Which Book Should I Read?

[mirinda]

Okay, someone told me to pick up some Robert Jordan because apparantly I'll REALLY like it. So I was wondering which book should I pick up first? Any opinions or information would be great Thanks!

[Sephiroth]

The first book in the Wheel of Time series is The Eye of the World. It currently has ten sequels. And despite the recent, tragic death of the author, the final book (Book 12) will be out in a year or two. It's a long, long series, rich in detail, and many of us love it.

That would be the book to start with.

[Talysia]

Yes, I'd start at the beginning, too. It was the best of the books, in my opinion.

[C Of K]

To enjoy it, I think people must begin with Eye of the World. Nothing makes sense without Eye of the World, Mirinda It is my favorite in all of the series.

[mirinda]

Thanks everyone I'll absolutely pick it up the next time I'm in a book shop!!!!!

[Andy R Marshall]

read books 1-4 then stop if you value your time and life

[elric01]

Originally Posted by Andy R Marshall

read books 1-4 then stop if you value your time and life

I totally agree with Andy. Read the first 4 or 5 then do yourself a favor and STOP. The rest of the books are pretty bad and filled with repetative descriptions and a multitude of characters that I could not keep track of. Nothing happens for hundreds of pages except talking and women fighting and spanking each other non-stop.

[Switchback]

I'll disagree with stopping after 4 or 5 books. Certainly the series slows down from book 7 to 10, but you MUST get through 6. The last 150 pages of Lord of Chaos is the best piece of fantasy literature I've ever read. Mind-blowing.

[power to the J]

It gets worse around book 7 (7&8 should've been one volume, same with 9&10... *sigh*) but 11 is good. Besides, I think it would be impossible to stop after book 6. Too many questions, my friend...

[Simple Simon]

Books 1-4 were excellent in my opinion and 5 and 6 were good though lacking the pace of the earlier four.

The next three books 7-10 definitely had problems that have been voiced above and I found book 11 to be of the same quality as 5 and 6. So all in all a series with 7 good books and 3 bad books so far.

In my opinion this series is far above the majority of fantasy writing being published and is well worth a read.

[pyan]

Sorry to disagree, but I wouldn't bother at all....
I realise this may sound a bit extreme, but there are so many good books out there, and it seems a shame to commit yourself to 11/12 volumes of which maybe half are worth reading. They'll always be there, and you can always read them sometime in the future, but I'd put them down as a series to start when you really can't think of anything that you'd rather read first.

That's just my advice, though..make of it what you like...

[power to the J]

Nah, read it. It's worth it, even if it goes a bit downhill and some of the characters are real annoying. Trust me, you won't regret it...much

[GOLLUM]

Like many here the first 4-5 books were good but after that things took a nose-dive. I just think Jordan lost his way a little. I'm still going to buy Book 12 to see what happens though.

[murphy]

Going to disagree with many of the above posters. I've read all the published books and while I enjoyed some more than others, I didn't find the slow ones that bad. Get them from the library, if you really can't stand them, then you can stop. There are good moments and lines in all of them.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by murphy

Get them from the library, if you really can't stand them, then you can stop. There are good moments and lines in all of them.

True but not as consistently good as the earlier novels for me.