Hi, everyone. How are you? Hanging in there? On my end, I’ve been in a massive reading slump. Sure, I’ve kept up with my podcast reading, and read an additional book here or there (like Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch), but it’s been hard to muster up the mental energy to do much more than watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
I started reading the Wheel of Time series with my husband (although he wasn’t my husband then) back in 2018, when I had the hot take of “it doesn’t suck.” About a year later, I was almost done with book five, The Fires of Heaven, and still enjoying the series. Then, things slowed down. Considerably.
Months later when I gave another update, I was only mostly done with Lord of Chaos, the sixth book in The Wheel of Time. By this time, some casting news for the Wheel of Time TV show had emerged, and Todd and I reacted accordingly. Hey, even if a book series is slow, I can still get excited about the TV show, right?
As I’m writing this, we’re about two months away from the premiere of the first episode of that TV show, and you might be wondering how much I’ve read now. I’m probably basically done, right? Right?!
Absolutely not. Todd and I just finished the seventh book in the series, A Crown of Swords, and we’re taking a break before jumping into The Path of Daggers. These are two very tough names for two very slow books, and I’m finding myself a little burnt out on Robert Jordan’s winding, deeply illustrative writing style. I should give myself credit and remind myself that I’ve actually gone above and beyond by also reading New Spring, the short, sweet prequel that some fans recommend reading somewhere in the middle of the series (for reasons that would spoil readers too much, and make Wheel of Time vets sad).
It would be unfair for me to say that I’m not enjoying the series, but I’m also running into many of the roadblocks that have kept me from the fantasy genre in the past. The world takes a long time to explain, and I’m not really interested in what kind of horse Elayne prefers or how many men look like sacks of potatoes on horseback. I need that sweet, sweet plot, and I’m getting tired of extraneous details. Give me character development, please.
The section of the series I’m entering right now is often called the “slog” by Wheel of Time fans. The Slog spans over about three books (or four, depending on who you talk to), and marks a decidedly slower pace in terms of plot development. YouTuber The Bard of the Red Hand argued that The Slog is actually an important part of Wheel of Time history, and it serves a vital purpose in the overall structure of the series. I’m not quite sure if I agree yet, since I’m only just entering into The Slog, but I do think it’s worthwhile to reconsider how readers view certain parts of series, especially after they’ve wrapped up.
But back to my personal reading experience. Y’all, I’m just really burned out on description, which is apparently one of the worst aspects of The Slog. I feel like every chapter has pages and pages of talk about what the town looks like, what dresses look like, how everyone is wearing their hair. Some of that description is culturally important (each regional group seems to have their own special hairstyle– like braids with bells or a mustache-less beard), but I need more than that.
I don’t even need a lot of action to keep me going. While big setpiece events in Wheel of Time (like a certain something that happens at the end of Lord of Chaos) are definitely interesting, I don’t need limitless fighting to keep me engaged. If I wanted to watch dudes punch each other (I don’t) for hours on end, I’d just watch a Marvel movie instead. However, I do want character development, especially in the form of conversations between characters that provide a look at their mental states and motivations.
Let me give an example. In Lord of Chaos, there’s a scene where Berelain and Faile chase each other around a table while arguing about Perrin. Perrin’s there, of course, sitting at the table and watching the two women fight. He’s not sure what to do, so he just watches the events unfold without saying much of anything. Arguably, nothing really happens in this chapter, but the way the characters behave tell us a lot about who they are. I’m fine with that kind of action, in addition to he swordfighting kind.
For now, I think I’m going to try to blow through The Slog and see if I can get through it quickly. After all, the next few books are some of the shortest in the series, almost like Jordan himself didn’t know where to go next. Instead of movement, he wrote sprawling descriptions, circling around the next events of the series in a sort of limbo (or so people say), but, as The Hand of the Red Bard said, it’s all part of a bigger picture. Wish me luck.
I’ll wish myself luck, too. It can’t hurt.