What book(s) are you reading?

[Bebpo]

200 pages in and I still am feeling like The Blade Itself feels like a halfway between GRRM and Ninja Scroll. It's like long in-depth character viewpoint chapters and gritty, but then it's like very anime GIANTS, Sorceresses, TATTOED MEN, etc...it just feels so far kind of videogame/anime-ish even if written with a good writing style to it.

It's pretty entertaining but the worldview just isn't something I'm super into so far, feels very popcorn entertainment.

[Potato]

200 pages in and I still am feeling like The Blade Itself feels like a halfway between GRRM and Ninja Scroll. It's like long in-depth character viewpoint chapters and gritty, but then it's like very anime GIANTS, Sorceresses, TATTOED MEN, etc...it just feels so far kind of videogame/anime-ish even if written with a good writing style to it.

It's pretty entertaining but the worldview just isn't something I'm super into so far, feels very popcorn entertainment.

[BrokenVerses]

I finished reading the sci-fi Revelation Space trilogy by Alastair Reynolds.

It's very obvious that the makers of Mass Effect had read Revelation Space, although the books have a much different approach to the universe, space travel, and the mystery around the villains, more leaning towards hard sci-fi and less hodgepodge of pop culture thankfully. Coincidentally Revelation Space also goes somewhat off the rails in the third entry too lol.

[Bebpo]

Read like 5 hours of The Blade Itself last night when it picked up in the last 150-175 pages. Passed out with like 40 pages left so gonna get a bite and then sit down and finish it up.

It reminds me a lot of Sanderson books where it gets really hard to put down in the last couple hundred pages. This book has been weird in that I've had no idea where it was going the entire time. Was just a bunch of quirky characters doing things. But then it's starting to come together. Even with 40 pages left it feels like there's nothing to conclude? I guess it's going to be more of a world lore establishing, character introducing setup book and the plot will start in the next book.

My guess, which I'll see if I'm right in a few hours is that book #1 of this First Law Trilogy is basically just

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Assembling the team of violent fucked up antiheroes (Bayaz, Glokta, Logen, Ferro, maybe Jezal though I feel like they're writing him to be killed off since he's kind of a joke with no redeeming values) to be the fantasy LoTR party to go on their adventure in Book #2 & conclude the adventure in Book #3 to stop the evil Magi from destroying the world and all that.

Also the overall structure of this definitely feels pretty tropey. The characters are interesting and the writing/prose is very good and entertaining but like the overall structure is giving very Game of Thrones vibes with the Shanka/Flatheads being the looming larger threat coming from the great north/beyond (i.e. White Walkers) while there's a political faction war going on internally.

[close]

I have a feeling I'll probably feel compelled to jump into book #2 pretty quickly rather than read a few other series and come back later like I usually do to spread things out.

[Bebpo]

Ok, finished it. That was weird. Even when reading multi-book series, usually the books have had self-contained arcs each book. This book has no story arc. It just moves things along then ends at a point. Basically makes it hard to judge on its own and you pretty much need to read the next book.

Not sure how I feel about it. It was entertaining, but it was a pretty big long book and not a whole lot happened. Given that these are long books, maybe I'll read something short (aka not Wheel of Time #1) before book#2.

[Bebpo]

Almost done listening to the audiobook of Neil Gaiman's 1996 Neverwhere narrated by Gaiman. Pretty lengthy isekai book about London "below" and think it's pretty ehhh. It would be a good book but jesus christ talk about self-sabotaging a tale with the more whiny unlikeable main character possible. Even in the very end where I'm at I pretty much hate the main character Richard. He's supposed to be a loser, but he never really improves and is just a whiny loser the whole time.

Best part of the book are the antagonists Croup and Vandermar as supernatural professional killers. They're pretty funny and fucked up.

[Bebpo]

Started reading Scythe a YA fantasy series that had good reviews.


I'm about a 1/5th through at this point at 100 pages and this may be too YA for me. I don't have much YA experience and when I read Sanderson's Skyward YA novel it was enjoyable enough and read well. But this reads...like a kids book.

...except it's a book about government sanctioned serial killers in a futuristic shallowly developed perfect society where people don't naturally die anymore and AI runs everything so in order to keep population control manageable they have grim reapers that go around and murder 5 people / week with government immunity and the book is about a couple of kids apprenticing a killer.

It's an alright concept though I find the worldview way too shallow (kinda like Ready Player One) but it really reads so kiddy. It reads fast because of it and even though it's 500 pages I'll blow through it in a week. But, I think I'll pass on the rest of the series unless my opinion changes by the end.

I feel like light stuff like this would probably be better as an audiobook.


Definitely coming from Abercrombie it's pretty pedestrian prose.

[Potato]

Just finished up Heart of Home: People, Wildlife, Place by Ted Kerasote.

What a wonderful writer!

His ability to tell a story of the human condition in the guise of a story about fishing or hunting is phenomenal.

Highly recommended and I'm happy it will likely be the last book I finish this year.

[Great Rumbler]

Starting up on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.

[Bebpo]

Ok, yeah was at the very end of Neverwhere. It was ok, least good book I've read of Gaiman. At this point I should probably finish reading the rest of his published novels since I don't have a lot left. Ocean at the End of the Lane & Norse Mythologies mainly.

Also apparently the Neverwhere sequel is the current book he's been writing. Probably skip it. Not super interested in a bunch of Norse mythology novellas either, so probably will just check out Ocean at the End of the Lane at some point.

[Madrun Badrun]

The Witcher show got me back to the books.  Almost done with the second novel (Time of Contempt).  Honestly, the best part of the book is Geralt and Yen's tumultuous love affair and everyone else being super jelly of them.  Pretty sure this series is popular cause nerds don't know they like soap operas. 

[Coax]

Almost done listening to the audiobook of Neil Gaiman's 1996 Neverwhere narrated by Gaiman. Pretty lengthy isekai book about London "below" and think it's pretty ehhh. It would be a good book but jesus christ talk about self-sabotaging a tale with the more whiny unlikeable main character possible.

You reminded me that there's a radio play adaption I heard of this back in 2013 with Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, Natalie Dormer and others.

[chronovore]

Ok, yeah was at the very end of Neverwhere. It was ok, least good book I've read of Gaiman. At this point I should probably finish reading the rest of his published novels since I don't have a lot left. Ocean at the End of the Lane & Norse Mythologies mainly.

Also apparently the Neverwhere sequel is the current book he's been writing. Probably skip it. Not super interested in a bunch of Norse mythology novellas either, so probably will just check out Ocean at the End of the Lane at some point.

Norse Mythology was quite good. Livens up the material from what I studied in high school (back when it was "current events," ha ha haaaa).

[Bebpo]

Finished reading Neal Shusterman's Scythe and uh I think I read almost half the book tonight (maybe 35-40%).

What seemed kinda teen-ish for the first 1/3rd ended up being pretty good by halfway and then ended up being can't put down for the last 1/3rd. Did not expect to like the book as much as I did from the beginning. I think it's a slow starter.

Good book, I think it's a bit short in that once it really picks up there's some time jumps and stuff where interesting/satisfying things could have definitely been expanded, but story and characters are enjoyable and it comes together pretty well.

Still feels YAish, but feels more like a comic book kind of story. Got fucked up bits and violence and stuff but not particularly mature high-brow.

The book is fully self-contained, but there's two sequels so I'll give them a read at some point. If they're like this, they're short one week books so it's no big commitment.

Apparently Universal is making a movie of it. I think it'd work a lot better as a TV season. Also feels like it'll have to be PG-13 which will neuter it so would not expect much there.

[Bebpo]

Gonna read that Norse Mythology Gaiman book as my next audiobook and I'm thinking in terms of book #2 between Skyward, Scythe and First Law I'm gonna go with First Law #2 next since it was the least self-contained and I'm ready to jump back into the story of these characters.

Though I maaaaay start skimming Wheel of Time #1 and just see if it grabs me first. If it doesn't and it seems like a long, slow read, even having watched the TV show covering it, then I'll put it down and get back to it later.

[Bebpo]

Started reading Wheel of Time. Holy fuck this is dense writing. Takes me a while to get through each page and a there's a lot of pages!

It reminds me of why I can't read a lot of classical fiction. I don't enjoy mostly description text novels. I need at least like 50% of each page to be dialogue and enjoy it when it's more like 75%. I don't think Wheel of Time/Robert Jordan prose is for me if the opening of Wheel of Time #1 is anything  to go by, but it's definitely not what I'm looking for right now for something quick.

I'll give it a deeper read chance at some point later on, but putting this away and jumping into First Law #2.

[Madrun Badrun]

Witcher - Baptism of Fire has been super boring so far.  A third of the way through and it's just people walking in the woods, being assholes. 

[benjipwns]

Liked each of these quite a bit, would recommend if you're interested in the underlying topic (how three Progressives approached World War I and America's entrance into it, Nixon's comeback, how the GOP reacted to the Tea Party and Trump):


Up next, some videah and basketball (I think):

[Bebpo]

Almost done listening to the audiobook of Neil Gaiman's 1996 Neverwhere narrated by Gaiman. Pretty lengthy isekai book about London "below" and think it's pretty ehhh. It would be a good book but jesus christ talk about self-sabotaging a tale with the more whiny unlikeable main character possible.

You reminded me that there's a radio play adaption I heard of this back in 2013 with Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, Natalie Dormer and others.

Yeah, I debated whether to listen to the radio play or the novel read by Gaiman. I looked around and people said the radio play was a pretty abridged version so if you want the full book experience the Gaiman version is preferred.

But I just started the radio play adaptation of The Sandman from last year with a whole cast of actors/actresses and am listening to that. Enjoying it. I've read a few short Sandman comics but not a lot of Sandman so this is pretty fresh to me though I guess it'll spoil the HBO adaptation.

[Bebpo]

So I'm actually slowly enjoying The Wheel of Time Book #1. But yeah it's dense and slow and ridiculously long. I read an hour and get through like 25 pages in this. At around 100 pages out of 1,000 after 4 nights. But I am enjoying it, so will stick with it. Probably take me 1-2 months though.

And yeah, this The Sandman audiobook is rad. Enjoying it a lot on drives so far. Excited for the TV adaptation now. Can see how it'll work. Also Taron Egerton does a surprisingly good Constantine. If they ever try another live action movie of that, he'd be great for the role.

[Madrun Badrun]

Started the last Witcher saga book -- don't like where this is heading.  The fourth book was decent though. 

[Potato]

So I'm actually slowly enjoying The Wheel of Time Book #1. But yeah it's dense and slow and ridiculously long. I read an hour and get through like 25 pages in this. At around 100 pages out of 1,000 after 4 nights. But I am enjoying it, so will stick with it. Probably take me 1-2 months though.

And yeah, this The Sandman audiobook is rad. Enjoying it a lot on drives so far. Excited for the TV adaptation now. Can see how it'll work. Also Taron Egerton does a surprisingly good Constantine. If they ever try another live action movie of that, he'd be great for the role.

You're hardly out of the intro. Shit speeds up real quick.

[Bebpo]

Btw, I thought the TV Sandman was going to be HBO good budget show. Didn't realize it's a Netflix show. Ugh, yeah don't have high hopes for it. Saw they couldn't get Constantine because of rights issue.

[Madrun Badrun]

Double posting this cause I liked it so much

https://twitter.com/scottlynch78/status/1479059079284801537

[Madrun Badrun]

Finished the Witcher saga books -- not great.  The last book had high points but overall felt contrived and only some of the subversions he was going for really hit.  There was also a lot of stuff that should have been established in the prior 4 books.

[Bebpo]

Wheel of Time #1 is ok. About 1/3rd through it. It's very different from the TV show and I'm glad because for such a long book I think it would be boring just reading a novelization of the show. Pretty different events happen and party makeup is different with the Gleeman. Kind of a shame the Gleeman wasn't part of the main party in the show since I thought he was the best actor in S1 and would've helped carry the party.

That said, I still don't know if I like any of these characters. The whole dynamic of the kids not trusting Morraine/Lan just makes the whole party dynamic tedious. Also the pacing sometimes goes quick and then sometimes slogs and is a bit dull. I'll get through like 100 pages some nights and like 15 pages other nights.

The world is way more fleshed out and the book is already so much better than the TV adaptation. But yeah, while it's readable, I can't say I like the story at this point. And the thought of 12 more giant books of this length like this is not very appealing. But will finish this one out and see if it grows on me any further.

[chronovore]

Eddings was very likely the inspiration for the phrase "extrude fantasy product." There's a lot of walking and eating and singing in LOTR, but it still tells an epic story over its three volumes. Eddings taking four times that for WoT is just milking a not particularly enthused cow.

[Potato]

Eddings?

[benjipwns]

I liked this. Not too informative about the gaming industry, especially for most people here. But the stories are fun.

Some tidbits:
-Ubisoft bought Massive because Yves looked at their Metacritic score for World in Conflict, 91, and decided they must be talented.
-Far Cry 3 originally started as a more direct sequel to Far Cry 2, but it got stuck and people left, so it was rebooted into what became Far Cry 3.
-The Division started development all the way back in 2009.
-Massive won the Avatar 2 contract in part because the competing studio head tried to get the producers to celebrate with him and a whole bunch of cocaine!

[chronovore]

Eddings?

Fuck. I'm like zero for three right now on the Bire.

FINE. Robert Fucking Jordan. Somehow, SOMEHOW I got Wheel of Time mixed up with the Belgariad. Unthinkable, really, because there's so little they share in common with each other.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Honestly, mea culpa.

[close]

[Potato]

Either way, I wouldn't call Jordan extruded fantasy product. Unnecessarily verbose and in need of an editor, but that's not really the same thing.

I haven't read enough of eddings to comment there, but what I did read was very decent and not generic fantasy product at all.

[Madrun Badrun]

I Started Wheel of Time (on audiobook while I crochett).  Never had any interest in them till the TV.

[Potato]

It is a product of its time being that it was first published in the 1990 when heroic grand fantasy was all the rage and copying Tolkien was just what you did. However, there is a real progression across the decades and overall it is one of the biggest achievements in modern fantasy.

[Bebpo]

Feels like a Baldur's Gate book with all these town stops and traveling at the midway.

[Bebpo]

Also, it took like 500 pages but finally starting to enjoy the point of view characters in Wheel of Time #1. Everyone in the book and the TV seasons are just so whiny, dumb and unlikeable it really makes it hard to get invested.

The main problem is every single character in this book basically has the mindset of "I don't want to be involved in this, I am going to be a dick to everyone, I just want to go home and be over all this" outside Morraine/Lan who get way less screentime in the book than the TV show.

But the characters are getting a bit better finally. The Wolf stuff with Perrin is handled so much better in the book than the TV season.

[Madrun Badrun]

On chapter 14 -- this is a lot more ripped from LOTR than the TV show made it to be.  We are still in escape from the Shire mode. 

[Bebpo]

It definitely has the small group on the run from supernatural forces Fellowship of the Ring structure, though otherwise I don't get a lot of LoTR vibes from WoT. But I haven't read LoTR, only watched the movies so WoT reminds me more of D&D campaigns.

And a bit of Pillars of Eternity, which obviously borrowed the wheel concept.

[Potato]

Also, it took like 500 pages but finally starting to enjoy the point of view characters in Wheel of Time #1. Everyone in the book and the TV seasons are just so whiny, dumb and unlikeable it really makes it hard to get invested.

The main problem is every single character in this book basically has the mindset of "I don't want to be involved in this, I am going to be a dick to everyone, I just want to go home and be over all this" outside Morraine/Lan who get way less screentime in the book than the TV show.

But the characters are getting a bit better finally. The Wolf stuff with Perrin is handled so much better in the book than the TV season.

They are teenagers, so it's kind of realistic in that sense.

On chapter 14 -- this is a lot more ripped from LOTR than the TV show made it to be.  We are still in escape from the Shire mode. 

Jordan said he intentionally wanted the opening to mirror LotR so people felt comfortable. It definitely breaks the shackles of that comparison by the end of the first book though.

[Bebpo]

I like this bit where

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Rand and Mat use their gleeman skills of flute playing and juggling that they learned to help them get rooms and food along the way as they travel.

The TV show should've kept this, makes their journey/characters more likeable. But then they also should've had more gleeman to lead to it.

[close]

[Madrun Badrun]

20 chapters in and I now have a single completed shitty slipper for my right foot. 

[Bebpo]

40 chapters in and I'm surprised what a different story this is than the TV show. That was definitely an adaptation.

Though now that I'm getting closer to the end, I'm surprised how much of the remaining TV show is left to be covered. I heard some of the show is pulled from book 2 and I can see that now as it feels like some huge chunks are left with not enough book to cover them.

I really think it was a poor decision to ditch

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Mat and Rands journey from town to town towards Camelyn. Felt like a proper journey and was finally the part to start getting invested in these characters.

Likewise, ditching Elyas and the full length Perrin/wolves sequence which was good and developing him for a bunch of tinkers time seems like a dumb decision.

It's also interesting how in the book the kids don't know what's really going on the whole time, whereas in the show they tell them right away that one of them is the dragon. Pretty major change.

[close]

Generally I think the plot choices and flow is much better in the book's story. I probably would've been more positive on the book if the show hadn't created a version of this that wasn't so good.

20 chapters in and I now have a single completed shitty slipper for my right foot.

I don't understand this phrase at all.

[Potato]

In the day and age of 10 episode seasons and shows rarely getting more than 4-5 season runs, it was a crazy decision to try to adapt a 14 book series.

Even if it's successful, I can't see it managing to get to the end satisfactorily.

[Madrun Badrun]

20 chapters in and I now have a single completed shitty slipper for my right foot.

I don't understand this phrase at all.

Took me 2/5ths of the book to crochet a poorly done slipper

[Bebpo]

In the day and age of 10 episode seasons and shows rarely getting more than 4-5 season runs, it was a crazy decision to try to adapt a 14 book series.

Even if it's successful, I can't see it managing to get to the end satisfactorily.

Even then the show was only 8eps.

[Bebpo]

20 chapters in and I now have a single completed shitty slipper for my right foot.

I don't understand this phrase at all.

Took me 2/5ths of the book to crochet a poorly done slipper

What does that say about the book?

[Madrun Badrun]

That it is 2.5 slippers long.   

I am enjoying Perrin and wolf stuff a lot more in the book, but at chapter 30, the tv has been a pretty good adaptation so far.   

[Bebpo]

Ok this scene in wheel of time with

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Rand falling into the queen’s garden and meeting the prince and princess and being brought before the queen and her aes sedai in interrogation while the guards are all freaked out.

[close]

Is a better sequence than almost anything in the TV show. Why did they cut that?

Also the book constantly makes a big deal about the Heron-marked sword, but the show mentions it like once and no one even remarks about Rand’s sword the entire season no matter where they go. It’s such a weird difference.

I guess maybe the TV show changes make more sense in the scope of the entire 14 book story, but just as a single book adaptation the differences are so bizarre. Like the first half of book #1 is mostly straightforward adaptation but the back half is a completely different journey.

[Madrun Badrun]

Chapter 33

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The foreshadowing of touching the one power then getting a fever was set up pretty well to show that Rand is chosen one without saying it

[close]

[Bebpo]

Yeah, I thought the same.

Generally the flow of the story is just handled differently. In the book it's a mystery of why The Dark One wants Rand and slowly things like that start to give hints at what's going on and why Rand is special which leads to the end.

This is also handled because Rand is the main character and the only other major viewpoint character is Perrin in the book.

Whereas the show makes Morraine the main character and focuses on her and the Aes Sedai and Rand/Perrin/Mat/Egwene/Naivene are all just kind of supporting side characters with minimal importance/development until like the last ep where Rand suddenly just exclaims "Its me!" and then becomes the main character for an episode.

I mean I'm not gonna say the book is amazing or that the show is a travesty. But just in terms of storytelling the book structure makes a lot more sense and flows much better in a traditional storytelling way and as the book goes along I'm more interested and invested in Rand and Perrin, whereas in the show I was never interested in any of the characters outside Morraine because the show never gave a reason to be.

Ironically in the book, Morraine is one of the least invested characters because she gets so little screentime and is kept purposely at a vague distance since the point of views are from the others. She's much more developed in the show.

I'm not a big fan of Jordan's writing style. It just lacks the fun and flavor of other authors I enjoy like Sanderson, King, Gaiman, Abercrombie. It reads more like a book I'd read in Jr. High/High School English class and mostly dry and straight-forward. But the book has gotten interesting enough and started to develop the cast and world building enough that I think I'll read book 2 sometime this year.

[Bebpo]

Finished The Sandman: Act 1 audiobook which adapts issues #1-20 of the comic. Was good, but honestly I started losing interest after a while when the series transitions from being about Dream and The Endless to being little episodic tales where Dream or Death shows up for like a scene here or there. Especially since McAvoy and Dennings kill it in the respective roles.

I'm gonna assume Act 2 will adapt issues #21-40 and that they'll do an Act 3 & Act 4 eventually covering the full 77 issue run of the graphic novels. Will be down to listen to it all assuming it doesn't go totally downhill, but definitely need a breather before Act 2. Act 1 was like 13 hours or something.

*edit* Yeah, googled it and Act 2 and Act 3 were greenlit together. So pretty sure they will do the whole run of the GN.

Going to listen to Gaiman's Norse Mythologies book next. It's really short, only 6.5 hours for the audiobook so probably listen to a couple more books before diving back into The Sandman. Was going to listen to Terry Pratchett's Mort but the reviews of the audiobook from decades ago aren't super great and I listened to some samples and didn't enjoy the reader so will just read that one. After Norse Mythologies I'm out of audiobooks so I'll need to find some new ones.

[Madrun Badrun]

At chapter 48 -- feel like a lot of the changes to the TV show were to hid how much of a LOTR rip-off this book is.  Don't know why they cut the princess scene though. 

The audio book version is really nice though.  It's also a super easy book to listen to given the writing style.

[Bebpo]

The audio book version is really nice though.  It's also a super easy book to listen to given the writing style.

It's also thirty hours long 

So far every audiobook I've listened to has been between 7-13 hours long. The 13 hours long ones feel pretty lengthy and take me a few weeks with my drives. I can't imagine listening to a 30 hour audiobook even if it takes just as long to read. I guess if you have like 1-2 hours of commuting daily that kind of book is no problem with an audiobook, but I just have like 15-30 min drives around town usually.

[Bebpo]

Also can you describe how WoT is like LoTR? I guess I'm really not a big LoTR fan since I've just seen the movies, but WoT doesn't feel particularly LoTR to me other than Two Rivers people being sorta maybe like Hobbits but really just super rural farm people.

[chronovore]

An ancient, long-thought-defeated enemy is moving again, gaining power.
The governments of established civilization are happy with the status quo, and either don't believe or are unwilling to act in unison due to distrust.
Despite this, keepers of arcane insight or wisdom lead a search for a means to combat the evil, which involves a miniscule force of average people who are in the wrong place at the right time.
The wizard is a pain in the ass.

[Bebpo]

I mean to be fair that's all super generic these days and vague enough that dozens of other stories fit that as well.
I guess I just don't identify that story premise as LoTR, but I guess LoTR was the forerunner that started stories following that concept?

[Potato]

Like I said, Jordan was open about how he tried to maintain a familiar LotR-type vibe to the early story beats so that readers felt comfortable.

It certainly doesn't stay that way for long.

[Madrun Badrun]

Also can you describe how WoT is like LoTR?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

0) Two Rivers kids are the hobbits
1) Escape from the shire
2) Moiraine == Gandalf
3) Lan == Aragorn (king without a kingdom)
4) Padan Fain == Golum (stalking around, a compulsion he doesn't want, gandalf has sympathy for)
5) Ogeres == Ents (slow to do things, nature lovers)
6) Fades == Nazaguuls
7) Shadar Logoth/The way == Moria (bridges, lurking evil)
The Blight == Mordor
9) Fal Dara == Gondor, with the Seven Towers being Osgiliath
10) Cursed dagger == Frodo getting stabbed + ring madness
11) Then the whole structure is a travellog to get to mount doom

[close]

It's mostly a bunch of small things that by themselves don't feel like a rip-off but all together do.  Like anyone of those points, you can say well sure this part is the same but this part is changed, but then there are so many of them, that the overall book does not feel original.  Eye of the World was basically just the LOTRs greatest hits played out with different characters.  I looked online and I guess the next two books are where it starts to feel like its own story.  There are things that don't fit in LOTRs like the Children of the Light, but given fantasy now that also doesn't feel novel, though it may be for the time.

I'm continuing on with the audiobooks.  Think the high quality narration makes a lot of my issues a lot more tolerable for me. 

[Bebpo]

Quick question though Madrun. You say the TV show changes were to move away from feeling like a LoTR clone. But isn't like every single thing in your list in the TV show as well?

I didn't really have a dog in this fight since I didn't hate or love the TV show and just thought it was kinda a so-so season. And I was pretty negative on the first 400 pages of book #1 which was pretty much the same thing. But the back half of book #1 has really soured me on the TV show. Sure I haven't seen the bigger picture across the future books that they took into consideration when writing the TV show, which may be why, but it just feels like a bunch of stupid changes to take a good book (which at this point 100 pages out from finishing it, I agree book #1 is a good book) and make it a so-so TV show.

Out of all the book/film adaptations of recent in the fantasy genre where I've read and watched both, WoT adaptation feels way worse than American Gods which I already thought made way too many changes, but it's better than The Dark Tower adaptation at least.

It feels like Season 5 of Game of Thrones when it started heavily diverging from the source material with Dorne.

I'll be reading book #2, but I'm out on the TV show after reading this. Plus the TV show will keep pulling stuff from later books and don't want to be spoiled. Maybe if I actually read the whole series over like 5 years then I'll watch the rest of the TV show if it's any good and doesn't get cancelled.

I'm kind of annoyed that Sanderson is an executive producer and had some involvement in the TV show though he's stated that he didn't make the plot/script decisions and he disagrees with some of the changes. Mostly because I'd like to think once they start doing TV shows/films of Sanderson's library of works that he'll keep the adaptations on track. Really seems like Mistborn #1 and Skyward #1 are gonna be the first film adaptations of his stuff though I can't see them working outside being cheesy YA stuff that falls through the cracks and never gets a sequel.

I definitely fear for Stormlight Archives getting a TV adaptation that's like WoT TV. Would be depressing. The magic effects in WoT are like CW quality and Stormlight's opening with wall running and gravity shifts and stuff would be similar unless someone like HBO does it, which they won't because Stormlight isn't HBO big.

[Madrun Badrun]

Yes but it's more of how it's focused on those things.  Like by focusing on Moirane we get Gandolf's POV which we didn't get in LOTR, so it might be the same material but its presented differently.  Padan Fain isn't presented in the show as being some half-crazed Golum.  Lan's background didn't get a full episode, where the book it felt like 40 minutes of exposition.  I only really question the abruptness of the ending of the TV show, Perrin and Tom not being as developed, and missing out on the princess scene.  Otherwise, I think I liked a lot of the changes.  Nynaeve was developed better, Logan was done better,  Matt being sick was better, the plotting was more tolerable.  I think both the tv show and the book were solid 6/10 things.

Speaking of exposition, Jordan will use any excuse to go on and on.  A very non-spoiler thing from the second book:

 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Trollics vandalize a wall by writing in blood and when they translate the writing it's like a 10 page long exposition
Like I'm imagining it's like 12 point font just covering an entire room.
 

[close]

   

[Bebpo]

I mean instead Padan Fang basically isn't in the show outside like 2 moments. His character makes more sense in the book.

Logain stuff was idk. I liked some of it in the TV show. Like the initial introduction where he takes a castle and the scene where he frees himself. But otherwise that and all the Aes Sedai/warder stuff (which I assume is pulled from book #2) just dragged the TV show. The scene in the TV show about the warder and his funeral was incredibly boring/uninteresting and not what the show needed at that point. I was like why should I care about some warder guy who isn't Lan?

Essentially when you take out the non-Book 1 content eps, they tried doing Book 1, which is almost 900 pages, in like 6 eps, so you get a super rushed truncated version with almost no development.

Mat is equally annoying in both. Hated him in the show, dislike him in the book. Nynaeve has more development in the show, but I disliked her in the show because she was just always being a pain in the ass. In the book she's so much more tolerable as a character. So even though she got more stuff in the show, I feel like the show made her worse and very unlikeable.

Lan is better in the show though. Feels like he has more scenes and development.

Also I think replacing Camelyn with Tar Varon in the show was a really bad choice. Instead if they'd spent more time with Tom and lead that into the Queen's Blessing in and the town politics and the queen/princess stuff and reunion, it'd have been a much better choice. I thought Camelyn is where the book came together.