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Which should I read first: Wheel of Time, Foundation series or Dark Tower?
- Thread starter Zyae
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Fleet_of_Foot
Member
No idea about the Foundation series but between the other two, you should choose The Dark Tower. But you'd have to give a little more detail about what you're into. Strictly high fantasy? Then maybe Wheel of Time.
Stephen King is a better writer than Robert Jordan. Does anyone disagree?
Stephen King is a better writer than Robert Jordan. Does anyone disagree?
Spanx McFranks
Banned
I would say The Dark Tower. It is by far my favorite series of books.
MultiJhonny
Banned
Just pick one and start lol
It doesn't matter. They are all great.
Foundation would be shortest. WoT longest. So it depends.
Can't go wrong with any of them so just pick one and go.
It doesn't matter. They are all great.
Foundation would be shortest. WoT longest. So it depends.
Can't go wrong with any of them so just pick one and go.
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
You only need to read the original foundation trilogy and maybe foundation's edge. They are short books. They dont take very long to read. All four of them equal like one Robert Jordan book.
The Dark Tower is awesome but way more of an investment. Never read WOT but it seems like a lot more of an investment.
The Dark Tower is awesome but way more of an investment. Never read WOT but it seems like a lot more of an investment.
I say to do Foundation first. Those books are a much shorter read, and the whole thing is a very intriguing thought experiment. Also, you can optionally just read the original trilogy and stop there, and you have Asimov's original full story.
Then, read the Dark Tower series, and enjoy the wild journey.
Skip the Wheel of Time series altogether.
Then, read the Dark Tower series, and enjoy the wild journey.
Skip the Wheel of Time series altogether.
Fleet_of_Foot
Member
One note of warning about The Dark Tower, though: the first book is okay, but it quickly gets better after that. The first book is also the shortest. So you should read it quickly and not judge the whole series based on it. Get to the second book ASAP.
I was like you once, and thought I could just simply read the Wheel of Time series.
I'm an avid reader, the idea of a massive book series did not daunt me, I was confident I'd have the entire series read within a year.
It has now been two years since I started and I'm on book 12. One does not simply read through all of the WoT books in one go. The first three are really great. I'd suggest breaking up the WoT books with the Foundation series as well. Maybe read the WoT books in threes.... but even that will be like grinding your nose against charcoal because the middle books are *not* fun reads.
Dark Tower I had absolutely no problems blazing through in one go though. Those books are at on of fun. Gunslinger is a bit different than the rest of the novels so don't expect the first book in the series to be wholly indicative of what the series is actually like.
I'm an avid reader, the idea of a massive book series did not daunt me, I was confident I'd have the entire series read within a year.
It has now been two years since I started and I'm on book 12. One does not simply read through all of the WoT books in one go. The first three are really great. I'd suggest breaking up the WoT books with the Foundation series as well. Maybe read the WoT books in threes.... but even that will be like grinding your nose against charcoal because the middle books are *not* fun reads.
Dark Tower I had absolutely no problems blazing through in one go though. Those books are at on of fun. Gunslinger is a bit different than the rest of the novels so don't expect the first book in the series to be wholly indicative of what the series is actually like.
Yeah, the second book is incredible.
Jack Remington
Banned
Wheel of Time isn't very good, IMO.
10 book or so is utter shit but it gets back on the good track with the last Jordan book and the trio of Sanderson books.
The Wheel of Time is worth reading if one likes fantasy and can tolerate certain things. What's good in it is pretty damn good. Enough that its lows are tolerable.
Cant comment on Dark Tower, I have yet to get to that series.
Foundation was kinda disappointing. The first books were very interesting, then it went weird. Very weird. It's like a book on social science/history evolving into Star Wars.
Wheel of Time has its up and down, like waaaaay up and waaaaaaaay down. Just go in realizing that the middle of the series sucks hard. But it's a great powertrip fantasy overall with a great payoff.
Foundation was kinda disappointing. The first books were very interesting, then it went weird. Very weird. It's like a book on social science/history evolving into Star Wars.
Wheel of Time has its up and down, like waaaaay up and waaaaaaaay down. Just go in realizing that the middle of the series sucks hard. But it's a great powertrip fantasy overall with a great payoff.
Can someone explain what the biggest "downs" are with Wheel of Time? I own the first four books and I've been queuing that beast for years.
A friend of mine insists it's never anything less than decent, but his opinions are renowned for their niche nature everywhere he posts, so I don't know.
A friend of mine insists it's never anything less than decent, but his opinions are renowned for their niche nature everywhere he posts, so I don't know.
I consider Winter's Heart (Book 9) and Crossroad of Twilight (book 10) to be the absolute bottom of WoT series.
edit: Crossroad of Twilight is where absolutely nothing of important happened. Characters that are traveling, keep on traveling. Lots of pointless chitchatting. Many pointless inner monologues about how everything sucks.
I haven't read Foundation yet, but I'd say Dark Tower first before Wheel of Time since it's a much easier read and you'll be able to blaze through it faster. I really enjoyed that series and the connections King made throughout his books, and very much enjoy his writing style. However, for me Wheel of Time is the better series overall (it has its low points, but the good parts are fucking incredible and once you get past Crossroads of Twilight it's all uphill to the awesome finale).
I should read Foundation. Maybe once I'm done with Malazan (which is also highly recomended).
I should read Foundation. Maybe once I'm done with Malazan (which is also highly recomended).
Turning into non-stop, boring battles. Main characters getting shitty. Main characters that were always shitty (Nynaeve). Jordan's complete inability to write a good female and getting those shitty females stuck with Sanderson, etc etc.
Someone else recommended Malazan Book of the Fallen - I'd agree. Parts can't get dull and too philosophical, but it's much more creative, the characters blow the shit out of the water of those in most other books, and the systems and places set in place are interesting. Can be a bit confusing.
I love the Wheel of Time series but it definitely gets to be a slog midway through. The last leg of the series is great though. Was sketchy there when Jordan passed away but they tied it up well with his notes and Sanderson at the helm.
Dat braid tugging, dem smoothed skirts
Malazan is literally dropping someone into the middle of your favorite D&D campaign with absolutely no backstory. It's not for everyone and is absolutely confusing the first time through. Gardens of the Moon is a terrible start for that story to boot.
Dat braid tugging, dem smoothed skirts
Malazan is literally dropping someone into the middle of your favorite D&D campaign with absolutely no backstory. It's not for everyone and is absolutely confusing the first time through. Gardens of the Moon is a terrible start for that story to boot.
Fleet_of_Foot
Member
Another good thing about The Dark Tower is that if you end up liking Stephen King and want to read more of what he's written, you'll be more aware of all the minor (and major) connections the majority of what he writes has to The Dark Tower. References to The Dark Tower pop up in a lot of his other books.
Dark Tower's first fours books (and that short story) are amazing. I heard the "Wind through the Keyhole" was good as well.
However, books 5-7 are so bad that they immediately make you stop reading the series. I've attempted this twice.. always made it to the end of the 5th book and then realized that I just couldn't be bothered. It's just so BAD. They are in desperate need of a revision / re-edit.
However, books 5-7 are so bad that they immediately make you stop reading the series. I've attempted this twice.. always made it to the end of the 5th book and then realized that I just couldn't be bothered. It's just so BAD. They are in desperate need of a revision / re-edit.
It has some great moments though.
Female characters in general, though i would note that males tend not to be much better.
Kind of strict Mars-Venus contrast.
Jordan's thinly veiled bondage fetish (or something like that) can get annoying.
Some plot lines suffer from padding and meandering, though some certainly have pretty good endings. Unfortunately at least one book is devoted to what is essentially a side-plot (Crossroads of Twilight, universally held to be the low point of the series).
Some (many?) characters are slow to change, if at all. (Though i would note that i at least don't find this big a problem. Not every character needs to be different in the end.)
There are other, smaller things but those would be a bit spoilery perhaps. A lot is subjective, of course.
As much as i like the series, this i would never say. It is good, and it does feel kind of unique fantasy series, while being overall very familiar high epic fantasy work.
It's during the middle of the series it starts becoming more political and some characters are more fun to read when their chapters come up, like Matt because he does a lot of stuff and is a really entertaining character.
I haven't read much of Foundation, but between WoT and the Dark Tower series, I'd read King's books. Wheel of Time started out in a fantastic way but I was really disappointed by the end. The Dark Tower has its ups and downs but overall it was satisfying, doubly so if you've read most of King's other work. There are lots of tie-ins and call-outs to other Stephen King novels and stories.
Definitely this, you inevitably see where something is headed plot wise, but you'll be held back by possibly someone else on the opposite side of the world doing something completely uninteresting and Jordan seems to hold everyone else's progress till this one character moved on. This can span more than one book where you will just dread reading about someone for like two whole books. There's just a ton of threads being out in the wind and they tie up pretty well, but you inevitably don't find many of the threads interesting for long spans during the mid books.
Eh. The whole series is different campaigns starting and stopping, I'd just argue he could do maybe a bit of a better job explaining certain things in depth to new readers (Ascendants, Gods, Warrens, Holds, etc).
Reader could always go chronological instead of starting with GoTM + he could read Fall of Light for a ton of info if he really feels the dearth of it is hurting him. Overall, to me the much (I cannot stress enough how much better these characters are than WoT) better characters, locales, and creativity of the magic systems are.
WoT was the first book I actually started skipping chapters because of how boring Nynaeve and other were. Seriously lol, that chart represents hours of frustration for me. Think the only characters I didn't actively hate at the end were Matt, the guy who was dating/marrying the "Falcon" and maybe the sword tutor the main character had who was from the borderlands.
Flying Toaster
Member
The Dark Tower is some of the best writing in the last 100 years. I would go with that series first.
LucidMomentum
Member
My vote is for the Foundation Trilogy. Those three books in the series are so good.
The plotting is what makes the WoT so special to me. I don't think we will ever see another series planned so well so far in advance. Its a series that as I read it multiple through the years continued to be astounding how often I realized specific character and plot moments were foreshadowed or prophesied 20 years earlier and not in a forced way. Its spoiled me on other fiction. Jordan knowing where his story was going before he started actually writing it turned the WoT into something really unique.
Wheel of Time has some big issues. Far too long is one of them. Books in the series where nothing happens. Then there is the writers problem with women in my opinion. It's all about how the women look, constantly 'smoothing their skirts' and getting flustered at 'plunging neck lines'. It's quite strange in that regard. I don't believe he knows how to write about them, strange considering the books focus on them a lot
Edit - I see another poster has picked up on the issues around the women characters in Wheel of Time as well
Double Edit - I should say I'm up to book 8 in the series and I'm struggling to find the motivation to finish it.
Edit - I see another poster has picked up on the issues around the women characters in Wheel of Time as well
Double Edit - I should say I'm up to book 8 in the series and I'm struggling to find the motivation to finish it.
firebricks3
Member
The first couple books of the Foundation series are excellent science fiction. Dunno about the other 2.
tearsintherain
Member
Wheel of time: read the first 3-4 books then the last one or two. All the stuff in between is pretty awful, just find a cliff notes version on the internet somewhere.
Foundation: read the first 3 books, stop. The rest is not good.
Quite frankly there are a million other series better to read than those 2 (I haven't read Dark Tower... yet) like Iaina M. Banks Culture novels, Expanse series (now a TV show!), or Commonwealth Saga.
Foundation: read the first 3 books, stop. The rest is not good.
Quite frankly there are a million other series better to read than those 2 (I haven't read Dark Tower... yet) like Iaina M. Banks Culture novels, Expanse series (now a TV show!), or Commonwealth Saga.
If you're just looking for a quick jaunt into fantasy or sci-fi there's a ton of shorter series to try too. I've always been partial to The First Law series, only 3 books situated snuggly in a low fantasy setting. Morally gray characters, generally violent and brief. It's a fun read if you're strapped for time and don't want to roll through these longer guys.
Reading Foundation and Empire right now. Been a while since I read the first one... but they are some damn fine science fiction. I think I enjoyed Foundation more than Dune, and Dune was pretty damn good. Foundation is hard sci-fi, I don't think the characters developed a whole lot in the first book, but the ideas and premise made for a very fascinating read. Also, Asimov is ridiculously easy to read IMO. He doesn't tend to flourish every scene, or linger on the details. Dude just gets straight to his point... which is either a good thing or a bad thing, but I find that it makes reading them a very wispy prospect.
Yes, this is the greatest strength of the series.
And this is what i'm looking elsewhere but i don't seem to be able to find such.
Hopefully Sanderson will truly deliver with the Stormlight Archive, WoT has been an inspiration for Sanderson after all.
(My own writing plans, that never get off ground, have long-term plans... in theory.)
LOL, no.
The Foundation is the very definition of soft scifi. In both ways. It deals with social and psychological things (if you interpret hard-soft scifi categorization as hard sciences vs soft sciences), and its technology might as well be magic. Atom pens? LOL. (The other hard-soft classification is "how realistic AND plausible this is", with harder being more realistic and plausible.)
I do love the series despite that though, even though i tend to prefer really hard scifi.
I FULLY AGREE... the first book just left me like 'huh?' It almost felt like an experiment at the idea or something? But the "Drawing of the Three" was AMAZING and the steam train never slowed down.
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