I just finished reading Robert Jordan’s Knife of Dreams, which is Book 11 of The Wheel of Time. Each book ranges somewhere between 650-1000 pages in length, so I’ve effectively read somewhere in the range of 7000 to 10000 pages of this series, and it’s time for it to end already. I like the story, I like the characters, but all the smaller characters keep swelling into these larger story lines and we only get a glimpse here and there of the main character, Rand, in each book. I mean, if this is all leading up to the finale, book #12, then great, but if Jordan is planning on cranking out 10 more of these, then I’m going to give up on this series soon. I mean what if Jordan, God forbid, dies? Then I’m left with a lot of words in my head and no ending. No thanks. Finish this series as soon as you can, and then either begin a prequel series in the same world or another series in the distant / not-so-distant future of this series that looks back on what happened in this series.

As an aside, people who discover that I read Fantasy books like Knife of Dreams, often comment on my advanced degrees in literature and raise an eyebrow and sometimes look down their noses ever so slightly at me. Here’s the thing: when you are trained for years and years to read deeply into every nook and cranny of every word written in a piece of Literature (notice the capital L), it’s very refreshing to read something that is just something to read, where you can unplug your brain a bit from the over-reading mechanisms in place. Although, I must point out that a series like The Wheel of Time does, thankfully, avoid the template novel vulgarities of other popular series, like Harry Potter. Jordan is a much better writer than whatshername, who plays the villain-switcheroo card 2/3rds of the way through every book.

Plus, dragons and magic are fun!

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