Neon Reads The Wheel of Time

[Briar King]

I read NS on my very 1st series go before TEotW. I’ve never read it again on the other trips.

It’s not bad but it’s not good either. It’s just there. Looking forward to your take on it. I’ve forgotten alot about it.

[Dunkum he/him]

8 hours ago, Briar King said:

I read NS on my very 1st series go before TEotW. I’ve never read it again on the other trips.

It’s not bad but it’s not good either. It’s just there. Looking forward to your take on it. I’ve forgotten alot about it.

think I've red it twice and honestly, this is about my take on it too.

[Briar King]

Ye gods this is definitely hard to get through…1st a Perrin chapter that’s followed by a Faile chapter… I hate these two characters more and more each time I read this series though I still love Perrin until she gets introduced.

[aneonfoxtribute]

Faile starts out awful but she gets much better (especially with the context given by that one dude on Reddit, he did a very good writeup on her).

As for Perrin, I still like him. I can very much vibe with ignoring literally everything for the sake of the person you love most.

[Dunkum he/him]

4 hours ago, aneonfoxtribute said:

Faile starts out awful but she gets much better (especially with the context given by that one dude on Reddit, he did a very good writeup on her).

As for Perrin, I still like him. I can very much vibe with ignoring literally everything for the sake of the person you love most.

he remains one of y favorites but some of his middle chapters definitely get rough to read.

[aneonfoxtribute]

I feel like people very much overestimate how long the Faile kidnapped arc takes. Like yes, it lasts for four books. But most of that isn't with Perrin, and each book progresses it in a significant way. PoD starts it, WH has Perrin learn about it and shows how Faile is existing in the camp. CoT progresses it, showing how Perrin is sort of going insane because she's gone, while also giving him the need to go to the Seanchan for help, showing Faile's plans to try and escape, and showing that Aram and Masema are getting along. And then Knife of Dreams ends the plotline. I didn't find that plot that bad.

Now a bad plotline was Elayne trying to get the Lion Throne. It lasted the same length of time, but it progressed far less. The best part of it is seeing Elayne's relationships with characters like Aviendha and Birgitte, and the, like, two scenes where we see them trying to acclimate the damane to a life of freedom. The meat of the plot, the political storyline, is just not good. Dyelin is the only political entity that matters. Neither the antagonists nor the other random lords that show up matter at all, and I knew they wouldn't matter reading it the first time. 

[Dunkum he/him]

I think my issue with it is that it was 4 books where Perrin was more broody and generally less fun to read. Rand is pretty bad for most of that stretch too (he has his good points in there, but everything leading up to Dumai's Wells really did a number on his sanity and thus my ability to enjoy his chapters) and Nynaeve and Elayne are hit or miss in the best of times, so Perrin, Mat, and Egwene are doing most of the heavy lifting.  Piling on Perrin threatens that balance even more. I think that gets at why Path of Daggers is one of my least favorite books: with Mat absent and Perrin consumed by the search for Faile, we are basically left with Egwene, and she just isn't enough to carry the whole book by herself like that

[aneonfoxtribute]

Perrin isn't consumed by the search for Faile in Path. She gets kidnapped at the end of that book, and Perrin only finds out at the start of the next book. 

[Briar King]

Atleast the next chapter was Mat the Great.

[Dunkum he/him]

9 hours ago, aneonfoxtribute said:

Perrin isn't consumed by the search for Faile in Path. She gets kidnapped at the end of that book, and Perrin only finds out at the start of the next book. 

huh, ok. didn't double check the timing on that one, but the basic point still stands. Perrin is one of the consistently better viewpoint characters, to me at least, and the hunt for Faile drags him down substantially, especially at the beginning. it does get better, as he focuses more on solutions vs problems, but for a while there his chapters are darker an less fun to read.

[Briar King]

Oh yeah it’s been my man’s Mat with 4 chapters in a row so far.

[aneonfoxtribute]

I start New Spring either tomorrow or Thursday, and I probably finish it Thursday in any case. Very excited. Then I actually finish Skyward Flight.

[Briar King]

I wonder if I ll ever reread it on future rereads.

Hmm Mat just asked to read a certain letter and I could have sworn it was towards the end of 11 rather then before pg 300 even got here. Been a minute since I last read this.

[aneonfoxtribute]

5 hours ago, Briar King said:

I wonder if I ll ever reread it on future rereads.

Hmm Mat just asked to read a certain letter and I could have sworn it was towards the end of 11 rather then before pg 300 even got here. Been a minute since I last read this.

Do you mean Moiraine's letter to Thom? He reads that in KoD. He gets a letter from Verin in Gathering Storm that is read at the end of Towers of Midnight, maybe you're confusing the two

[Briar King]

I meant Thom’s letter that he has to ask about before he can say/show Mat. 
 

There is a good bit RJ brings to a close that was building up when he was certain only one more book was going to be written to end series. I just thought this part was more towards the end of Knife rather than before the halfway point. 
 

Been over a 100 pgs of Mat so far and I remember being so happy about that when new. Iirc it’s one of the longest continuous Mat chapters of the series.

[aneonfoxtribute]

Time to begin New Spring

[aneonfoxtribute]

I wonder if we're gonna see the Foretelling of Rand's birth

Yep. There's the Foretelling of Rand's birth

Baby Siuan wishing to go to Shara and Seanchan. Completely unprepared for the truth. Becoming Amyrlin was the best thing that ever happened to her if THAT was her intention

Siuan getting reports of the Seanchan: "Well it's a damn good thing I didn't get the chance to go exploring"

[Briar King]

Getting reports of Seanchan 20+ yrs before they get there? Definitely don’t remember that but it was 2004 when I read NS.

Also that foretelling in Wheel of Prime was atrocious to watch. Idk why Rafe has old ladies playing Aes Sedai.

[aneonfoxtribute]

3 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Getting reports of Seanchan 20+ yrs before they get there? Definitely don’t remember that but it was 2004 when I read NS.

Also that foretelling in Wheel of Prime was atrocious to watch. Idk why Rafe has old ladies playing Aes Sedai.

No I mean later, when the Seanchan actually showed up when she was Amyrlin.

[Briar King]

Does she name drop Seanchan or is lands to the west? If it’s a name drop it may clash with early books. Pretty sure the lands are just a myth until they land and name drop themselves but hell they show up in bk 2 so there may not be much there other than Hawkwings legend sprinkled in.

[aneonfoxtribute]

41 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Does she name drop Seanchan or is lands to the west? If it’s a name drop it may clash with early books. Pretty sure the lands are just a myth until they land and name drop themselves but hell they show up in bk 2 so there may not be much there other than Hawkwings legend sprinkled in.

No she doesn't, I never said she did. She said she wanted to see what was on the other side of the Aryth Ocean. I'm making a joke. 

[aneonfoxtribute]

I am surprised that the Aiel War is already over, and Laman wasn't even killed onscreen.

[aneonfoxtribute]

Quote

"She had never been as close to anyone as she was to Siuan. Or loved anyone as much"

Oh they are SO gay

[aneonfoxtribute]

Yoooo Elyas cameo

Surprised at how little Lan is in this book so far. He was in the first chapter and then nothing else. I was expecting to cut between him and Moiraine regularly

[Briar King]

On 11/27/2023 at 12:26 AM, aneonfoxtribute said:

Oh they are SO gay

Have you seen Wheel of Prime?