A question for those of you who have read Robert Jordans "Wheel of Time", It is my favorite series of books and yet everyone I know has never heard of the series, why is it not more popular, not that i'm saying it isnt popular (its got quite a large fan base), but I would have expected that since its publication in 1990 it would be much more popular than it actually is. Am I the only one who thinks this? Let me know what you think.
Well, as someone who hasn't read it, I can say that the length of it is what puts me off. Maybe that's why it isn't more popular?
I checked in my bookshelf, because the name rang a bell. I own one of the novels; I've never read it. Looking at it now, I think the cover is one of the things that is the most off-putting for me. Maybe I'm being picky, but it looks extremely bland to me, and definitely not something I want to invest time into reading.
I've read the first two books, although that was a long time ago. I remember liking it, but I was mostly put off by the length of the entire series. The thing with a series that long is that it tends to drag on and on. A lot of my friends have read it or at least heard of it, so I would say it's popular enough.
k, lol, well to let those of you who havn't read it yet, its a great series, although a bit long true and maybe only for hardcore fantasy readers, but I do recomend it to everyone who likes fantasy, maybe its just the people around me who dont know it that much... (By the way, dont let the length put you off, I got it for my birthday along time ago and I didnt try reading it for like a year or two, because of the length, but then i tried it and i really loved it)
It has been tremendously popular. Everyone I know who reads Fantasy has heard of it, and the books regularly hit the NYT best-seller list (I think the last one went to #1). For this kind of high fantasy I doubt there has been a lot that is more popular (the obvious being Lord of the Rings. I prefer George R. R. Martin and Steven Erikson, though.
I consider myself a casual Wheel of Time fan. It's strange that I don't often make time to read, but I can always make time to read those monstrous door-stoppers. I especially like book twelve. My dad refuses to start the series until it's finished, so that's at least one reason that it isn't as popular. Lord of the Rings simply has had more time to build up momentum. It has been finished for decades, while the Wheel of Time isn't even really finished yet. I forget the name of the guy who is finishing it, but he seems very skilled and I look forward to seeing him tie things together. So yeah, lack of being a complete series may even turn away more people than the intimidation from the sheer size of the volumes...
Brandon Sanderson is finishing it. His book Elantris was very good, I thought. I'm hoping he'll bring some energy back to the Wheel of Time series. The last 3 or 4 books in Jordan's series I listened to as audio books because I just didn't have the motivation to sit down and read them.
I agree with those who complain about the length. Although I've read all in the series I feel the story could have been brought to a satisfactory conclusion four or five books ago. Also the similarities between Wheel of Time and Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth are incredible. Goodkind does a better job with cohesiveness though he too is dragging the story out.
It's to the point where, except under rare circumstances, I won't even buy a fantasy book if I see it is the first in a series. At least not until the series is complete. Tired of authors dragging out these series indefinitely. I just put a book back the other day that looked good, but said it was part 1 of something. No thanks.
As others have said the length is the problem. Also, at points it does drag. Like when Mat and Rand are walking to that city in the first one. That draaaaaaaaged. Otherwise it's really good. I haven't read beyond the third book, but not for want of trying.
Actually, I really liked the bit with Mat and Rand walking. It was more realistic than most of the story, I found. They actually had to struggle. I loved book one, and have read it multiple times. But every time I attempt book 2 it bores me to tears and I have to put it down.
I agree with most people on here. The book was really long and in many parts of the story the details seemed to drag on. But other than that I thought the first book was very good, the second wasn't as good.
