I enjoyed the show too. So figured I’d enjoy the books. There’s a lot to praise the books for and I understand that the fandom exists … but IMO they are overrated and book fans hating on the show can get really toxic. The first three books are honestly kinda crappy in important ways that book fans struggle to even acknowledge or remember and reading them made me appreciate the show even more because of the stuff they had to struggle with in the adaptation.

I made it up to halfway through the fourth book, which is supposed to be the one where the series really gets going (yes, it doesn’t start until about 1.5 LotRs worth surprisingly repetitive story telling) and the best book of the series according to many … and I just had to stop. I felt manipulated as a reader and that the story was weirdly unsurprising or derivative feeling. There’s a lot to like about its scope and ambition and characters, but as an author I think Jordan/WoT has proper flaws that book fans just don’t acknowledge enough. AFAICT, the appeal for fans is the breadth of the world and a sorta soapy concentration on character stuff.

I posted my thoughts on the first three books over on !wheeloftime@lemmy.ml if you’re interested.