So I’m rereading the Robert Jordon Wheel of Time series in preparation for the final(!) three books coming out in the next two and a half years. (For those of you living under a rock, the final three are being written by my good friend and ex-writing group member Brandon Sanderson.) I’m about 60 pages into the first (Eye of the World), and it’s taking me back in time in a very pleasant way. I’m one of those readers of this series who was right there at the beginning. I literally remember the first time I saw the first book: it was at my old library, and I was in a phase where I picked what to read next based on book size. The longer it was, the sooner I read it. And Eye of the World was a massive tome (to me at the time).
Since then, I’ve lost count of how many times I read those books. I’d typically reread the series when the next one came out, although I missed rereading some once or twice, just because they’re getting so long. (The series right now is almost up to 10,000 pages, total–well over 3,000,000 words.) I’d say I’ve read Eye of the World at least ten times. And I’ve stuck with the series. I remember getting made fun of in Mr. Coale’s English class for having one of the books (The Fires of Heaven, I believe?) on my desk. Getting the paperback versions that were notorious for having the covers fall off. (Thanks, Tor.) Going to the midnight sale of Winter’s Heart with my cousin Dave.
To have this series finished by a good personal friend–that’s about as cool as it could get for me. (I suppose some might argue it might be cooler to be the one finishing them, but not me. That would be way too much pressure. Plus, I think sometimes writing reads better when I’m not the one who wrote it, just like desserts taste better to me when I wasn’t the one baking.)
So anyway–just thought I’d share with you my growing excitement. Can’t wait to finish this series at last. It’s been 19 years, people. That’s a lot of years. I was in sixth or seventh grade when this all began. I know there are some haters out there, but I’ve always enjoyed the books–even the ones where not a whole lot happened. To me, the series is like Lost–there are some episodes/books where you have to set a lot of dominoes up, so that it can be that much cooler when they all come tumbling down.
So what about you all out there–anyone else rereading the series to prep for the finale?
Glad to see you’re reading them again. I’ll be curious to see what you think of the books looking at them with the mature eye of a person familiar with the writing process. 😉
Is Mr. Coale the same English teacher that told you you couldn’t write, and thus launched your lifelong interest in becoming a writer?
Nope–that was Mr. Kosmo. Bless his grumpy little heart.
Having recently come to accept the fact that what I write is speculative fiction, I’ve decided it’s about time I read the greats of the genre(s). I enjoyed His Dark Materials and am set next to read the Ender books. Your post has inspired me to check out the Wheel of Time after that, if nothing else then so as to be able to enjoy Brandon’s books when they come out.
Any other great series of SF or fantasy I absolutely must read?
Oh where to begin. The Dark is Rising Series is classic, as is the Chronicles of Prydain. Current stuff would be Rick Riordan’s Percy and the Olympian’s series . . . Really, there’s too much stuff here for me to pick a direction. What sort of spec fic are you going for? That might help me narrow the scope down some.
You’ve given me enough to start with. If, after reading my book, you think of others that I have to read for the sake of being aware of authors who are doing similar things, let me know. I realized halfway through writing the book, for example, that I was playing with a lot of concepts that Pullman had used in His Dark Materials, so I read that in part to be sure I wasn’t being unknowingly redundant.