----- Original Message ----- From: "Ritu" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Killer Bs Discussion'" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 9:57 PM Subject: RE: Knife of Dreams
> > Doug Pensinger wrote: > > > Only the first one was a decent book. The second few were > > just OK and > > those following went downhill after that - to the point that > > I threw the > > last one I read (6 or 7)accross the room midway through and > > have felt no > > desire to go near one since. > > > > You'll thank yourself if you read Wheel of Time and pretend > > that there > > aren't any more books in the series. > > Wot he said. > I persevered till book 7 or so but am now so fed up with the unnecessary > stretching of the story that I neither want to read the end of the > series nor wish to buy those books to complete the set. I see myself in between a Foolish opinion and this....and actually within the general consensus on rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan. I think the first 6 books were good. I saw a number of complex story lines, but had no real feel that he was stretching each plot line. Rather, he was telling a very complex story rather well. There were subtleties that I appreciated in the books. It is not a typical "our hero" and a bunch of background characters fantasy. After book 6, things went downhill. There was a great deal of detail given, but there was no indication that the detail moved the story forward very far. For books 7 & 8, there was the argument that these were necessary set up books. But, by book 10, the faithful, including those who worked hard on the FAQ, had all but given up on Jordan. I agree with the comments that he seemed to have lost his way in a maze of baths, braid-pulling, and arms folded across bosoms. The plot slowed to a crawl, and character development was very hard to find. My guess is that he did/does know where he wanted/wants to go, but lost the way to get there. He was juggling a lot of plot elements and seemed to lose confidence in his ability to juggle. He was like a programmer who use to write crisp code, but now is writing pages for each simple sub-function. But, with book 11, Knife of Dreams, he's back to his old form. It was a _very good fantasy book. He moved both the characters and the plots forward, and is clearly setting up the end of the series. I think it will take 2 more books to do this, but the end is clearly in sight. It's as though he's gone through the hard part of the plot, and now knows how he will get to the finish. I think the ideal way to read this series is to read books 1-6, get the Cliff notes for 7-10, and read 11-?....assuming 12+ are at least as good as 11. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
