The Wheel of Time - is it worth reading?

I’ve read 1-3 and I loved them. I love epic worlds and a shit ton of characters. I feel like sometimes when there aren’t enough side characters the world feels kind of empty? Like not fully fleshed out and lived in.

It’s been 2 years I think since I’ve read book 3. I really want to reread them and finish the series next year! That’s my goal for ‘25!

In line with kids don't need nice things 😂, I told my kids they don't get Wheel of time now. They're a bit too young to care now but we'll see how it goes haha. I have never read it and I wouldn't be against it, but just the absolute length is having my hold off for now since I have a lot I'm trying to prioritize. I hope I get to it before I die at least. Thanks for the vid

A very honest sales job, Sam! I genuinely enjoyed The Wheel of Time and think it’s a magnificent accomplishment. Though it’s not quite in my top ten, I have a lot of respect for it, and I never actually experienced the Slog. I do sort of wish you had used the Icelandic word for irritating. 😁

I've read the first couple, when they first came out, but somehow I did not get around to reading the whole series. Some great concepts - specifically the portal stones. I will complete one day!

What a great video! It's my favorite series and I find it hilarious that I disagree with a lot of your points. But we agree that its an amazing series. I never experienced the slog and I liked the relationships.

Great pitch. I'm waiting to hear what my younger brother thinks of these. A work mate gave him the entire series to read at the beginning of the year. I'm visiting him in late November and hope to have a discussion then. ❤

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You’re a funny funny man. Loved that start

Brother - I was not able to get past 15% of the Great Hunt! I have always wanted to read and complete this series. I want to give it another try. But, the pace is very slow and heavy. Will it really be worth the push through?

Must read!

I mean, it’s only the second best fantasy series of all time.

Loved it, despite the few mentioned issues up until around book 5, ( don't remember exactly)The "kneel or be knelt" scene, which is where it peaked. Read a couple after that but felt the quality dropped off shockingly. Calling it a slog is a kindness. There were times i actually flipped back a few pages thinking there might have been a misprint repeating passages, sometimes almost entire pages,they were so similar it was disgraceful. The books would have benefited from an editor, easily half the length and they would have been excellent. Definitely felt like a publisher milking the fans.
Only time reading a series i never bothered finishing it.

I am anti-slog. I DESPISE 'The Slog'...but I am HUGE Fantasy fan, read those books 25 years ago.... well began, obviously the last few books did not come out until later, but read them.

I have read a LOT though. Obviously nothing written in the first person, because as with any genre, not just fantasy, any books written like that, are the sign of lazy, untalented, pretentious authors, so obviously f*ck that... but being a voracious reader across multiple genres, I read most the the usually suspects of the classic high fantasy type.

There is one exception.

Because I DESPISE the SLOG.

I hate anything REMOTELY broaching SLOG territory.

If I have one single whiff of Sliog... I go watch p0rn, enjoy the best 13 seconds of my day with my lil pp... and then smash something anyway, because even preemptive ... wrist... action has not fully assuaged the RAGE I feel when suddenly faced with Slog.

Pursuant to this... I am not accepted by my fantasy freak friends, as being truly a fantasy geek,.... because....

...I have NEVER, EVER... NOT ONCE...

.....read Lord of the Rings.


Ever. And I never will.

You see, it was not for want of trying, at least TWICE.

But the first time, I made it to the section on Bilbo's birthday. It was the section about the preparations for his birthday.... except it was NOT.... it was at least three pages... and I assume there was more... about the preparations... for.. the PREPARATIONS for his birthday. I mean, sure, show dont tell, but no one means it like that, you overrated old pommy Toff.

F you. And F your book. My expectations were high coming in from the Hobbit.

They were destroyed.

About a decade later, I tried again. I got to that part again. I wanted to strangle a hooker for catharsis again.

So I swore never again.

People tell me I should have just finished the chapter, it picks up. That is not a Slog.

I tell them to blow me.

That is my relationship to Slog.

Yet, I can honestly say, that as far as I can recall, and I have many of the books more than twice....

... THERE IS NO SLOG in WoT. Anyone who claims there IS, has no business reading ANYTHING.

Seriously, if you are reading this, and disagree there is no slog, perhaps self inflected blindness and amputation of both hands and feet is a better option for you than arguing with me. You are unworthy of reading anything, even via brail, and your opinion means less the most putrid steaming feces.

If you have NOT read these books, and are not drooling retard, READ THEM. There is NO downside. READ THEM NOW.

From one Sam to another, nice video. I tried reading this, I got maybe 7 books into the series. The world building and magic systems are great. I enjoyed the descriptions. My issue was I found the main characters too depressing. They were just always down in the dumps all the time. Now that I have read a lot of Brandon Sanderson, I think that I might try reading his concluding trilogy to TWoT.

I started reading when there were only 6 books it was hard to wait and I remember when Jordan only planned on doing 9 books. But book 9 was not last book and my least favorite and it is my second favorite series. Terry goodkind wizard first rule series is my favorite.

Great opener 😅

The Forsaken are realistic though. They are flawed people that have made bad decisions.
They do have exceptional skills in narrow areas, but none of them are supermen. And you have to remember that they came from a completely different world. They basically had to learn everything about this new world from scratch. That is also why they severely underestimated the good guys in so many situations.
And of course, the hype about them being ultra powerful was mostly just propaganda from thousands of years of subversive influence.

Great video! I'm currently in the latter half of Book 5, and I would say that Wheel of Time truly gripped me with Book 2. And after Book 3, I knew I would be sticking with the series. It can definitely be cringy and repetitive, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When it hits, it really hits!

I read a number of the books, eventually gave up on it. It's essentially a soap opera much like Game of Thrones,

I gave up after book 6, IIRC (it was well over 20 years ago). I was a fan at first (even scored a signed copy of the first book), but after pages of tugging of braids and crossing of arms under breasts (Jordan could be such a terrible writer), I just got bored by the bloat and the story seemingly getting nowhere. To me, it was The Waste of Time.