First Time Read with a friend

Brycc al'Thyran

Brycc al'Thyran

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Mar 29, 2025
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Good morning! I talked a friend into reading the series with me! She ordered the first three books and we'll be starting in a couple of weeks. But I've read the series several times and am looking for some general input on walking through her through a first read. I am sure there are things that I know so well they don't jump out at me like they should anymore.

Are there any first time reader guides out there? What are some things from books 1-3 that I should definitely make note to call out and discuss with her as we make our way through? My favorite character is Mat, and I love the Tower stuff so I'm worried I will neglect Perrin's development early on (for example)
 
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I feel like @Dianna Melear might have some recommendations for you, since she's an expert at getting people to read the series!
 
We tend to think of Books 1-3 almost as a complete series as a pitch too.
 
Hooray a fellow Mat lover!!

I've walked several people through the series. Most recently, one of my partners powered through the series last year, so hopefully I can be helpful!

Some very tired and thus slightly rambling thoughts (apologize if there's are incoherent):
Mat does genuinely suck in books 1 and 2, so don't get discouraged if she doesn't like Mat until book 3. She'll get there. @Fenya al'Caem didn't understand my Mat love her first time through, and I think actually gave up in part because she disliked Mat so much, but now I think she gets it. (You get it, right luv? :look:) By contrast, like you pointed out, Perrin is actually a great character in the beginning and doesn't get annoying (to me at least) until around book 6 or 7.
Books 1, 2, and 3 are very repetitive imo. They are, kind of, the same story told slightly different ways three times. So if your friend is bumping up on that, just remember that so much of the world and story isn't revealed until Book 4.

My biggest takeaway has always been to let the first-time reader lead the read through. Let them ask questions, and ask them what part they're on, what they've enjoyed recently, how they feel about XYZ character, etc. I've learned to put my own feelings on the backburner...at least as best I can. The hype parts of these books were hype for us for a reason; they should be hype to a first-time reader too.
 
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Oh, she's going to love Mat from the start because I won't let her dislike him. We're going to read them together chapter by chapter though so I don't mix up when things happen and accidentally give her spoilers. I'm excited too since I haven't read it in about 4-5 years. I'll post thoughts and feedback from her here as we work our way through. And I welcome input and feedback from y'all here to help me guide her through them better!
 
Dianna Melear said:
Mat does genuinely suck in books 1 and 2, so don't get discouraged if she doesn't like Mat until book 3. She'll get there. @Fenya al'Caem didn't understand my Mat love her first time through, and I think actually gave up in part because she disliked Mat so much, but now I think she gets it. (You get it, right luv? :look:) By contrast, like you pointed out, Perrin is actually a great character in the beginning and doesn't get annoying (to me at least) until around book 6 or 7.
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I definitely did give up the first time in part because I found Mat too frustrating :rofl: (but part of it was also that I was reading them too quickly, and got burned out). But I do get the Mat love now, don't worry!
 
Have you read the whole series?
 
I have, yes. Several times. I know what to expect and have my own biases so I want to make sure I don't overlook things common or important from a newer perspective.
 
Then I suggest our chapter summaries

The Eye of the World: Prologue - Tar Valon Library

library.tarvalon.net library.tarvalon.net
For each chapter (for the first few books at least) we try and note everything that happens that has later significance, or is important for character development, or seems strange or inconsistent with what we think we know
 
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Yeah, there are a ton of spoilers, but it should help you pick things to mention to her, or ask about - for example, I think we have all the important interactions between Lan and Nynaeve. It's kind of subtle, and it does become serious really quick, but we can at least see how her feelings intensify over the book
 
Yeah I'm more concerned about missing the things I know don't turn into anything important, and thereby not helping her recognize cues in his writing. And not giving characters I dislike the proper attention.
 
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It's a fair consideration. Literally took me 8 years after my first read to do the same XD
 
We're through chapter 5. Comments from friend so far:

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Something's up with this Tam guy. He seems a little TOO WORLDLY. The black horseman appearing + the shitty winter seems like a pretty spot on bad omen for what's to come. I have a feeling this bel tine is not going to be memorable for the reasons everyone expects it to be 😭

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Those ravens are SKETCHY. I'm a big fan of birds being spies for the bad buy. Egg girl was pretty sharp at 9 years old I'm excited for her POV as an adult

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OMG. All the boys are so awkward and dorky
Lmao
Literally shitting themselves to death in front of every girl
Also uh oh there are wars
Another guy is saying he's the dragon but this time he's using the BOY MAGIC
Bit the BOY MAGIC makes the BOY MAGIC USERS go crazy
Which I'm wondering if that's what happened to the OG dragon when he killed all those people in the prologue hhhmmmmm

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She also noticed the banner in the top left of the map. The Wheel of Time banner with the Horn of Valere and the Heron Marked blade.

This is in the top left of the map And i was like "ok this is weird why is there a sword going through a tuba with herons on the sides"
Like obviously they must be significant so I took a mental note
AND TAM'S SWORD HAS HERONS ON IT
And also he's just like freakishly good with the sword even though he said he just got it one day for cheap on a whim. Hes so full of shit this man knows what he's doing
Many mysteries so far I am intrigued
RJ is very good at setting a scene
I feel like I've been getting vivid images of everything so far because of his descriptiveness

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I asked if she's drawn to any specific characters yet:
So far I do like rand, but the most interesting character to me so far was Tam although I'm getting the sense he is not long for this world F
Also Egwene and Ny but they have not made much of an appearance yet
I'm just like intrigued by them


Final comment before she left for plans:
Uh ohhhhh She's tapped the GIRL MAGIC
 
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This is fantastic, if only we could record those reactions lol. I do feel like the birds get a bad rap, I like ravens, and crows, and corvids writ large as it happens.
 
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Through about chapter 11-12. More reactions

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i loved chapter 5. the imagery of what was going on is like vividly burned into my brain it was really well done

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OH BOY
TAMS DELIRIOUS
AND DUMPING ALL THE LORE
ORPHAN RAND LETS GO

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Wow
So uh they're f***d
I'm on chapter 8 now
I guess I was right that this bel tine was gonna be memorable for reasons other than what everyone was hoping for lmao
Poor rand
You can really feel exactly how much hes getting shit on by the world during all this

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It feels like RJ is going to great lengths to make Ny seem like the biggest asshole ever
Can't wait to actually see her personality other than just "WOW THAT WISDOM GIRL SURE IS A B***H"

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Rand being an orphan is crazy
I feel like this is going to come back up at some point
And be a big deal. My guess rn is that Rand is more special than he realizes

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This aged well (referring to "my guess is that Rand is more special than he realizes")
Guess the boys are going to BOY MAGIC SCHOOL
I KNEW THE HERON WAS SIGNIFICANT
HAH
Coooooool
Sad they have to leave their homes

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Wow this is f***g good
The adventure has begun!!
The story moiraine told about the history of emund's field was very interesting and compelling
And rand's nightmare was uh heavy on the foreshadowing
Shai'tan is a cool name for a big bad evil guy
Just finished chapter 9
Also emund's field is just a bastardization of aemon's field I'm assuming
Like the true spelling got changed over time

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So there's a big black spire and a big white spire
LIKE THE YIN AND YANG
THE GIRL MAGIC AND THE BOY MAGIC

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GIIIRL MAGICCCCC
Classic light vs dark dichotomy
Can't have an epic fantasy story without it
I am hoping that it's not as black and white as that as we get further into the story
No pun intended

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Friend -
Egwene girlbossed her way into the journey
Getting Tolkien vibes from the way this group assembled

Brycc —
Fellowship of the...trolloc runners?

Friend —
Draghkar runners now apparently

Brycc —
The dragkhar are sick

Friend -
Sounds like they are indeed
Theyre gonna be shai'tan their pants

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Ooo
Not rand being a little b***h about egwene becoming an aes sedai
LET WOMEN MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS BRO
 
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The Tolkien energy is so strong, for like, another 2 books XD
 
Brycc al'Thyran said:
Friend —
Draghkar runners now apparently

Brycc —
The dragkhar are sick

Friend -
Sounds like they are indeed
Theyre gonna be shai'tan their pants
Click to expand...
This is a perfect pun, bravo.
Brycc al'Thyran said:
Not rand being a little b***h about egwene becoming an aes sedai
LET WOMEN MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS BRO
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Oh my gods does Rand struggle with this for way too long. Series does a great job in general about giving us female characters with agency who are competent and compelling . . . and guys who just don't seem to get it.
 
To be fair, that goes both ways. Rand tells her that he has to leave the village because Moiraine says the Trollocs were targetting him, Mat and Perrng and rather than "Did she?" or "I didn't notice, her response is "nope, didn't happen"
 
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