More Ponderings on WoT

I am still plowing away at Fires of Heaven during my commute. I am still having mixed feelings about it. As I have considered and refined my complaints about Jordan's style and WoT in general, I have finally latched on to my major peeve against both - Jordan is willing to sacrifice the integrity (insert believability or realism or whatever term you use for when a fictional character does something that rings false and lame for some purpose of the author) in order to make repeated and repetitive man/woman jokes. Characters that should be extremely compelling drop into the droning voice of a old joke, one that Jordan never ever seems to grow weary of. I'd offer to cite examples, but if you can't open a WoT book and see what I mean in five pages or less I'll give you a nickel. You'd have to come get it from me though, because I'm just not going to buy a stamp to send you a nickel. Assuming you can even find a five page stretch in 15,000 that he probably has written for this. That is issue one.

Issue two is this - too many chiefs and not enough Indians. In the world of WoT, everyone who grows older seems to keep amassing knowledge and power whether queens or chambermaids. I recognize that this is a fantasy story, but fantasy or not most people don't shed their sheepness no matter how old they get. Their situations get more pitiful as they are shoved or dragged by the people that are really like every other character in WoT. People don't bow to cranky older people, generally. I'd say Martin does a far better job of showing what happens when more than one person thinks they are in charge, and it isn't ganging up on youngsters. I consider it another attack on the back bone of good fiction - characterization.

R.

Posing a Question

In years past I read many of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books, before boycotting them until he should die or finish the series, whichever comes first. Due to the limited audio books on CD available to me, I have rescinded my vow and am currently listening to Fires of Heaven (the fifth book in the series, disregarding the prequels). I find that I have a thousand-thousand gripes about these books. I recognize that as one who has never published more than a 2nd place story online I don't have much right to criticize a best selling series like WoT, but I am going to. Or maybe I won't. I know that there are many among the five or six people who read my blog that are fans of this series. Can you tell me why? What is it about WoT that makes it worth sifting through a hundred flat supporting characters, repetitive obnoxious hypocritical arguments (think Nyneave and Egwene in the dream world when they are snooping about the Tower), and a main cast made up of stereo types and extreme anti-stereo types? I find myself anxious to listen in spite of being frustrated by the character issues. That is the bulk of my complaint - certainly I can't fault his back story, his linguistics, his plotting (even if it is a bit loose for my taste), or the world of WoT. When I consider his characters next to those from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn or Song of Ice and Fire, they seem to me to be pathetic punchlines in a too long joke. So, hopefully without being too critical of my criticism, what do you like about WoT?

R.

Back to Back Austen

I really thought that after enjoying Persuasion so much that Pride and Prejudice might not do that much for me. After all, I loved the movie, and I still liked Persuasion better. I found, however, that the book was more enjoyable than the movie or Persuasion. The characters are so enjoyable, and I love Austen's sense of prose. I took it as a good sign for the movie that I pictured the cast all through listening to the book in spite of a few changes that were made, notably Mr. Collins. My favorite line from the book did not make it into the movie, though in my mind I could see Donald Sutherland saying it:

"I enjoy all my three sons-in-law. Mr. Wicham is my favorite, but I shall enjoy your husband every bit as much as Jane's." Spoken to Elizabeth by Mr. Bennett, and badly paraphrased by Riotimus. That's the way it goes sometimes.

There have been many a book and doctorate published interpreting and analysing P & P, and I encourage all interested parties to check them out, but I think it sufficeth me to say that I loved it and would recommend it to anyone. Write on.

R.

Teamwork - It's More than just a Word

Those of you who know me understand me already for the goose-stepping company man who makes his daily commute with a smile on his face. In spite of that quality of mine, I sometimes find myself thinking of the large framed poster above the stair landing at work. It has an inspiring little message about teamwork under a picture of a section of the Great Wall of China, a man-made landmark that can be seen from outer space by the naked eye - built and improved for thousands of years by slave labor. Does anyone but me sense some incongruity here? I understand that the poster is supposed to catch up the viewer in the majesty of the image and cause him to think, "Wow! If we work together we could turn [this company] (or whatever) into an monument of unimagined proportions." Well, lets bust out the cat-o-nine tails and see who doesn't want to be a part of the team. Who in sieg hail would pay money for that, much less hang it for their, um, workers(?) to see? I've gone on about it as if it really upsets me, but it doesn't. The people who see that poster everyday probably don't know enough about history to know that they are being jacked with, so everyone is happy, motivated, and enjoying the cool picture of the Great Wall hanging above the landing. As for me, I've finished another semester - still waiting back on the results of that - and I've finished some more audio-books on my commute. I will be posting my thoughts on them soon. As far behind as I am on my posts, I may just do one post that addresses all of them, but I might not. They all certainly deserve their own post. So look for that soon, and write on.

R.