Comment on Wheel of Time - for both the book and show fans
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 5 days agoYeah, it can be brutal.
When I started reading it, it was like three or four books in. So I’d reread everything as each book came out. By about book 7ish, that was becoming a major undertaking, and I can read most books in a day. Not WOT though, that’s a three day commitment even if I wasn’t working. They’re long and detailed.
Since the last book came out, I’ve re-read the entire series once. I sometimes think about doing it again and the answer in my brain keeps saying “naaaaah, dawg, maybe later” lol.
The series is definitely worth reading end to end at least once though, and the first three are relatively easy to zip through.
If it was me, I’d go look for one one the synopsis sites or whatever and play catchup that way instead, or read the first few and switch to a synopsis or timeline for the rest.
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 5 days ago
Surely at this point some diehard fan has put together an abridged version? If One Pace can exist surely Wheel of Time Saving can? I’d like to read that one to be honest.
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
Tbh, part of what makes it so heavily loved is the details. It’s a masterpiece of world building. So fans tend to react poorly to the idea of anyone messing with it.
Then there’s the fact that the estate ight abstracted. It’s still the people that loved him and lived with him. So they won’t likely allow it to stay up long, so it would be something that would have to be distributed peer to peer. That’s fine for what it is, but it makes it more niche than it otherwise would be.
I’m not even sure how it would be done without gutting it to the point it’s a different story. You can kinda synopsize parts of it and save space/time, but it would only reduce the overall size by about a single book because there’s so many of those side scenes that would still need to be addressed, you can’t just entirely cut them.
After I started writing, which was before the last two, I had a fresh perspective on editing. So I was looking for bits that might be rearranged or shifted or reduced. There’s definitely stuff in there that could be condensed. The problem would be doing so without wrecking that distinctive Jordan voice. You’d essentially be rewriting entire chapters, and even Sanderson with all the notes and guidance still didn’t perfect that voice
A fan cut? I’m dubious. A cliff’s notes would be better, imo. That at least doesn’t mangle the good parts in the name of brevity