I was very happy to find this. I heard complaints that it's just a Tolkien clone and Jordan doesn't portray women well. But what I found was kind of a relic. It's an excellent fantasy series that probably couldn't be written again. Wish we had more like it.
the pacing and consistency are atrocious, unfortunately. I loved the first six books, hated the seventh, and straight up abandoned the series halfway through book 8. tempted to do a full read through now that Sanderson has completed the series in a way that people seem happy with but it's a lot when I know I'm going to run into at least those two bad books in the middle and possibly more after that.
I did this a while back, having read probably all of the Jordan ones from 5 on pretty much when they came out. On the one hand, relative to their size you can read through them pretty fast. But the Sanderson books are pretty meh and not really worth doing a reread of the whole series for. Books 2-4 remain the high point, I would say
There's a lot of awkward folded her arms beneath her breasts for sure but I never understood this criticism. Some female characters were trope-y, but so were many of the male characters.
I went in hearing about controversy online and guess I ended feeling like I'm miscalibrated from fantasy that is so much worse.
> I heard complaints that it's just a Tolkien clone
What a flattering complaint. Reminds me of this:
"Terry Brooks has often been disparaged for imitating Tolkien, particularly by those reviewers who find his books inferior to Tolkien's own. I can say only that I wish there were more imitators -- we need them -- and that all imitations of so great an original must necessarily be inferior. "
Yes, this is exactly how I feel. 1) The parallels arent that strong and 2) the parallels work well.
It doens't feel like a Tolkien clone. There are definitely parallels you can draw but they start very broad and become even less defining as the books progress. A hero's journey, humble beginnings, a powerful magic user, clear good vs evil. And the world is very different than middle earth.
nonethewiser · · focus · HN ↗
I was very happy to find this. I heard complaints that it's just a Tolkien clone and Jordan doesn't portray women well. But what I found was kind of a relic. It's an excellent fantasy series that probably couldn't be written again. Wish we had more like it.
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There's a lot of awkward folded her arms beneath her breasts for sure but I never understood this criticism. Some female characters were trope-y, but so were many of the male characters.
I went in hearing about controversy online and guess I ended feeling like I'm miscalibrated from fantasy that is so much worse.
RunSet · · focus · HN ↗
What a flattering complaint. Reminds me of this:
"Terry Brooks has often been disparaged for imitating Tolkien, particularly by those reviewers who find his books inferior to Tolkien's own. I can say only that I wish there were more imitators -- we need them -- and that all imitations of so great an original must necessarily be inferior. "
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110823100353/https://www.thenightland.co.uk/MYWEB/wolfemountains.html" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20110823100353/https://www.theni...
nonethewiser · · focus · HN ↗
It doens't feel like a Tolkien clone. There are definitely parallels you can draw but they start very broad and become even less defining as the books progress. A hero's journey, humble beginnings, a powerful magic user, clear good vs evil. And the world is very different than middle earth.