A lot of people read the Wheel of Time series of books, by Mr Robert Jordan. I, myself, grew bored with them about 4 books into it. And that was back in the early 1990s. Still, some people I know have “stuck with it” and “struggled on” and so forth, just to see the end of it. I can appreciate that kind of effort – I myself read every single Thomas Covenant book, cover to cover, just so I could have a firm foundation to stand on when I told people how utterly they sucked[1]. But I wouldn’t do it again – life is too short to read crappy books.
But anyway, good for you, people who’ve waded through 11 Wheel of Time books with new characters every few pages and plot lines prettily dangling all about the place like celebratory streamers!
Book 12 is the last one, and what are the odds that the author is going to croak mid-way-through his _last_ book? Narrative convenience wouldn’t allow it!
Well. Turns out kindly mother nature has little truck with narrative convenience, and Robert Jordan has indeed died, with book 12 of The Wheel of Time unfinished.
I’m sad because an author has passed … and yet I also have to phone some people and snigger a bit, so if you’ll excuse me….
[1] Pretty damn utterly.
September 17, 2007 at 5:28 am
I’ve always prided myself on never having read any of RJ’s work 🙂
September 17, 2007 at 6:31 am
So, who says the universe doesn’t have a sense of humour? But not to worry, I’m sure they could get John Jakes or L. Sprague de Camp or some other quality author to finish it off. And write another half a dozen.
September 17, 2007 at 8:14 am
There be manic laughing! I gave up at 5, but I think I’ve managed to read up to 8 or 9… so many, so much, and the angst!
Another outcome, he won’t be writing any more Conan novels either, or revisiting The Land of the Living (a book of his where the only redeeming feature is a scene where H.P.Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (the creator of Conan BTW) are traveling in the afterlife together and they encounter a demon. Howard, a big burly Texan, fails his San check and gibbers, Lovelace, having seen it all before grabs the gun and goes blows it to beejus ranting about how his life was ruined with visions of these things and he’s not about to have them fuck up his afterlife. Howard is from thereon his Bitch.)
I too have read all the Thomas Covenant books, and Battlefield Earth, but then I cut my teeth on Tom Swift and Choose Your own Adventure books.
His wikipedia entry says he died of complications from amyloidosis, so the bastard _knew_ he was going to croak. 🙂
September 17, 2007 at 8:32 am
You, sir, are a true gentleman.
Of course, there is absolutely NO chance in hell that his publishers won’t pay some knock-off hack to finish the last one for them, as a ‘tribute’.
And why, we ask ourselves, shouldn’t that hack be you?
September 17, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Awww Chris is going to be pissed!
September 17, 2007 at 10:42 pm
I have books 1-7 or 8 but never made it past book 5. I thought the first one was good, and kept reading to recapture that and gave up the ghost.
Sad that he has died tho