Anyone else watching the Wheel of Time series on Amazon Prime?

I'm on the fourth episode. I have the first three books but couldn't wait. How are you finding the show?

Planning too yes. May read the books first.

I am enjoying it. Seems like good, solid fantasy.

I don't know anything about the books, FYI.

@mrbojangles25: There are twenty books in the series!!!

Have you read them? Are they any good?

@mrbojangles25: No. I've only read the first chapter of the first book. I've been told that some of the books can be skipped. Which is good, because I don't think I could read twenty books of the same series.

I only managed to read the first 3-4 books years ago. It's good but it can be a slog. i dont read much anyway and i just ran out of steam.

Enjoying the amazon prime series though. Worth a watch. hopefully they have committed to it for the long haul though. it would be a shame to just leave it hanging on a cliffhanger.

@xantufrog is the only person I know who's a fan of the series but for me, I never heard of Wheel of Time nor nothing about it until few people in SW lounge talking about it on Amazon Prime. That said, it doesn't look appealing to me so I'm not the target audience.

@DEVILinIRON: I definitely would not skip any books. People who say this are grumpy that the series bogs down for a few, but there are no books where the plot and characters are irrelevant. You would 100% be like "wait, where are we, who the hell is this and why do I care they died, and wtf is going on" if you skipped the 3-ish that people often complain about

Btw, there are "only" 14 books in the series, not 20. The other few are world-building and optional -> prequel novella kind of things

As for the Amazon series, I'm really enjoying it. My friends and I grew up reading these and we are all pretty happy with the adaptation. You should know a lot of things are different already, and as I've seen online this is driving some fans of the series nuts. But for me and my friends it hasn't been an issue - 1) creative license can be quite refreshing sometimes, 2) it's 14 thousand page books! They HAVE to put a spin on many things to pare it down into a digestible screen experience that doesn't leave the viewer totally lost due to the details that are missing due to time constraints. Pretty much requires changes from the source material for that reason.

I could list a number of things I dislike despite that defense, but at the end of the day it's fantasy tv - the reason I'm watching is to visit a strange world and interesting characters and just have fun, so I'm trying to avoid the art-critic mentality :-)

@xantufrog: Thanks for the tips. I'm not sure I can read all that. Unless it's something I can put on the back burner while reading something else. The most I've ever read have been Les Miserables unabridged and the the Gunslinger series which while on the last book I did not finish. But I shall give this series a shot.

@DEVILinIRON: Robert Jordan basically got lost in the world he created as the books went on - it's definitely not for everyone and he needed stronger editorial guidance. But I will say the series ends in a pretty satisfying way - at least it isn't one of those "doesn't go anywhere" series

I'm almost finished with book 10 in the series and it's really good if you like epic fantasy. I found out about WoT through Brandon Sanderson who finished the series after Robert Jordan died. Sanderson is my favorite author so I gave it a read and here I am.

I'm enjoying the show so far. I don't know if the people who read the books will enjoy all the major changes in the story and characters but I understand why they had to do it. The show would be 15 seasons if they followed the books entirely, kind of like what @xantufrog said. I just hope we get more series based off of great reading material and hopefully inspire people to pick up a book and read more. I hope the show is successful and we can get more seasons.

Haven't read the books but I thought there was backlash over the series. I was thinking about watching it though.

The only backlash I read about is that it takes a female-first perspective. Did you read something else? Curious what fans of the book have to say.

As a man, I don't have any objection to it, but tbh it was a little jarring to see a society where women are valued equal to men, doing all the things men are doing. There was a female blacksmith, the men were pining after women (usually in film it is the opposite), the ladies were drinking and singing songs in the pub and acting like fools (again, usually the men doing this). There are no supermodels to be seen, no super-attractive women, just "regular" looking women.

It's not so much that men play second fiddle, it's just there's no second fiddle to be played.

Again, not a bad thing, just very odd to see when you're so used to traditional gender roles in film.

Read all 14 books and the prequel New Moon and I'm loving the series so far. They've made a few changes but they're not really a deal breaker. I'm just glad that the greatest high fantasy series ever is finally getting some recognition. Robert Jordan is a much better author than George R. R. Martin imo. He made sure his series was finished even from beyond the grave

@rmiller365: Brandon Sanderson is also my favorite author. That's why I was really happy when I found out he'd be finishing my favorite series after Robert Jordan passed away. Man Mistborn, Warbreaker, The Stormlight Archive Series, Elantris are all just works of art imo

@valgaav_219: I haven't read any Brandon Sanderson, but my wife fangirls about him all the time. Plan to read his stuff eventually, the Mistwalker series is right there on our book shelf, but I haven't managed to get through a novel since my kids were born.

@judaspete: If you're not big on novels I'd suggest one of his standalone titles like Warbreaker or Elantris. In all honesty, though, I feel like The Mistborn Trilogy is his best work. If that ever got a show or a movie I'd drop everything to go watch it lol

@valgaav_219: I love novels, I'm just too tired to read them once the kids are asleep. Even some videogames aren't viscerally exciting enough to keep me up past 10. I recently tried to start Divinity OS2, and kept falling asleep in my chair. The game is good, I just need constant stimulation :)

Hopefully I will get my old brain back as the kids get older.

@valgaav_219: Happy to find another fellow Cosmereian! I think I've read all of the books Sanderson's written for the Cosmere and theres not a single one I didn't like. I even liked White Sand and the other short stories. Stormlight archive, the 1st Era Mistborn, and warbreaker are my top three. I always recommend mistborn for my female coworkers because Vin is probably the most badass female protagonist I've ever read, and Dalinar Kholin is my all time favorite. I've never read such a layered and complex character.

@rmiller365: Man, I need to catch up on The Stormlight Archive. Sadly I've only read The Way of Kings. It seems like the older I get the less time I have. I agree with you on Vin being a badass female protagonist, though, and she grows and matures so much over the course of the trilogy. It really threw me for a loop at the end of Mistborn when you truly find out who The Hero of Ages was. I never saw that one coming lol

No, but it's a reminder that I need to at some time before I die read the books.

I have read and listened to the books, and the tv series is very different, but still keeps the same type of feeling.

I am right there with you guys. Brandon Sanderson is also my favorite author. How he is subtly tying the cosmere together is just phenomenal. Stormlight Archive is just a brilliant story in a brilliant world. Mistborn is also phenomenal, and I can't wait to see the movie. I really enjoy all of his work though, so to anyone looking for a good fantasy novel, jump into his work and prepare to find yourself researching little tidbits that connect certain things together. So amazing.

Stopped after a few episodes. It's terrible.

I also agree on Brandon. His books and the universe he created in fantastic. Just finished cytonic!

I’ve heard that there are a lot of things that we can talk about. There are some changes to the way we can talk about which is cool to think about. I know that there are a lot of adaptations that have done well but I hope that this is great too. I hope more people will have some good opinions about the shows that we can see over here.

@themarkw: Well said.

I read the first 4 or 5 books but that was decades ago so I can't tell how close to the books the series is, haven't watched the latest episode. I think I have too many streaming services. Every week the list of shows I plan on watching grows but better too many than too few I suppose.