The Sword and Laser discussion

About 3 weeks ago I realized that A Memory of Light will be coming out in early January. It's been a while since I did a full read through. Usually I just read the first few and the last few and skip the middle ones. In anticipation of the end of this journey I've started a complete read-through. I'm almost done with The Dragon Reborn. Looks like I might finish with time to spare.

My own little renegade read. I'll probably still join in for The Hobbit, but looks like much of my reading time will be occupied for the next little while.

I just finished my first go-thru of wot

I think come January I'll go thru the tor.com posts for a refresher

Been looking forward to it for quite some time!

Yep. Stoked. No time for a re-read but can't wait.

Still thinking I'm going to do a re-read, but running out of time to start. Either way, I'm looking forward to AMoL.

Just finished book 13. I can't wait till the final book comes out. The last 2 books leading up to the final battle were awesome.

I decided not to go with a re-read at this time. There're to many other books I want to read at the moment.

I have, however, started going through The Wertzone's excellent and extensive synopsis for the series. (It's still a WIP, currently on Crossroads of Twilight)

it took me way too long to read it once. very excited for the end though.

i wish i could do a re-read, but it takes so long! I need to find a refresher of some kind though-can't wait! I wish they'd put together some big box set.

The reread is one of those things I keep wanting to start but then I grab something else off the to-read pile and get sidetracked.

My younger brother is pushing through the later parts of the series and has never real all the way through so I have plenty of conversation on the books I may end up just reading the Sanderson books again before AMoL.

I'm running out of time for a serious reread. I might just re-read Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight over Christmas.

I'm doing a complete re-read... Currently I'm halfway through The Fires of Heaven , but I've been reading some other books inbetween each installment as to not go stale halfway through ;-)

For those who don't want to do a full read through, the wertzone has been posting some fairly details summaries of each book. I've post the link to the latest as it has links to all the previous parts.

WoT Summaries

The summaries are a great thing. And another great thing is that there are many of them, so you can probably find something that fits your personality or reading style. I'm already into book 4 so I think I'm good, but if I get sidetracked before January I might turn to them myself.

Leigh Butler over at www.tor.com has been doing a big re-read as well.

I just re-read Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight. I believe I did a full re-read last year. It's a mammoth series with so much going on...and some of the middle books are a bit tedious.

Can't wait for the end though!

Melissa wrote: "Leigh Butler over at www.tor.com has been doing a big re-read as well.

I just re-read Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight. I believe I did a full re-read last year. It's a mammoth series with ..."

Her Re-read posts are so great. I get her sense of humor.

Just to give everybody a heads up they are very very spoilery if you haven't finished all of the books yet though.

I originally started reading Wheel of Time around 1998 or so when book 8, The Path of Daggers, came out. I finished them all and even book 9, Winter's Heart once it was released, but by then I had grown annoyed with some aspects of the story and I ended up lemming the rest of the books. However, recently I looked into it again and discovered that at long last, the series would be finished! So, I restarted the series back at the beginning and have been doing a re-read / catch up to book 13. I'm currently on book 11, Knife of Dreams, which I just started (haven't made it past the prologue yet).

On my second read through, I've found I'm less annoyed with the parts I didn't like, (although there are parts I definitely skim through, like all the shawl shifting and sniffing about), and that I am still enjoying the parts I did like, so Im definitely glad I decided to give it another go. Plus, I'm very interested to see how it all comes together and what finally happens to Rand. I should be able to finish the last 3 books easily before A Memory of Light is released in January. I still haven't gotten to the Brandon Sanderson books yet either, and I'm interested to see how it goes with a shared authorship on a story of this magnitude.

Mohrravvian wrote: " I still haven't gotten to the Brandon Sanderson books yet either, and I'm interested to see how it goes with a shared authorship on a story of this magnitude. "

it goes well. It goes very well. You can tell there are differences but overall I believe he accomplished the impossible. He let Jordan's prose and words flow through him and still somehow was able to put his own mark upon the story. Those books are masterfully done in my opinion.

I agree with Micah.

Rob wrote: "I agree with Micah."

You can also tell working on them has changed his own books. It's like he jumped 20yrs in writing skill.

I agree with Micah.

And I even think he's writing style improved some of the characters and made them complete.

For example Mat. He uses the playfulness and confidence of the character to make any chapter in Mat's perspective really funny.

Im really impressed by Brandon Sandersons job on the books. He cut out all the unnecesessary scenes and really focused on the plot, something the series needed.

Dirk wrote: "

For example Mat. He uses the playfulness and confidence of the character to make a..."

Oh, I'm mostly happy with Sanderson's work on WoT but I really really hate the way he writes Mat.

haha to each his own :D

I'm on the road, and away from my computer but I swear I read/ saw something recently saying that he wrote very little of Mat and that he was one of the characters Jordan had written.

Kate wrote: "Oh, I'm mostly happy with Sanderson's work on WoT but I really really hate the way he writes Mat. "

I thought Mat was a little off too. That was the main area where I saw the differences coming out. In the first Sanderson book Mat was a little weird. Then he got better in the 2nd. He has to be a very hard character to write.

I'm so excited and at the same time sad that it will be over. When it comes out, I'm actually planning on taking the day off to read it.

Seriously, take your time. If you cram it in you'll forget it all in a month.

I'm already pre-planning my reading list so that I'm not in the middle of another book when Memory comes out. I just finished Deadhouse Gates (a Malazan book) but am going to wait til after Memory for the next in the series because I fear I won't finish it in time given how long it takes me to read Malazan books . . . I read Leviathan Wakes in three days but it took me four months to read Deadhouse Gates, partially because I kept taking breaks to read other books like Leviathan.

Micah wrote: "Kate wrote: "Oh, I'm mostly happy with Sanderson's work on WoT but I really really hate the way he writes Mat. "

I thought Mat was a little off too. That was the main area where I saw the differen..."

Mat is a bit tricky to write since he's an unreliable narrator.

Tomp wrote: "Mat is a bit tricky to write since he's an unreliable narrator. "

Aren't they all? LoL.

Mat is my favorite character and I don't agree that he's been poorly written in the Sanderson books.

I haven't been reading the books that long. I think I started in 2009 or 2010 though, so I read 1-11 all at once for the first time.

I still swear I read/heard him say how very little of Mat was written by him and that most of it had already been done by Jordan himself, but I can't remember where to link my source. It's going to drive me crazy till I can track it down though.

Apparently Brandon Sanderson is doing a signing in my town in about two weeks. One of the awesome things of only living a few hundred miles from him. This will be the 3rd time I'll get to see him.

Really hope the ending doesn't feel rushed, looking forward to the last book, but seems like an awful lot still needs to happen. Just for instance, the viewing of the 3 lovers standing around Rand dead body each holding a baby. Could be symbolic, but since only one is pregnant right now, that suggests at least a year or more of storytime, at the very least. We'll have to see.

but she's (view spoiler)[preggers with twins so thats 2 down already (hide spoiler)]

Read, dont work or sleep or eat, and you just might make it

Cattfish wrote: "Read, dont work or sleep or eat, and you just might make it"

:) Those things are overrated anyway. ;)

I've decided that I'm going to read the Tor read-throughs before AMoL comes out, and re-read the entire series starting in June 2013 or January 2014.

Also, is anyone else getting the Tor mailer with the "snippets"? Each day is a sentence, chapter title, or part of a sentence or the like from the book, it's fun trying to figure out what they might be about.

Micah wrote: "but she's [spoilers removed]"

Maybe. But since the third hasn't even been started yet, that's still at least a year of storytime. And it's just one of many things that still need to happen. Besides a story year is a long time for a WOT book, when many only span a few weeks or months.
Just worried that tying off the loose threads will make the final book feel jumbled or rushed. Or that they'll skip threads they don't have room for.
Fingers crossed.
Sanderson has done a great job with last 2 books, so I'm more hopeful than not. And while the series as a whole reads better not having to wait publishing time, it would be much better at half the length

So put down your predictions. Mine are purely predictions based only on my reading and not on any leaked spoilers (I actually don't know of any):

1. Logain is going to be remembered as the true Dragon Reborn who saved the world. Min sees something great in his future and this could be it. Its not that he is the Dragon, just that events will unfold this way for my 2nd prediction to happen.

2. Rand, the true Dragon Reborn, will "die." Not really die but will be thought to have died as a false dragon. In truth he'll live a quiet polygamous life afterwards. There have been of a lot of hints in Min's viewings that something like this will happen.

Earlier on in the thread you we're talking about what is Sanderson and what is Jordan in the final books. I wanted to link this video to a panel because Sanderson starts talking about that around 10:00. Spoilers through Towers of Midnight, since it is an A Memory of Light panel. http://vimeo.com/50267842

I'm so f'ing excited for this book! I've been spending an embarrassing amount of time on Theoryland lately...

I wonder if this is what I remember. In it he says:

"In Towers of Midnight Perrin is a little more me, and Mat is a little more Robert Jordan".

He says this right around 11:45.

Rik wrote: "So put down your predictions. Mine are purely predictions based only on my reading and not on any leaked spoilers (I actually don't know of any):
"

Everything I had a theory on has already happened. I'm going into the final book completely stumped. Hurray.


I don't have time to do a proper re-read. I'm just going to have to make do with Isam's (hilarious) summaries http://pop.wheeloftime.org/index.php?...

I'm on Winter's Heart. Path of Daggers was excruciating. I'm almost surprised I stayed with the series past it. I remember book 9 being much better though. Seems like Jordan started to actually resolve some plot threads there.

Stick with it, Eric. Those middle-type books can drag a bit, especially when its your first time and you don't know what to look forward to yet ;)

Eric wrote: "I'm on Winter's Heart. Path of Daggers was excruciating. I'm almost surprised I stayed with the series past it. I remember book 9 being much better though. Seems like Jordan started to actually res..."

The book that really dragged (might have been Path of Daggers - I forget exactly what happened in what book) is the one where the first 3/4's is every character that wasn't with Rand at the end of the prior book reacting to what Rand did there. While they did do their own thing somewhat way too much time was spent going "What the Hell is happening."

It does get better though with Book 11 and when Sanderson takes over it becomes full throttle ahead with everyone but Mat. His story still drags til halfway through the Towers of Midnight, where he finally gets to do something, as apparently Jordan really didn't have much planned for him to do until then so he and / or Sanderson just had to do a lot of filler with him.

Rik wrote: "The book that really dragged (might have been Path of Daggers - I forget exactly what happened in what book) is the one where the first 3/4's is every character that wasn't with Rand at the end of the prior book reacting to what Rand did there. While they did do their own thing somewhat way too much time was spent going "What the Hell is happening.""

That was Book 10 Crossroads of Twilight. It was more like 9/10ths of the book though. Not 3/4's.

A Tam prequel would be cool. I heard Sanderson mention somewhere that they may do a video game based on Tams story. Dunno if that is true, but could be cool.

There seems to be some overlap with the previous video, but I think there is new stuff talking about finishing the books with Brandon, Harriet and Tom Doherty

link

I'm going to have to start a full reread ( and rebuy everyone of them as e-books as I don't have my print versions here and I've moved full digital anyway).
I read the first book over 18 years ago so I have forgotten a lot. And Winter Heart's is the last book in the serie I actually read as I decided at that point I would wait for the whole serie to be out to finish it...

This means I probably won't be ready for Memory of Light before summer as I will mix others books in but at least this time the end is in sight...

There is getting ready and then there is getting READY.

Two weeks out and already the first camper in line to get the first signed book at the first release of MoL.

https://www.facebook.com/BrandSanderson

Yes I am excited and I'm trying to schedule my reading around it but I'll be plenty happy to just get a non signed copy on release day.