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GeekNights Book Club - The Eye of the World

MrPeriodMrPeriod
in GeekNights

Tonight on the GeekNights Book Club we discuss the first book in Robert Jordan's famous epic fantasy series "The Wheel of Time" entitled "The Eye of the World." There is no news in this episode since we pushed it out in a hurry before Rym went on a business trip.

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  • AprecheApreche
    Yep, this is where we are at. Posting the book club selection on the web site at the same time as the episode.
  • Dazzle369Dazzle369
    An old video, but dude has his face in the road. All the wowness

  • RymRym
    I'm wading into book 5 shortly...
  • UncleUltyUncleUlty
    I've said it before, but I'm so pleased that you're digging the Wheel of Time enough that you're continuing to follow them.

    (I actually read the Count of Monte Cristo right after Scott announced WoT as his book club choice, because I figured you would pull out the big guns next, based on your initial reaction.)

    Please keep commenting on your evolving thoughts and ideas about the various characters, the world, and the plot. I love living vicariously through people who are reading and enjoying these books for the first time.

    Hopefully your opinion of Mat has changed since the frothing rage early on, now that he was finally able to come into his own. Mat was easily my favorite character by book 3. And book 5 is where he finishes leveling up, establishing the last of the important traits that set him apart from Rand and Perrin.

    And I know you said you aren't a fan of Nynaeve right now. I wasn't at first either, but ride out her story arc and see how you feel as the character evolves. The same holds true for most of the young characters who mature at their own pace.
  • RymRym
    Mat still needs to shut the fuck up. Gotta be a dick to the snake people... twice... Just shut up. Listen to people. Stop talking.
  • AprecheApreche
    Rym said:

    Mat still needs to shut the fuck up. Gotta be a dick to the snake people... twice... Just shut up. Listen to people. Stop talking.

    Seriously.

    I do like how they added that second "terrible secret of space". It's like, you've already let so many secrets of space mostly out of the bag. The ones that aren't out of the bag are so captain obvious, like elephants and probably dragons in some walled off land on the other side of the waste. I just need to know if that place is Seanchan or yet another new place.

    The big secret I really care about are the snake people and the evil people beyond the two red portal thingies. I know they are somehow related to that weird tower that Perrin saw, but didn't enter.

    I also hope that every time they reveal a terrible secret, we get a new one. I'm hoping for actual space. Prince of Nothing gets involved in space a lot, Nail of Heaven and all. We don't know anything astronomical about the Wheel of Time world other than that there is one, presumably, earth-like sun. Has a moon even been mentioned?
  • RymRym
    The tech level of the Dragon's era was definitely space territory.

    My new headcanon is that the Incû-Holoinas in the Prince of Nothing is the Forsaken having fled their own world.
  • UncleUltyUncleUlty
    Well I'll point out one clue from Book 4 - I think it was the same scene that contained the elephant skeletons. I'm certain you can draw some conclusions about the world from this.

    "[She saw] A silvery thing in another cabinet, like a three-pointed star inside a circle, was made of no substance she knew; it was softer than metal, scratched and gouged, yet even older than any of the ancient bones. From ten paces she could sense pride and vanity."

    Does that sound familiar at all?

    image
  • AprecheApreche
    edited October 2015
    lol. so cliche.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    I am begun.
  • theknoxinatortheknoxinator
    I intend to restart this series in the next month or two. I made it through book 7 a few years back, but stopped when I lost access to the books (my sister had the whole series but she moved to Portland). Just have a few other books I need to finish first, then I will go start again with the eBooks. My thoughts on it are pretty much the same as Scrym's, but they seem to dislike Mat a lot more than I did. I got way more annoyed with the ladies as the series went on.
  • RymRym
    The only people who annoy me are the people who:

    1. Don't listen to the competent adults around them
    2. Keep talking when they need to shut the fuck up

    Mat just shouts down the dragon people, ignores what they're saying, and is basically a dick to them.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    I am finished. I didn't finish the book, but I am finished with the series. After about 4 chapters I decided I would use the Audible returns service for the first time ever, and get a credit back to spend on another audiobook.

    Life is too short.
  • AprecheApreche
    Luke Burrage said:

    I am finished. I didn't finish the book, but I am finished with the series. After about 4 chapters I decided I would use the Audible returns service for the first time ever, and get a credit back to spend on another audiobook.

    Life is too short.

    Which book did you stop on?
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    One. Some trolls turned up, and Rand ran out the window, and I asked for my money back.

    It took me over a week to get through the first two hours of the audiobook. There was another 28 hours of audiobook to go. In book one. Of 14 books.
  • AprecheApreche
    edited October 2015
    Luke Burrage said:

    One. Some trolls turned up, and Rand ran out the window, and I asked for my money back.

    It took me over a week to get through the first two hours of the audiobook. There was another 28 hours of audiobook to go. In book one. Of 14 books.

    That is ridiculously early on in book 1. How slowly were they reading this audiobook? Holy shit.

    Also, I hope they paid the people reading that audiobook a fuckton of money. How long is it in total? All the audiobooks combined could take as long to listen to as all of GeekNights.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    I usually listen to audiobooks before I go to sleep. It typically takes me 30 minutes or so to fall asleep either reading an ebook or listening to an audiobook. With Wheel of Time I was falling asleep within maybe two minutes.

    I'm used to long audiobooks. It's not so much the length, but the pacing. I couldn't see 28 more hours of this book in my future, let alone 13 more novels.
  • SuperPichuSuperPichu
    Luke Burrage said:

    With Wheel of Time I was falling asleep within maybe two minutes.

    That sounds useful
  • InvaderRENInvaderREN
    I just grabbed all 14 off Audio Book Bay and I can confirm the first 3 books are 18 hours each. Read at a fairly brisk pace, by a male and a female reader.

    I mowed out the first 3 books in 6 weeks, seems a good pace.

    I have an audible account and just checked, yikes, 30 hours for book 1? WTF...

    I think I'll stick to these ABB copies and save my creds for sci fi :-)
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    18 hours seems the right length for an abridged version.
  • InvaderRENInvaderREN
    edited November 2015
    Nope, they are unabridged. I've been reading the chapter summaries afterwards, for fun.

    18 hours is a meaty book. I have no idea why the audible ones are 30. Thats insane.

    Edit: My apologies. I listen to audiobooks on 1.5 speed or 1.25 if its quite wordy. My player has calculated total time remaining based on the speed. So my 18 hour book is probably a 26 hour book.

    Big books!

    But honestly, 1.5 speed is fine. They are more about a sweeping story as opposed to fine detail. Just keep it flowing.
    Post edited by InvaderREN on
  • RymRym
    I couldn't listen to those books. I read fast. People talk slowly. There's nothing special about the prose or dialog, so there's no reason to drag it out.
  • InvaderRENInvaderREN
    Rym said:

    I couldn't listen to those books. I read fast. People talk slowly. There's nothing special about the prose or dialog, so there's no reason to drag it out.

    How long does it take to read them? On average?

    Lol maybe ill bump speed up to 2x. Such prose. So sweeping. No detail.

  • RymRym
    I burned through the first four in a couple months of idle reading.
  • InvaderRENInvaderREN
    Similar pace, but maybe you spent less total time. I'm happy with my 18 hours apiece.

    Starting book 5 today! I would love a mini update of your impressions at some point. End of book 6 is generally considered the end of the first 'act'. Or where the pace starts to slow.
  • RymRym
    Honestly, these books would be torture in audiobook form.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    To get through Ready Player One I skipped loads. I would read the first few words of every fifth paragraph, until it seemed the story was getting somewhere. That was with a paper book though. It's not really possible with an audiobook.
  • MATATATMATATAT
    edited November 2015
    I was thinking of getting one of these in audiobook form since I am gonna have a drive commute for ~9 months. But... yeah dunno if it's worth it. I honestly have very little interest in even reading this book.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • InvaderRENInvaderREN
    Maybe I break glass and press 2x speed. I think my brain can take it.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    There are many, many, many, many, many better fantasy books and series to listen to as audiobooks.
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