Finished my WoT re-read last night. I do think I benefited from having read them again close to one another, while knowing how it ends.
For the most part, I really enjoyed it. There is undeniably a slog right around book 8 where it gets unbearable and I had no qualms whatsoever with skipping entire sections. I pretty consistently skipped Ituralde's stuff, actually, and I feel like I didn't miss a thing.
The last three books are pretty definitively Sanderson. The final book is so Sanderson I'm a little worried it corrupted the vision Jordan had. From speaking to Sanderson and Harriet, though, I'm skeptical that Jordan had put together a comprehensive enough ending to shape how it would be written. Then again, it also just might be that Sanderson already was a writer so close to what Jordan was getting at that the transition was going to be as smooth as could be. Either way, I definitely saw echos of Mistborn in A Memory of Light.
* I am still dissatisfied with the ending. I am always dissatisfied with the endings of long series. It comes from being so invested in these characters, and makes it so that the resolution of the plot does not feel like a final resolution. I want to know how the characters live their lives after something like this! If the alternative to the ending is something like what happened in Harry Potter, well, I'd prefer this ending. Still. I hope that we get to see more stories about the world, like the one that's coming out in the anthology later this year.
* Perfect dialog can be so very distracting sometimes (usually manifests as quippy exchanges), but I forgive it in the case of my hands-down favorite character, Mat.
* The difference cell phones would have made in this world is utterly astounding. Thanks to the complex interweaving of "fate" and "happenstance," however, I think that even with cell phones the story would have managed to be complicated and somewhat unpredictable. This is a good thing! The bad thing is the number of times I caught myself thinking, "Ugh, why don't you just ask" or something similar.
* It is very obvious Jordan was heavily invested in yin-yang symbolism. Male vs female, positive vs negative, one weave vs its opposite -- he was really interested in perfect binaries. It's heavy-handed in the beginning, where the women are always complaining about how nonsensical the men are, and vice versa, but it smooths out toward the end. Mostly I think this has to do with character development. As the characters develop relationships, their own personalities, and preferences, they have to move past generalizations.
I think I've mentioned this before, but it took me an alarmingly long time to recognize that this was a King Arthur story. I like what Jordan did with it. I like that he's a horse person. Even though I hate reading battles, I like that he had a thing for military tactics and history. I liked the interactions of nations, and the people who both ran them and simply worked for them. I liked the balance it struck.
So, it's a long series. It has a lot of details. You could probably cut out quite a bit and not suffer too much for it. But the grand scope, and the long-term planning that comes to fruition by the end, are part of what make Wheel of Time so successful.
I think I'll take another year or two before I tackle re-reading it again.
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I got my copy of To Say Nothing of the Dog. Judging by how much I enjoyed Doomsday Book, and how delightful Willis was in person, I'm looking forward to the read.
I also got my copy of digital extras for Scalzi's The Human Division (that serial release in the Old Man's War series I talked about).
I also randomly decided to read The DaVinci Code again. I am reminded why I hate popular fiction. It's about on part with my distaste of popular music. Nevertheless, I consume both.
