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Interestingly, I disliked EotW because of its 'youth appeal' Yondaime Send a noteboard - 17/04/2010 12:33:55 AM
I was a teenager when I first read the first book, and I found it to be ridiculously bland. It seemed like a second rate copy of Sword of Shannara, which itself was a poor man's version of Lord of the Rings (Granted, Terry Brooks was quite creative in his other novels. But that is a different discussion). Because of these resemblances, I had a difficult time getting into the book. It seemed fairly obvious to me that the author was simply following an accepted formula in order to make money. I didn't hate the book or the story - the formula works for a reason - but I wasn't what you would call a wotmaniac.

I pretty much had the same impression as you when it came to the story and characters. The plot was a resounding 'meh' to me. It wasn't bad, but it definitely didn't scream 'bestseller' to me.

I had almost the same opinion about the characters. I sort-or-enjoyed Rand, but felt that he wasn't really fleshed out. I didn't like Mat, largely because he seemed the traitor type. I actually enjoyed Perrin's story quite a bit, and his bit about the connection with the wolves. I didn't like Egwene, because she seemed selfish. I didn't like Nyneave, because it was annoying to read her dialogue. I remember reading about Lan and thinking "Jesus, he might has well as named him Aragorn". On the whole, I enjoyed the characters, but didn't really grow attached to any of them.

"Take the Gleeman!" Rand and Mat cried, throwing Thom to the Myrddraal. Then they ran away as fast as they could, and Thom's screams quickly faded into the distance along with any inconvenient feelings of guilt.
This message last edited by Yondaime on 17/04/2010 at 12:36:24 AM
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Interestingly, I disliked EotW because of its 'youth appeal' - 17/04/2010 12:33:55 AM 1105 Views
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Must be something in the water, no? - 17/04/2010 02:28:23 AM 1101 Views
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