I wanted to know what happened. Now I just don't care.

 

@Old Raven I'd like to point out that my mother and both my sisters and several female friends don't read the books for the same reasons. My elder sister a staunch feminist particularly finds Nynaeve annoying for the fact that she doesn;t learn or grow but continues to misuse her empowerment and authority.

 

@ DarkStrider: Alright alright... But I know that SOME female readers like her. I have not heard many (if any?) male readers that like her (or Egwene) though. I agree that they can be... well, how to put it... not entirely perfect at all times, but that's what I like.

And I am only reading book number 5 currently, so I can't say for sure I will like her later... But so far I certainly do not agree that Nynaeve is

She might be very set in her ways and give others a hard time trying to convince her of something, but she can think twice (and sometimes see her own faults, which is more than most people). And she is (IMHO of course) both very compasionate and empathic (I assume that is what you meant to say, or maybe it's just me not knowing what "unempathetic" means, english is not my first language).

 

Well before we start hurling axes at one another, let's just agree to disagree. Yes emapthetic and empathic are synonymous, empathic is the american form.

 

@Old Raven: Funny that...my girlfriend was put off Nynaeve in Book 1. She went so far as to say that guys don't take women seriously because of stereotypes like her...

Edit: @OldRaven - If you can still like her upto and beyond book 9...well, hats off to you! You are made of stronger stuff than I am...

 

Never read any of them but the general opinion (that I can see) is that it starts off well and then turns really draggy and people just don't want to go on with it.

Funny thing. I noticed that if you bring this topic up in the science fiction fantasy books forum, you will ALWAYS start a fight. Some very aggresive and opinionated people over there, some of them pretty unpleasant too. Quite entertaining to read through whilst I'm at work

 

@ DarkStrider: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so upset, of course I will agree to disagree!

@ Faraaz: I hope she didn't stop reading the series entirely. It would be very sad if she missed it only because she didn't like one charcter. I, for one, never liked Mat much until recently, which I would never have done if I stopped reading because I didn't like him from the beginning. I found him quite an appaling sterotype for starters, but he gets more likable in every book.

And as for Nynyave... I actually start finding her (or Jordan's way of making fun of her), a trifle annoying... I'm soon half way done with "the fires of heaven", and I really hope he stops exaggerating her annoying sides soon.

 

@Old Raven: Yeah, uh..in that case stay away from Book 8...and 9 as well for that matter!

And no she didn't stop reading the series for that reason, she just didn't have the stomach for 1000 page long books with a 12 book series total...sort of thing. She's not really much into fantasy anyway...getting her to read LOTR was an epic achievement!

 

@ Old Raven: I didn't think you were, really it's just that when you have diametrically opposite opinions if ye don't agree to disagree it can descend into vitriolistic and antagonistic rhetoric; and that's what I'd like to avoid...

 

@ Faraaz: People never cease to amaze me... How can someone not smile until their mouth is as big as a watermelon when finding a series with 12 books (eventually), each at about 1000 pages?! Well, I guess everyone has a right to their own opinion... I wasn't really in to fantasy either, before WoT (except for Pratchett's book, I loved them after a few pages of "Equal rites"). Get her to read some of his books if you want her hooked on fantasy.

@ DarkStrider: So you're saying you want to AVOID that kind of argument..? But I agree, it is certainly the most sensible thing to do, before we start throwing quotes from the books at each other.

@ Klorox: So, have our discussion (or whatever it was) convinced you one way or another? Have you decided to read the series or to stay away?