What are you reading?

[Josh]

I got maybe two chapters into the first book of the Wheel of Time series and forgot about it. Now that Belle hinted at what's in store, I'm even more hesitant at digging it back out again.

Lol, I was kidding.

It's not really like that, I just threw it in there because of the whole Female and Male source users dichotomy.

Edit: Read it you duffbag.

[Rem-13]

WoT is a roller coaster of quality.

[Josh]

WoT is a roller coaster of quality.

You're a roller coaster of quality!

[Jack]

One you wouldn't mind riding?

[Josh]

One you wouldn't mind riding?

I'll roller coaster you bitch!

[Ashe]

I hadn't made it a point to watch the show, as I normally don't watch television, until I reread the first book a couple of weeks ago. I found it on YouTube. Some of it is good, and some of it is like "WTF, really?" They contradict themselves a lot, and busted out most of the book's big reveals within the first five episodes, reveals that provided much of the secrecy and conflict until the second half or very end. I understand perfectly that they can't keep everything the same, and the object of the series was to "give the fans some new surprises," but they also completely butchered some of the characterizations. That being said, it's still entertaining and I can enjoy it for what it is. I feel bad for Goodkind, though. The reason he hadn't released the rights until now was because he thought people wouldn't honor his series properly.

This, especially your last sentence. He made a huge point of that.

Josh, all I can really say to help point out the extreme differences (not things like "Gars look different, a magic map instead of a cloud to follow Richard, etc, all of which are entirely acceptable changes to most people). Male confessors. Lots of them. Entire towns of male and female confessors. The entire series makes a point of why there are no male confessors (in fact, Kahlan is the LAST confessor alive after escaping the Midlands, THAT is why she's Mother Confessor). To prevent the type of things that happened before (Male confessors have no limit on their use of their power, unlike female, and abused it etc etc), everytime a male is born to a confessor, they have the father (since he's consumed by the power from the confressor's ability) put a metal rod over the baby's neck and step on both ends. That's how extreme a point of "NO MALE CONFESSORS ALLOWED" it is.

I even let go the fact that in the show Kahlan activates Con Dar all because "ouch, I'm being tortured, RAWR". Otherwise they did a good representation of it. But as a friend said, "wtf, is she going super saiyan?" Con Dar was originally activated when she believed Richard to be dead, but like I said, that's something I can get past.

The cast entirely said that nearly all of them have never read any of the series before or heard of it. So on that basis, the guy playing Richard does... an ok job for what he has to work with. For his script, he does fine. For the book character, he's an entirely different character. A young, whiny teenage version of who he was at the beginning of WFR. Zedd (to me) isn't that bad at all, really. He does his part alright. The scripting for him is terrible in some cases though. Lots of other people think this Zedd is horrible.

I even forgave them of the new additional ability they gave Mord Sith to magically breath into other Mord Sith and bring them back to life. (In the books, a Mord Sith could only use this ability to bring back someone that she'd essentially tortured to death with the Agiel from the brink of death. It HAD to be someone she was training with her Agiel. Not "anyone".) So instead of the very important moment to the series where Denna is killed, she's just magically brought back to life at the end of the episode (though in the book, she died as a way to be set free from her roll in life, glad for this freedom and the pain that came with her forced life. In the show, there's no emotion, she comes back "with a vengeance rawr" and its more an anger killing, which removes the White Sword aspect entirely). Even this is accepted by most fans. In fact, the Denna episode was, for a large portion of it, actually word for word accurate (not so much the other prisoner thing but some of the conversations with Denna). It just sucks that they condensed something that took an entire half of the book (and sent him to the Palace of the Prophets in D'hara to kneel there) into a single episode.

EDIT: To clarify, again, I'm not saying the show isn't enjoyable in its own aspect. I'm only saying that is an adaptation in the absolute loosest form. Its got about as much similarity to the real storyline as Chubbs does to DBZ.

[Belle Hibiki]

I got maybe two chapters into the first book of the Wheel of Time series and forgot about it. Now that Belle hinted at what's in store, I'm even more hesitant at digging it back out again.

The fuck. I didn't hint at anything about Wheel of Time. I've never read Wheel of Time. I'm talking about Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series.

Edit: I should really read all of a thread before responding.

[Ashe]

WoT and SoT are very similar in a lot of ways.

That said, Belle, you barely got into the fourth book, which means there's no hope for you. Because that one, Temple of the Winds, is one of the best in the series. That and Faith of the Fallen are usually the two top candidates. However, Blood of the Fold, book three, falls as one of the least favorites (I wasn't much a fan of it, other people love it, its back and forth).

[Belle Hibiki]

I'm very sorry for not continuing to read a series that three enormous books proved to me was absolute drek.

Perhaps I should keep reading things that I think are shitty in the nebulous hope that they might one day be good.

That strategy has certainly worked out in Heroes' favor.

[Ashe]

I'm very sorry for not continuing to read a series that three enormous books proved to me was absolute drek.

Perhaps I should keep reading things that I think are shitty in the nebulous hope that they might one day be good.

That strategy has certainly worked out in Heroes' favor.

That is entirely not what I said (other than the first part).

Let me reword it. "If you managed to think the series was absolute shit while reading the fourth one, then there isn't really anything I can say to sway your opinion."

[Belle Hibiki]

That is entirely not what I said (other than the first part).

Let me reword it. "If you managed to think the series was absolute shit while reading the fourth one, then there isn't really anything I can say to sway your opinion."

You... did read the first post on the subject where I said I barely got into the fourth book before giving up, right?

[Josh]

I'm very sorry for not continuing to read a series that three enormous books proved to me was absolute drek.

Perhaps I should keep reading things that I think are shitty in the nebulous hope that they might one day be good.

That strategy has certainly worked out in Heroes' favor.

Read wheel of time, it kicks the shit out of sword of truth.

[Ashe]

You... did read the first post on the subject where I said I barely got into the fourth book before giving up, right?

Pretty sure that's what I was commenting on.

[Belle Hibiki]

Pretty sure that's what I was commenting on.

Thought you said finished.

/shrug

My bad.

Edit: ... Though, it should be said, I didn't much care for the fourth (as much as I had read it) anyway.

Read wheel of time, it kicks the shit out of sword of truth.

I guess I could give it a shot.

[Orion]

Read wheel of time, it kicks the shit out of sword of truth.

I actually started reading the first book of that a while ago when I decided I'd start reading again, but I got about halfway and then put it down. I don't htink it was because the book was shit, I just have a lot of trouble reading consistently. I think it may be the biggest hindrance to my writing skill.

[Ashe]

In all honesty, the first Wheel of Time book is VERY hard to get all the way through. The series is fantastic, but you've got a lot of information to absorb and the first book is like Dickens.

[Orion]

Oh, that might be why I put it down then. I'll try to give it another go soon.

[Rem-13]

Book 12, the Gathering Storm is coming out on October 27, 2009. I'm kind of optimistic, even though its being completed by a new author since Robert Jordan died. I felt the series had gotten away from him.

[Ashe]

Book 12, the Gathering Storm is coming out on October 27, 2009. I'm kind of optimistic, even though its being completed by a new author since Robert Jordan died. I felt the series had gotten away from him.

My friend read the sample chapters. Essentially the final book is split into three volumes because the notes Jordan left clearly wouldn't fit into one book. Jordan also wrote a good bit of the book before he died. Of what my friend said, you can clearly tell its a different author just because the writing style is different. That's expected; you can't just replicate another author's style perfectly in most situations. He said that despite that, its still very good and since the author reread the entire series before beginning this book, he's "in that mode" while writing the stuff.

[Jesper]

Um...well...I just read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (I had a conversation with Kaden that made me think of finishing the novel) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain in the past couple of months. EDIT: I've since come to the conclusion that Jane Austen is overrated. My opinion of Twain hasn't changed.

I've been switching between the Dune series by Frank Herbert (and some by his idiot kids) and the Otherworld series by Tad Williams. Needless to say, I'm a pretty sporadic reader.