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Freeman [soylentnews.org] writes:

Arstechnica 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/ [arstechnica.com]

Andrew: We just haven’t met that many channelers yet, but yes, one Big Question that the Dragon Reborn misdirect raises is: what else has changed about the world and the magic system that makes it even possible for a woman to be the Dragon Reborn?

Lee: Exactly so. There's what I think might be a clue in the later episodes—we’ll get there!

We’re getting pretty long here, and I don’t think we’ve either of us really said if we enjoy it so far. I mean, I’m going to keep watching no matter what, because I’m a hopelessly devoted WoT sucker and also because I signed up to go on this journey with you for work, so I’m getting paid, but I actually am enjoying it—in spite of the changes, which the neckbeard in me wants to keep calling out. The show is definitely taking a bold tack with how things are moving, striking out in a direction that is aslant from the books. And that’s okay!
[...]
But! I think there is a lot of potential here. And I’m really glad that, at a bare minimum, it has been given the runway of a second season to find its feet.

In the event that you dislike people ruining great books for stupid political agendas, perhaps you should steer clear of this Series.

#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.

Ratings:
Atmosphere: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Faithful Rendition of books: 1/5

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?

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