Robert Jordan

[Scott]

Robert Jordan has died.
I remembering hearing that he was ill a while ago.
Was the Wheel of Time series complete? I started reading it when the first book came out, but I abandoned it after book 5 or so when it just got to be too much.

[geneweigel]

I recall blasting my brother for making me read one of his pre-WOT Conan pastiche stories! Then some off the street D&D player insisted (pretty much insinuating that I was a total asshole) that I must read Jordan's WOT. If I knew then what I know now, I would have asked him to pay for the overpriced toilet paper! The first book was awful. If anybody can convince me to read the rest then good luck trying because I think I can go without it.

[Scott]

I read the first one, and didn't like most of it, but then it got just good enough at the end to make me pick up the next in the series. Maybe not good enough to pay full price, but I worked in a book store at the time and got it cheap. I actually liked the next three or so in the series, and then it got to the 'enough already' stage, and I stopped reading.

[GRWelsh]

I also abandoned the WoT series after about Book 5. It seemed like the promised climax of the "Final Battle" kept getting further away, not closer -- and directly proportional to how well the series sold. I thought he was a good writer who had some cool ideas and decent characters, but he fell into the trap of "Oh... you like this? Then I'll pad this out!" mentality. I seriously doubt he finished the series, since he actually was going backwards by writing a prequel. I expect some posthumous collaboration with his unfinished notes.

[Falconer]

I could never get into it. And believe me, I have no trouble with "heavy" books. I just didn't like it, and everyone says the first few are the good ones. Now that the series will never be completed, I definitely won't bother. Regards.

[Scott]

I just finished re-reading the Eye of the World, the first book of the series. It's still, just OK. It's a lot more fantasy cliche in there than I remember. There are a lot of kernels of good ideas in there, stuff I like and could steal for a game (the Ways, some of the monsters, etc.). I thought about trying to re-read and finish the series, but I don't know if this grabbed me enough to want to jump into that bottomless pit.

[GRWelsh]

I read the first five books back in the 90's. I remember it was originally planned to be six books and when I found out he was padding it out to extend the series I got disgusted and quit. Jordan was a fairly good writer, but seemed to fall in love with his own powers of description, and so economy of story took a back seat to world-building and getting paid by the word. I also liked some of the ideas and monsters, but not enough to keep reading. I liked the male half of magic being tainted, balefire, the Ways, and especially the description of the Myrddraal or "eyeless" monsters -- that is what I remember best from the series. I'm always a fan for variations on humanoid monsters.

[Scott]

The Myrddraal and Trollocs seemed like variations on ting wraiths and orcs, but original enough that I liked them. I like the tainted magic angle too, and considered using a variation in a D&D game where using magic in a cursed area would run the risk of being affected by the corruption.