Wheel of Time, Station Eleven, The Leftovers: A hit, A hit depending on the target, an older hit.

Wheel of Time

I read The Hobbit as a kid in the Bronx a long time ago. I was really amazed at how that Tolkein guy managed to fit three movies into one book. I was hooked. I was thrilled upon going back to the library and finding three more books by the same author. I read Terry Brooks when he first came out. In 1977. Hey, do you remember the top books from that year? Beyond that, I’m not a fantasy person. Just not my bag. So, I didn’t expect much when I started watching Wheel of Time.

All genres have tropes and patterns. It’s both the appeal and the downfall of genre. Fantasy is usually a quest. Where the chosen one has to go on a journey to overcome a force of evil. In fantasy, evil is usually just evil. I tell writers that evil isn’t a motivation for the antagonist. There has to be a concrete reason for the evil with a concrete goal. For example, how did Hannibal Lecter become evil? But in fantasy it seems that evil is the motivation which really simplifies the conflict box.

There are uneven moments; I wonder who is behind the White Cloaks and why the Aes Sedia don’t just wipe them out. Also, perhaps one of the reasons I’m not so much into fantasy is that magic needs rules and those rules seem vague at times; more as needed according to the author. On the flip side…