[Werthead]

THE EYE OF THE WORLD was first published in January 1990, making this month the 20th anniversary of the series. Eleven volumes, a prequel, a companion work and over 44 million sales later, it's still going strong (for another two books anyway).

(Although a chapbook containing the first few chapters was actually published in August 1989 but whatever )

I first picked up the series in the summer of 1996 after A Crown of Swords came out, on the possibly flawed basis, "Seven books? Must be over, or nearly over, by now,". Fourteen years later (!) I'm still waiting for the end, but the journey, warts and all, has been fun along the way.

[Tsundoku]

I bought TEotW in August 1990, and have read the rest as they came out ever since. Some were purchased a little more quickly than others, for sure, but looking back it's no wonder I have trouble remembering who is whom. Alzheimers aside, of course.

I recall preordering The Dragon Reborn and believing the retailer when they said this one was apparently going to be the last one. And of course being mystified at the end when it sure as shit wasn't. Of course, WoT scholars may say that it was originally "apparently" intended to be a quartet/quadrilogy/4 fecking books, but trust when when I say that at the time this wasn't what we were told in the book stores.

And I still think Sanderson did a pretty damn good job with TGS. Not a tugged braid or page after page of smoothed skirts, sniffing or descriptions of seafolk porcelain to be seen.

Still, aside from 10 years or so of padding in the middle, it has been mostly positive. And you certainly can't argue the results for the genre as a whole. Gave our lad a shot, for starters.

This post has been edited by Sombra: 17 January 2010 - 02:52 AM

[Dolorous Menhir]

A good milestone to mark. I have to admit, I laughed when you said the series was still going strong twenty years later and didn't mention the author. Who died.

I've got the Gathering Storm sitting on the shelf, but decided to reread the whole lot before getting to it. Currently on the Shadow Rising.

This post has been edited by Dolorous Menhir: 17 January 2010 - 08:00 PM

[stone monkey]

Great in places, utterly infuriating in others. It's difficult to comprehend that I've been reading this for just under half my lifetime...

[Thelomen Toblerone]

I finally caved last week and bought Eye of Dreams. Despite the MASSIVE LotR rip-offness about it, I have to admit, it's pretty damned good, and I'm hooked on the series now.

[Illuyankas]

Thelomen Toblerone, on 17 January 2010 - 11:58 PM, said:

I finally caved last week and bought Eye of Dreams. Despite the MASSIVE LotR rip-offness about it, I have to admit, it's pretty damned good, and I'm hooked on the series now.

Nice, I'm sure you'll enjoy Lord of Daggers and The Gathering of the World as well.

[Thelomen Toblerone]

Hehe that's about the 30th time I've done that, for some reason my mind seems to think Eye of the World is a stupid name and couldn't possibly be the right one. Whatever the fuck Eye of Dreams is I dunno, but it's stuck in my head.

[Jusentantaka]

Pretty amazing its been so long... more than half my life even if I stopped reading after the 6th one all those years ago... Its very easy reading though, maybe its just because I started out with 12 books to read a month ago and didn't spend half a minute trying to figure out anything about who so and so is, beyond wondering why in purple fish god's pubes did jordan feel the need to give so many chapters to such an insipid twit. Fingers crossed for Elayne to die at the end. And toes. Would it have more import if I twisted myself up like a pretzel?

[Tsundoku]

Juicytaco, on 18 January 2010 - 01:15 AM, said:

Pretty amazing its been so long... more than half my life even if I stopped reading after the 6th one all those years ago... Its very easy reading though, maybe its just because I started out with 12 books to read a month ago and didn't spend half a minute trying to figure out anything about who so and so is, beyond wondering why in purple fish god's pubes did jordan feel the need to give so many chapters to such an insipid twit. Fingers crossed for Elayne to die at the end. And toes. Would it have more import if I twisted myself up like a pretzel?

Yes. Posting pics of such acts here as evidence will also add to the power of the ritual.

I'd suggest virgin sacrifices, but I'm sure AIJ's Mum wouldn't be happy with us.

This post has been edited by Sombra: 18 January 2010 - 08:45 AM

[drinksinbars]

Really enjoyed the last one by sanderson and overall i have positive thoughts for the series as a whole. Just a pity that RJ died before he could finish it, but the most recent entry was a serious return to form after a lull in the centre and hopefully the next two can finish the series in impressive style. I remember reading the first one way back int he day and waiting impatiently for each new installment to appear in the local library as i wasnt able to waste my pocket money on books.

[Terez]

Thelomen Toblerone, on 17 January 2010 - 11:58 PM, said:

I finally caved last week and bought Eye of Dreams. Despite the MASSIVE LotR rip-offness about it, I have to admit, it's pretty damned good, and I'm hooked on the series now.

Yay, another recruit that didn't get scared away by the haters on this forum! The references to Lord of the Rings were intentional, of course....and they are only references, just like the bajillion other cultural references that are in every chapter of the books......in other words, I don't think 'rip-off' is quite the right word. I'm sure others would say that's because I'm a fangirl, but it's not as if RJ was starved for ideas and had to steal them....all authors do that to a point, but RJ takes care to do it deliberately, and with a degree of complexity that I don't think you'll see anywhere else. One of the major-ish plot points is even a Ghostbusters reference, of all things.....

This post has been edited by Terez: 19 January 2010 - 09:57 PM

[HoosierDaddy]

Try reading Tairy after reading WoT.

First, your eyes will bleed.
Then, you'll notice the blatant rip-offs of Jordan by Tairy.

[Thelomen Toblerone]

Well, admittedly I am basing my judgment off the first book alone (second and third awaiting beginning), but the 4 naive and peaceloving young peasant villgers going off an an adventure to save the world, mysterious rider in black pursuing them at the start, the Nazgul/Draghkar similarity, and Lan reminds me an awful lot of Aragorn in the early stages of both books - and that's just the first 100 or so pages. Jordan definitely took a serious bit of inspiration from LotR to start off, that's all I'm saying. But so many things have that I guess I shouldn't really single out him alone. It's no MBotF, but it's well worth reading so I'm quite happy, enjoying it, and definitely gonna make sure I;m up to speed by the time the next comes out.

[Terez]

Oh, I'm not denying the parallels - just saying that they are intentional. He has talked about them a great deal, saying that he wanted to give hints of familiar surroundings at the beginning of the books....if the parallels were unintentional, they would not have been so blatantly obvious....like the Mountains of Mist/Misty Mountains, for example.