Wheel of Time

Finished Winter's Heart from R. Jordan's Wheel of Time series ... I found it had a pretty boring start, and had to force myself to get past the prologue. The rest of the novel's okay - but not that awe-inspiring.

The only reason I'd look at the other novels would be Mat ... funny guy. I like it when he's running away from Tylin.

This being the 9th of I don't know how many novels eventually, I have a feeling that Jordan's running out of ideas here ... maybe the first books were really good, but I don't know because the person who's supposed to lend me the series started me with Book 9 (duh!). I got to that conclusion because a lot of the characters come across as weak but they have promise of being strong characters - and they probably were strong characters in previous books.

Based on this book, I'd probably not buy the series. I don't freaking care how good the first books may be, because this series is one of those "continuing" sagas - any novel in itself is not completed, and you have to read the last of the series to know how things will end ... but by novel 9, the steam is running out and you'd probably not be satisfied with the ending... considering you had a good beginning.

Kind of reminds me of the Vampire Chronicles - the first 3 books were grand ... okay - let's say I really only liked the 2nd and 3rd books because the first book is just about a whiny vampire ... but my interest in the chronicles gradually waned in succeeding books. Why? The rest of the books have whiny vampires, and horror of horrors, she had to intertwine the tales of the witches too ... and I am not a fan of Anne Rice's witch novels. Haven't looked at any of her last installments, but it will be a real joke if Ramses from The Mummy starts appearing too in the Vampire Chronicles ... there was mention of immortals who can walk the light in the earlier books (I think it was in Tale of the Body Thief). I liked Anne Rice's Mummy better than I would like her Mayfair witches.

He he, did a bit of digressing there, didn't I?

Point is, when will the editors come in and tell a famous author that "enough is enough, it's time to end a series and save your reputation"? Honestly, the author is seldom a good judge of that, but the editor, who's got advantage of looking from the outside, should know.