[No1Gunner]

Do the later books stink as much as people are saying? I am thinking of reading A Song of Ice and Fire or Wheel of Time and am having problems deciding which to start with. But if Wheel of Time stalls like people are saying then I guess I will read Ice and Fire. Any thoughts?

Also, I can't access the links in the Recommendation Thread. Are they broken or something?

[Erfael]

Do the later books stink as much as people are saying? I am thinking of reading A Song of Ice and Fire or Wheel of Time and am having problems deciding which to start with. But if Wheel of Time stalls like people are saying then I guess I will read Ice and Fire. Any thoughts?

Also, I can't access the links in the Recommendation Thread. Are they broken or something?

I'll just try to save everyone some time and effort here:

"WoT is the best. Read that."
"ASoIaF is the best. Read that."
"WoT gets so boring by the later books. Don't waste your time."
"ASoIaF isn't even finished yet. He's been writing book 4 for like 40 years."
"Sure, some people say WoT gets boring, but I think it's the greatest story ever told, so you should read it."
"ASoIaF -- Wow, every book just gets better and better. Pretty soon, the mere limits of the written word won't be able to hold Mr. Martin in."
"They both suck. Read Goodkind."
"They all suck. Read a standalone."
"Pick up the first book of each and see what you think. If you don't like it, don't read the rest. If you do, great; read more."

Feel free to add to the list if I missed any of the main stances here.

Sorry for the sarcasm here, but this has been hashed, hashed, rehashed, hashed again, rehashed again, chewed up, regurgitated, hashed some more, put on a pedestal, and then rehashed again.

People will tell you every single possible thing you can think of on your own. They will tell you to read one not the other, read the other not the one, read both, read neither. Go forth and try something out. I read the first 4.1 WoT and the first 2 ASoIaF. I may read more of WoT, may not, my decision. I'll probably read more ASoIaF, should he ever produce more books, again my decision.

We can tell you what to read, but that really does you a disservice. Try them both out, see what you like. If you like it read more. If you get bored, stop and move on to something else.

[ChrisW]

1. No, but perhaps you should decide for yourself.
2. Tihis should be in the Robert Jordan Forum which you can find by clicking on Authors on the main Forum page.
3. Looks like someone needs to update the links in the rec thread as they are pointing to the old forum. A quick fis would be to type in the link name in the search box.
4. Hello ;)

[milamber_reborn]

My opinion:

WOT - good (the pace slows down in the last 2 or 3 books, which is either good or bad depending on the reader)
ASIOAF - great

Read them both.

[fluffy bunny]

Also, I can't access the links in the Recommendation Thread. Are they broken or something?

It all happened when the location of the forum went from sffworld.org/forums to sffworld.com/forums. Some links pages have been changed (eg in the book clubs), but on the whole it's been a slow process (we're still trying to get a 'find and replace' thing going).

The easiest way to access those links is to click them, and when the subsequent page flashes up, manually change the org in the address to a com.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

[ChrisW]

John, well you will be happy to know that I think my Goodkind days are over. I read a few chapters of Naked Empire a few months back and have not picked it up since. :cool:

[Archmage]

Okay, I would suggest reading A Song of Fire and Ice first. Here is my explanation. WOT is a wonderful series, but yes, unfortunately it really stalls terribly after about book 5 or 6. (I can't remember exactly which one) I still am interested in the series and certainly want to see how it ends, but I am defintely dissapointed in how dragged out this series has become. The last two books have been rather boring and have not effectively moved the plot along. Sometimes a series can become too long. The nice thing about Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice is that you can read the first three books, and then book four is coming out June 24th, so you will be caught up and ready for a new book which seems as if it will be an important book in moving the saga along. After reading book Four of ASOFAI, Then I would go back and read the WOT saga. The first 4 or 5 books are excellent, but yes it does stall dramatically and you may get bored with it when you get to the later books. It is still worth reading though and I look forward to see how the entire saga ends. I hope that answered your question. Peace

[fluffy bunny]

The nice thing about Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice is that you can read the first three books, and then book four is coming out June 24th

Are you sure about that? :rolleyes:

[Archmage]

Are you sure about that? :rolleyes:

That is what it says on Amazon.com. But alas, that book has been pushed back a number of times so I will just keep my fingers crossed :)

[Nevyn]

The nice thing about Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice is that you can read the first three books, and then book four is coming out June 24thHah !! WOT will most likely be finished (be it another ten books or so) before book four of ASoIF comes out :rolleyes:

Read 'em both in what ever order you want , they're on par with one another for good reading IMO .