2009-06-01 13:41:09

OK I've got my stream, got my NLSBard account set and the key installed on my stream. How ever, is the wheel of time werth me reading. I like suff like lord of the rings, the harry potter books, and the inharitence books that Christopher Paolini wrote. I also like some of the star trek and star wars books I came across on bookshare. I guess I can start on those disworld books that I got off of bookshare and see how far I get before I get an answer. I really don't want to waste megabytes on something I don't like.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
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2009-06-01 14:10:53

Cw, though (due to the annoying laws of this country), I cannot use bookshare, I was able to read all but the last book of the wheel of tim, ----- rather ironically on imported four track tape from the library of congresss.

I can't say whether or not you'll like the series (afterall, I'm not you), but I will let you know what I thought.

like most books, it had both good and bad points. As a good point (and a major good point), the world was large, but also consistant. There was no galavanting off to a suddenly randomly discovered new empire part way through the series, you are clearly told early on precisely what is and is not there.

this also means, there are some very nice recurring places and characters, ---- so for instance in one book, you see the city full of fuding noble families and intreague, then later that city is attacked, and you get to see all the fudes crystalize.

there are also shocking plot moments, which is rather nice, and a truly mysterious enemy. Descriptions of places and characters were also fairly good I thought, and the books contain a rather nice amount of environments.

Now onto the bad points.

Firstly, no denying it, the entire series is sexist. I do not mean merely the fact that they are set in a psudo medeival age where men and women had traditionally different roles, I mean that all the female characters, ---- despite the amount of time the robbert Jordan spends telling you how strong willd they are, turn into gigling wenches wheneversomeone male (especially the main character), walks in the room, ---- and the fact that the main character actually has three! female love interests just makes this worse.

furthermore, things are compounded by the fact that even the cosmology of the world is sexist, ---- men and women having different magic etc.

Moving away from the sexism, a second big problem I felt with the series was a conflict of style.

sometimes, Jordan seems to be wanting to write a true high fantasy in the style of Conan the Barbarian, ---- lots of smiting and slaying. At other times, he seems to want something more human and closer to lotr. The problem is, these two don't match.

You have the hero complaining about how awful it is that people are gettting killed in his cause, ----- then have him mightily slaying ranks of foes with his mighty sword! ---- it just doesn't gell!

Also, the mniddle of the series dos fall into too many characters syndrome, ----- it actually gets to the point when you can't care about any more characters.

If you can stand the sexism and the stylistic problems, wheel of time can be fun, ---- but I can't say I thought it one of th most fantastic fantasy series ever.

for something truly good on all fronts, i'd recommend Tad williams or George R.r. martin.

If you want a challenging read, you could also try the earthesea treology by ursula leguin, ---- though I'll admit that one isn't for everyone.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2009-06-01 21:51:19

OK. I think for the next two weeks I'll try to get threw the Unfinished Tales of N

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
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