Book vs Movie

 

Some months ago, Prime began to advertise its coming new scifi tv series – The Wheel of Time (based on books by Robert Jordan).  My inner scifi self stirred and came to attention. 

Oh my, that looks good!

As much as I like scifi, I’ve found the Robert Jordan books very hard to read – too much/too little of I-don’t-know-what but I’ve never gotten more than 100 pages into a book of his before thinking – ok, done now.  And, before you think – “oh you must have been close to ½ way through” – no.  The Eye of the World, for instance, is over 700 pages long. 

However, with the coming of the new tv series, I decided to give it another try.  (Sometimes it’s nice to know what to expect from the characters.)  This time I tried an audio book (30 hours worth of listening). 

Eye of the World, Book 1 of The Wheel of Time

by Robert Jordan

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.  When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs - a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts - five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.

My thoughts – Robert Jordan uses 15 words to describe something when he could have used four and gotten the same result.  Ohmigod.  I thought it would never be over.   Many times, I wished I could just skip several pages of blah, blah, blah to get on with the story.  Still – as I look back at it, it’s pretty good. 

Then, I started book two.

The Great Hunt Book 2 of The Wheel of Time

by Robert Jordan

The Forsaken are loose, the Horn of Valere has been found and the Dead are rising from their dreamless sleep. The Prophecies are being fulfilled - but Rand al'Thor, the shepherd the Aes Sedai have proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn, desperately seeks to escape his destiny. Rand cannot run for ever. With every passing day the Dark One grows in strength and strives to shatter his ancient prison, to break the Wheel, to bring an end to Time and sunder the weave of the Pattern.

My thoughts:  Pretty much the same as with book one.  Too many words.  Not a bad story. 

I started watching the new show about ½ way through book two. 

Side note:  I KNOW books and movies are not a word-for-word duplicate.  I KNOW changes are made – side stories that don’t impact the primary story line are eliminated.  I KNOW some changes are made to the characters so to better engage the watching public. 

In my opinion the tv show is nothing like the book.  Yes, the characters have the same names but not much else about them is the same.  Yes, the general premise of the story is similar but things that happen are very different.  If you haven’t read the books or if it’s been long years since you read them, the tv show is very enjoyable.  If you’ve just read the book(s) wait a bit before watching the first season or you may be disappointed.

I don’t think I’ll read books 3-14 of the series.  I just didn’t develop the connection to the story or characters – no – I can’t wait for the next book!!!. 

The other series I started because of a tv show is The Expanse (based on books by James SA Corey).

The Expanse

1 Leviathan Wakes

2 Caliban’s War

3 Abaddon’s Gate

by James S.A. Corey

Humanity has colonized the solar system — Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond — but the stars are still out of our reach. Tensions are rising between Earth's UN, Mars, and the Belt. The series starts in our Solar System, using many real locations such as Ceres and Eros in the asteroid belt, several moons of Jupiter, with Ganymede and Europa the most developed, and small science bases as far out as Phoebe around Saturn and Titania around Uranus, as well as well-established domed settlements on Mars and the Moon.

The ice hauler, The Canterbury stumbles across a derelict ship, the Scopuli and stop to render aid.  XO Jim Holden and his rescue crew of three find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to all. War is brewing in the system unless they can find out who left the ship and why.

On Ganymede, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system.

For generations, the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt - was humanity's great frontier. Until now. An alien artefact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has emerged to build a massive structure outside the orbit of Uranus: a gate that leads into a starless dark.

My thoughts:  Oh very good.  Good characters, good story, good, good, good.  And, I’ll continue the series.

The tv show?  Yes, there are differences but I don’t find those differences as jarringly dissimilar as I did with “Wheel”.  I’m comfortable with both and enjoying the show as I read the books. 

25 Jan 2022