11-29-2003, 09:07 AM | #1 (permalink) |
Addict
Location: Texas
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New Spring, the novel, or How I learned to stop worrying and give up on WoT
When I was a young lad, I read a lot of comic books. Then, one day, I picked up a Conan novel, because it had a naked woman on the cover. I found that the best Conan books were written by some guy named Robert Jordan, and then, as I was buying a newly found copy of Conan the Victorious, some guy in line behind me handed me a copy of Eye of the World, and said "If you like that kid, you'll love this" Not having been jaded yet to random book suggestions, I snapped it up immediately, and thus, my love affair with reading was born.
Just a little explanation of how I view the WoT series, and what it's meant to me. To bring us to the present, at the book store the other day, I saw a poster for New Spring. Amazed that the new novel came out in under three years this time, I got very excited, until something started nagging at my brain, "Wasn't that one of the titles they used when they split Eye of the World up for young readers?" That sounded right, so I asked the lady, and as bookstore ladies are often found, found her clueless to what I was talking about, and how dare I question the poster, which clearly said "The new WoT book" or some such. New Spring, is, if you haven't remembered yet, the short story that appeared in the compilation Legends (a wonderful gathering of fantasy stories in and of itself). It was, without a doubt, now that I've remembered it, a really damn good WoT story. Set before Eye of the World, it was a prequel story. And now, with the series in limbo, Jordan has elected to spend the time to expand this short story to novel length (and judging from the price, a short novel at that), instead of working to finish the initial series. His reasons for doing this hardly matter. Whether it's the money, or he just has become caught up in the history of the series more than the present, I'd say that this heralds more prequel novels to come before the vangaurd series is over. I'm fully expecting to see "Hawkwings Flight" or "Tales of Tear" now, and I'm not happy about it. I've stuck through the problems we've all had, I've been a loyal fan, but now I've been pushed too far. I'm sure I'll buy New Spring soon after it comes out, and probably all the following Jordan offerings after that. But, even if New Spring heralds a return of his glory days of writting, I doubt I'll ever be eagerly awaiting for a year or more the next Jordan book. I won't get antsy in the home stretch the month before a release date, dying to get my hands on the new one. Maybe Lucas is to blame, for giving the word "prequel" a bad taste in my head. Maybe I'm caught up in the convention that to tell a prequel, you've got to have a whole story first. I don't know. New Spring mods, I know there are several Jordan/WoT threads out there, but since this is dealing with a specific book and it's ramifications, I thought a new thread was in order. Move if needed.
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11-30-2003, 10:38 PM | #3 (permalink) |
Tilted
Location: Florida
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It's funny, if you look at the older printings of the first book it says it's a trilogy.
This man is going to keep writing these damn things until the day he dies, then a book is going to be released that says "Rand wins, all the bad guys die, everyone else lives happily ever after. The End" Oh, and I'll buy New Spring, just because I like doing that kind of stuff to myself. Last edited by Distraction; 11-30-2003 at 10:40 PM.. |
12-01-2003, 01:29 PM | #4 (permalink) |
Swashbuckling
Location: Iowa...sometimes
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Yeah.........
Im not sure how I feel about this I just hope he finishes the series before he dies, then he can write all the prequels he wants. I also heard that Wheel of Time prequel novels 2 and 3 are to released in January 2005 and January 2006, respectively.
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Watch More TV Last edited by BuddyHawks; 12-01-2003 at 01:34 PM.. |
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give, learned, novel, spring, stop, worrying, wot |
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