Over my adult life, I have periodically attempted to reinstate my childhood habit of nightly reading. Though I enjoy many genres, fantasy specifically is still quite compelling to me, and it has the added bonus of animating my childhood nostalgia.
My reading life experienced a renaissance during the year of 2020, as I expect many others' did, and I repeatedly saw recommendations and rave reviews for The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The series is a gargantuan, epic fantasy tale spanning 14 books and 4.4 million words. The sheer challenge reading this series would pose to me, a busy adult with a somewhat corroded reading ability, issued an intoxicating, seductive call.
At that time, I bought the first five books, and made it through the first 4. I was not reading consistently (my Goodreads review for book #3 comments that I read it "over the span of 9 months"), but I did enjoy the books at that time. I'm not quite sure why I didn't continue. I do suspect, though, the twin poisons of a suffocating work life and the ever-present distraction of less attention-hungry entertainment threatened my nightly reading habit seemingly without antidote.
Fast-forward to late 2025 - I was gifted a Kindle by a friend during our Friendsgiving, and the packaging depicted the Kindle with page 1 of "The Eye of the World," book 1 of The Wheel of Time series, upon its screen. Reanimated by this reminder of the fantasy world I had once enjoyed but prematurely departed, I decided to attempt a reread.
I eschewed any careful consideration of whether 2026 will provision enough time for me to complete a 14-book series, and decided to jump right back in to reading book #1 as soon as the Kindle was charged. I found the mix of recklessness and ambition of my decision to be small but precious thrill - playful act of defiance in the face of the perfectionism that rules most of my life with totalitarian authority.
The process of the reread was exciting for two reasons. First, the book made the reestablishment of my daily reading quite easy. I imagine this was helped in part by my infatuation with a piece of new tech. With the Kindle's small size (I have the 6" model), carrying a 750-page novel in my pocket felt like an electric, fun secret accompanying me throughout the day.
Second, having the context of books 2-4 somewhat preserved in my memory, I was able to more deeply appreciate and marvel at the true quality of the world-building and exposition Jordan achieves at the outset of the series. I've always heard The Wheel of Time lauded for its world-building, and the way it weaves a complex tapestry of cultures, history, and politics as a backdrop for the story it tells without burdening the reader with long passages of explanation. Having some sense of where the story was headed on my second read definitely deepened my ability to recognize this.
I fell even more in love with the main cast. Rand, Perrin, Mat, Nynaeve, and Egwene all charm in their own ways. The structural similarities shared with The Fellowship of the Ring in this first novel don't plagiarize, but pay homage, in a way that is deeply satisfying. Visualizing the world and the magic of it was more vivid this time around. Am I just reading with more focus and care than I was last time? I'm not quite sure. But each passage describing the mysterious use of saidin or saidar, the male and female halves of the One Power, left my imagination dazzled with the color and originality of this world's magic system. The conclusion of the novel, specifically, was such a collage of rich, striking, and disturbing environments and textures that it reminded me of the writing of Jeff Vandermeer (Annihilation, Veniss Underground).
As I was speeding through the final pages, I was caught up in a feeling that is far too infrequent for me these days: the increased heart rate and the pounding compulsion one feels when you're reading a true page-turner. It was exhilarating and I can't wait for more.
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