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Ars Technica has a series-recap-thing going on for "The Wheel of Time" series on Amazon: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/11/two-book-readers-recap-the-first-three-episodes-of-amazons-the-wheel-of-time/
In the event that you dislike people ruining great books for stupid political agendas, perhaps you should steer clear of this review of Amazon's TV Series.
These recaps won't cover every element of every episode, but they will contain major spoilers for the show and the book series. If you want to stay unspoiled and haven't read the books, these recaps aren't for you.
#1 The way magic works in the Wheel of Time (WoT) is crucial to the plot of the entire series. This is ignored entirely in the first three episodes. Which makes me think, they're going to be doing even more stupid things.
#2 Being inclusive and trying to say, but the girls should also be included as possible main plot "Dragon Reborn" hype is stupid. Egwene goes from village girl to badass quite well on her own in the books, thank you very much.
#3 Lan in the first few episodes sucks. In the books, he can take a few dozen trollocs on his own. Whereas in the first few episodes, Moiraine is barely able to take down a nice grouped up bunch? That is stupid beyond words. (We will gloss over the deliberate destruction of the town's property, because apparently it's easier to throw bricks.)
#4 Mat is a thief and his parents are evil, essentially. His Mom is a drunk, apparently driven to it by his Dad who is shown as unfaithful and essentially a deadbeat.
#5 There is a lot of sexing going on. This is a long ways away from Perrin and his lady falling down the stairs on top of each other and being embarassed.
#6 Where is Elyas?
This is no faithful adaptation from the books. In the event that you happened to like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", but were put off by "The Silver Chair", because they turned Peter into a whiny brat... you will be even more put off by the random stupid changes they made in this book. Rand wasn't always a brooding semi-sociopath and Mat is a lot more honorable than portrayed by these first few episodes.
[...] Probably the most annoying things to me are the twisting of characters and plot to make them more "woke". Like, if they'd added a scene in Lord of the Rings where someone asks, if Frodo and Samwise are gay. You know, because they are traveling together, so you must be gay. What kind of stupid?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday November 27 2021, @10:38PM (2 children)
My least favorite was the Horse and His Boy. I never knew there was such diverse difference of opinion among Soylentils on the Chronicles of Narnia.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday November 28 2021, @07:42PM (1 child)
Huh, why that one?
In any case, a basic problem with the series is deus ex machina in the form of Aslan. Aslan can obviously make events go almost any way He wishes. It's very arbitrary when He pops up, and when He doesn't. Maybe that's what you dislike about the Horse and His Boy?
In that story, it's
Yes, much room for "how it should have ended" parodies.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday November 28 2021, @08:13PM
The Chronicles of Narnia are Christian allegory, so of course Aslan can make events go any way he wishes. That's the whole point of Christ: if you believe in him you have nothing to fear, even death. He is the ultimate deus ex machina. If you don't accept that premise then the books won't appeal to you on a certain level, in the same way that the explicit Islamic references in the One Thousand and One Nights might not appeal to you in the same way it would a Muslim; however, you can still appreciate them for their storytelling.
It has been about forty years since I read the Horse and His Boy so I can't remember exactly why I didn't like it as much. It seemed a little duller than the rest. As a kid, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite for Reepicheep and the redemption of Eustace. As an older teenager when I finally read the Magician's Nephew, it edged out Dawn Treader for its portrayal of Charn and the wood between the worlds.
Washington DC delenda est.