This past fall and winter has been one of my favorite TV seasons, featuring two of my favorite epics turned into long-running shows. First came Foundation on Apple TV+, and then came this -- Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time with Amazon Prime.
The first season is short -- only eight episodes, but it covers the whole first book: The Eye of the World.
In the small town of Two Rivers live five promising individuals: Egwene, Nynaeve, Rand, Perrin, and Mat. Everything is upended when Moiraine, an Aes Sedai with incredible power, visits the town looking for the prophesied Dragon Reborn, who may one day save the world. She knows that it's one of these individuals, but she doesn't know which one. That very night, dark forces invade the town and cause all of our protagonists to flee. Moiraine must guide them safely back to the White Tower, where the Dragon Reborn can be identified and helped to live to his or her potential.
Yeah -- it sounds a lot like The Fellowship of the Ring. Perhaps at first this show feels like it, but it quickly deviates. It is definitely more violent at times, and the protagonists aren't really cute little innocent hobbitses.
There is also a LOT more politics going on, which makes the book series (and the TV show) a lot more interesting in this respect. For example, Moiraine isn't just a nice Gandalf figure, but rather a lady with her own agenda. She not only wants to protect the Dragon Reborn -- she also wants to control him. The same goes for practically everyone in the show.
Is it fun? Sure -- yeah. The first episode is on the slow side as we're introduced to the characters, but then it quickly picks up. At times, it's hard to want to stop watching at the end of the episode.
Is it like the book? It's actually pretty close. In the case of Foundation, I noted how approximately 90% of the show is not in the first book, but the main principles are in there. I also complained that there was one glaring error that to me may be a sign that the writers may not have read Asimov's books, but they still put together a compelling first season.
In contrast, The Wheel of Time doesn't deviate much from the original content. Of course, it's drastically condensed, but practically every scene in the show appears in some shape or form in the first book -- none of this 90% new material phenomenon.
One example from the first episode: the TV show decides to have the trollocs ransack the entire town, but in the book it's more of a surgical strike with the intent of only identifying and retrieving the Dragon Reborn. It turns out that having the town ransacked helps to move the story along without losing too much of the original.
One eye-roll thing for me was the fact that Moiraine was seriously considering the possibility that a woman might be the Dragon Reborn, but by the end of the season, it should be clear from the mythology that not only does it have to be a man, but Moiraine would not even doubt that fact. But I let it go, because it does provide some added tension in the story. Some people call this "woke," but I don't care.
It also seems to bug others that the writers made one of the characters gay. I have to admit that I was taken by surprise. But in researching, I learned that the prequel book does indeed identify that character as being gay. And even the writing in the first book strongly suggests it as well.
I, personally, was most upset that Min (someone who shows up later) didn't get much screen time. She shows up considerably later than she does in the book, and not for long. I think the writers could have stretched things out to ten episodes to get in a few more scenes I would have liked to have seen.
One improvement: they seemed to have removed the one character that is arguably the weakest character in the whole book series. No complaints from me.
Several perfectionists are upset by these condensing choices, but I have to be honest -- if the writers stuck to the book exactly, it would have gone on for 23 episodes and no one would watch it because it would be so boring. Those who haven't read the books are unlikely to get annoyed by this.
As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed it, noted the differences, and moved on. They kept most of the important stuff intact, and it felt like the books. And don't forget ... they do have Brandon Sanderson and other Robert Jordan "experts" on their team. I'm excited for season 2 next year. And I hope they realize they can stretch it out to more episodes and get in a few more favorite scenes and still keep it interesting.
So -- give it a try. It's fun.
