A Story & A Tribute

23 Years in the Making...

Yesterday, the last book of my childhood hit the shelves. Robert Jordan’s uber-epic (I think 14 books qualifies as uber) Wheel of Time comes to an end with A Memory of Light.

It’s one of those books I’m torn about reading. Do I rush out, buy it and devour it in one night because omigoshican’twaitanymoreit’sabouttime!? Or, do I hold out for as long as I can, because this is it, no more new words, and that kind of makes me sad?

See, this was the series that made me want to write fantasy. I’ve sung praise (probably ad nauseum) about how much I love the characters and the world, and how much Jordan inspired me, so today I just want to share a story:

In 1994, a few years after The Eye of the World was first published, Tor printed a promotional mini-version. Brandon Sanderson tweeted a while back that this was at Harriet McDougal’s (Jordan’s wife and editor) request, and the promo book only included the first 18 chapters.

A couple more years passed. Enter my grandma, who is, to this day, the consummate rummager (Seriously, ask her to find something and she will have it the next day!). She stumbled across this mini-version at some local rummage sale and knew nothing about it, except that her crazy book-obsessed granddaughter loved fantasy, and this novel with horses and people carrying swords on the cover might be a good match. She bought it for something like fifty cents, which is funny because I think the promo version was originally free, and gave it to me.

I also knew nothing about it—I think I was twelve—but I read it. And loved it! It was an adventure, a well-written, complex, intricate adventure with characters who were funny and loyal and sometimes clueless, just like me. In short, I was hooked. I got to the end of the promo and felt a little subconscious nudge urging me to see if the story had ever been finished. I simply had to find out what happened to these characters!

I was pretty much beyond words when I realized there was not only one completed book in the series, but about eight more by that point, too. I didn’t know authors could do that, not to that extent. I didn’t know there were stories that cool someone would let you continue to tell them. It was like a dream come true.

I had started high school by then and told my friends about this series. Every single one of them is now hooked in one way or another. My friend, Andy, owns a heron-marked blade. I devoured all of the next thirteen books, still loving the characters, being heartbroken when Jordan died with his masterpiece unfinished, cheering when Brandon Sanderson took over, and now, at long last, watching it come to a close.

I owe an awful lot to the fact that my grandma happened to pick up that particular book at a rummage sale (She teases me that she had no idea the type of monster she’d create). And it leaves me simply wanting to say thank you. Thank you to Robert Jordan for dreaming this up. Thank you to Harriet and the team at Tor who believed in it and made it possible. Thank you to Brandon Sanderson for doing a breathtaking job of revitalizing the series while staying true to its core. Thank you to Big Guy upstairs for letting me discover Wheel of Time and my own love for writing—they happened so closely together it’s hard to mention one without the other.

I’ve learned so many lessons from studying WOT over the years that I joke with friends that I won’t truly know how to write a final scene until I see how Jordan does it. I guess we’ll see…

13 comments:

  1. I've still not touched on the WoT series; maybe that could be a goal of mine, though it would take me at least 6 months to get through them all. I'll have to clear my TBR pile completely :)

    Jamie

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  2. That's cool to fall in love with a series like that. I've not read these (I know!), but I got hooked on Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series -- think we're up to seven books right now. That and Harry Potter are probably the only two long series I've read every book. It's just so easy to fall into that fantasy world and want to stay there. :)

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  3. The Wheel of Time series failed to compel me, but I understand having a special place in your heart for the work that brought you into your preferred genre. For me that was LOTR, obviously. There's really nothing that can ever compare with the story that opened up your horizons and made you realize the amazing possibilities open to you.

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  4. Okay, now I need to read these. I haven't started them yet because I've heard they are addictive. Now I must. Thanks!

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  5. I've read the first...eight of these I think. I LOVE them. Not quite sure why I stopped. I think life just got too busy, I was away from them for too long, and just haven't read the rest yet.

    But you're right. Robert Jordan is brilliant. Someday I'll finish these :)

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  6. I think I need to read these. Something that impacts someone's life that much should be read and learned from. Great post!

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  7. This series has been on my to-read list for a LONG time. I think I even own a few of them. Heh. And I don't think I could wait to read it, even if there will be no more. I debated that question when HP7 came out, and I went out and read it that night. LOL!

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  8. I made it halfway through the series. Now that it's finally finished, I might continue. I was just afraid they would never end.

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  9. i've not heard of either books, but now you've got me intrigued!! :D

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  10. I think I read up to book 8 and then it was taking too long and I gave up.

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  11. WOT is a magnificent series. I haven't read the last two yet. I want to re-read the whole series now that the last book is out.

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  12. The epic series has come to its conclusion, which means I get to read all of it without having to wait. :)

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  13. I've never read a word of the series. I'd heard that it's amazing early and then loses considerable steam in the middle novels. I've been pretty caught up in all the hype though with this last release. I might read them all this year.

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