Author Robert Jordan dies

[Angel]

without finishing his "Wheel of Time" series...

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-09-17-jordan_N.htm?csp=34

[Triple_6]

I'm very saddened to hear this. I read all the Wheel of Time books except for the prequel. I went to Jordan's blog when I first heard about him being terminally ill and he put on a strong face about how he was going to fight it and finish the story. Very sad and a great loss to millions of readers.

[Hae-Yu]

Wow, that's heartbreaking. Within the last month I had "a feeling" and checked up on that. He seemed to be in good spirits and his condition was in remission and he was doing much better. My condolenses to his wife and family.

I read all the Conan books as a kid, both his and Robert Howard's.

All the WoT books including the prequel are in hardback taking up a big chunk of a shelf. Now I don't know what to do with that. It's an incomplete series and I wouldn't want anyone to start reading it. Hopefully, he has an assistant, a former coauthor or designated someone who can carry on and flesh out the notes. I know that sounds selfish, but I've followed that series since around book 3. As soon as each book was on preorder, I would reread the whole series to refresh my memory. According to wikipedia, he gathered all the notes and left the decision to his wife and publisher.

[Hae-Yu]

The more I think about this the more down I get. I'm not a celebrity person, so it's not that. I really wanted to know how this series would end. Jordan seemed tired of the series and wanted to explore other ideas, but it seems disappointing to put 12-15 years into a signature project only to leave uncompleted. That's a real tragedy.

When it comes to fighting a life and death battle, he had to put things into proper perspective and prioritize.

[Angel]

I agree, Hae. I did read somewhere that he apparently left instructions for the series's completion. I just hope he left enough notes and instructions for someone to finish it for him. It was such a popular series, not one I read myself but one I wanted to read, and it's such a shame that so much time was put into something that he couldn't complete. I feel really awful for him and his faithful readers. :frown: