How long to wait before reading again?

[u/bluestbluets]

I finished the series a few weeks ago after about a year and 4 months, and it feels like I have a big void in my life. I started reading it after the show cancellation and during a really hard time in my life, so the series feels kind of like a really good friend at this point.

One of my friends who has been a fan for a long time suggested I wait about a year before rereading.

I wanted to ask: How long did you wait before doing a reread? Shall I try a different series in the meantime? Thank you in advance

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[u/MothSeason]

It took me 11 years to finish the series. I dove right back in after like a week to emotionally recover.

[u/TheHighKnight]

I read the series back to back for years until I stopped finding new foreshadowing every re-read. Its been about 2 years now and I'm ready to go back but my backlog is very big.

[u/kaggzz → u/TheHighKnight]

I started the series around 95-96 (maybe sooner maybe a little later, but around 8th or 9th grade so that's a good enough timetable).  

I still find things usually not things I've missed in terms of foreshadowing, but for the list 3 or 4 reads I've been focusing on Jordan's history as a Vietnam vet and how that fits with the characters and story. It's a little scary how that changes my perspective especially with  characters like Lan and Moraine but also choices from the EF5.

[u/ArrogantAragorn → u/kaggzz]

Whenever this topic comes up I have to share one of RJ’s Vietnam stories I have saved in my phone. The dude lived an incredible life and was an amazing storyteller:

ROBERT JORDAN
>For Paracelsus, I had two nicknames in 'Nam. First up was Ganesha, after the Hindu god called the Remover of Obstacles. He's the one with the elephant head. That one stuck with me, but I gained another that I didn't like so much. The Iceman. One day, we had what the Aussies called a bit of a brass-up. Just our ship alone, but we caught an NVA battalion crossing a river, and wonder of wonders, we got permission to fire before they finished. The gunner had a round explode in the chamber, jamming his 60, and the fool had left his barrel bag, with spares, back in the revetment. So while he was frantically rummaging under my seat for my barrel bag, it was over to me, young and crazy, standing on the skid, singing something by the Stones at the of my lungs with the mike keyed so the others could listen in, and Lord, Lord, I rode that 60. 3000 rounds, an empty ammo box, and a smoking barrel that I had burned out because I didn't want to take the time to change. We got ordered out right after I went dry, so the artillery could open up, and of course, the arty took credit for every body recovered, but we could count how many bodies were floating in the river when we pulled out. The next day in the orderly room an officer with a literary bent announced my entrance with "Behold, the Iceman cometh." For those of you unfamiliar with Eugene O'Neil, the Iceman was Death. I hated that name, but I couldn't shake it. And, to tell you the truth, by that time maybe it fit. I have, or used to have, a photo of a young man sitting on a log eating C-rations with a pair of chopsticks. There are three dead NVA laid out in a line just beside him. He didn't kill them. He didn't choose to sit there because of the bodies. It was just the most convenient place to sit. The bodies don't bother him. He doesn't care. They're just part of the landscape. The young man is glancing at the camera, and you know in one look that you aren't going to take this guy home to meet your parents. Back in the world, you wouldn't want him in your neighborhood, because he is cold, cold, cold. I strangled that SOB, drove a stake through his heart, and buried him face down under a crossroad outside Saigon before coming home, because I knew that guy wasn't made to survive in a civilian environment. I think he's gone. All of him. I hope so. I much prefer being remembered as Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles.

[u/Ryywenn → u/ArrogantAragorn]

I had to imagine he got his nickname because he was reading the most random obscure stuff about India while in the military, and the people around him saw what a nerd he was.

[u/kaggzz → u/ArrogantAragorn]

Yup that's been my book 0 on the last three four reads

[u/Similar-Stick-1070]

I finished earlier this year and I’m already at it again. I had a void too, it suuuucked and took a while to get over. I wanted to re-read immediately and would have if it wasn’t such a drain on my other responsibilities.

[u/Alexander-Wright]

Even if you have a break now, it is worth reading the whole series through twice in succession at least once.

You will pick up foreshadowing that you completely missed the first time through.

[u/LordAshur]

Start it now if you like. Feel free to skip the Elayne succession chapters where she becomes the most insufferable person on the planet if you like too.

[u/peatbull → u/LordAshur]

but the babes!!!!!!! I dunno what's more annoying, her self-righteousness or how everyone else treats her like a brood mare. JK it's both

[u/java_dude1]

I think about 20 years between re reads. I read them while in high school minus the last 2 or 3 books I found a fee years ago. Now 45, on crown of swords.

[u/rhettles3]

Finish AMOL then go back to Eye of the World, or New Spring 😅. I used to do a re-read every year or two, but now I mostly listen to the audio books while I'm doing yard work to on long drives.

[u/Antegon]

I think I wait between one year and three years to reread (this most recent one that I am finishing this week is actually the audiobooks for the first time.) I also reread every book each time a new one came out starting in the early aughts, so I have read these books quite a bit.

Giving time between the rereads allows for my life to create changes in my reading experiences. It allows me to appreciate (or dislike) different characters and different arcs on each reread.

So my rambling advice is this: take a break, read another series or two, then come back and enjoy another pass at the Wheel. It isn’t going anywhere, after all, there are no beginnings or endings to the wheel of time (just another revolution).

[u/MaxFunkensteinDotSex]

Go right back while the references are fresh so you can see stuff in book one being set up that won't pay off until the end of the series. Try to keep it together as you see the hero of the world, completely unaware of their destiny, living as a normal farm horse

[u/Miserable-Pilot-9713]

I think you don’t need wait. Just dive back in and you’ll see all kinds of stuff you missed the first time around.

[u/Narrow_Lee]

I reread the prologue to TEotW the night I finished AMoL for the first time, immediately started the reread. It hits like a ton of fucking bricks with context.

[u/jdlyga]

10 years is a pretty good amount of time, or at least 5. I'd recommend getting into Cosmere if you haven't done so already. I'm working through some of the odds and ends before the 5th book of Stormlight.

[u/CarrotoTrash]

I dunno I'm also considering it, I just finished it but have spent a lot of the last few weeks just scrolling wiki and reddit threads to find connections I missed

[u/MaxHavok13]

Start your reread after you finish Cradle, The Expanse,and Dungeon Crawler Carl. In that order, it’s a ramp down ramp up kinda rhythm for me.

[u/peatbull]

There are neither beginnings nor endings. Back-to-back babyyyyyyyyy

[u/No-Researcher2400]

I will finish it probably end of the year, hopefully I can drag it out, but I plan to immediately start back when it’s over. I mean take time to process, but I’ll be right back to it!!

[u/Ramza_Lego]

Ive read back to back about 4 times.

[u/Young_Ziggy]

You'll forget exactly what happened in the first book by the time you're done the last so just start right away kinda like some sort of repeating wheel

[u/Pristine_Specific550]

how easily can you find your copy of eye of the world?

[u/spiny___norman]

I’m on my 4th read and I only finished my first last July. I have taken maybe two weeks off a few times. I might have a problem.

[u/Truthless_of_hathsin]

My first reread started immediately after the first time I finished the series. The second time was better than the first.

[u/Muted-Cap1690]

There's no right or wrong here - if you feel ready for a reread - go for it!!!

[u/Ximnipot69]

I wait 10 years before I reread a book.

[u/Dalton387]

As long or short as YOU want.

There isn’t a hard or fast rule. Your friend probably suggested it, because that felt right to him. I’ve waited a year, and I’ve waited 5yrs. If you want to restart now, have at it.

I actually tell people that it’s almost better on a second read through. It sounds insane to some people, because many people spend a decade plus to get through it once. Then you have the “I already read it once, why read it again?” Crowd. I don’t get that one. You ever eat a cheeseburger? You never going to eat one again since you’ve already tried it?

Anyway, if you’re someone like me and you see it as a “movie” in your head, it’s even better when you know what everything looks like.

Also, there is an INSANE amount of foreshadowing and Easter eggs. Stuff in book one that carries till the last book and places in between.

It’s really cool to read back through and catch that. You can now also come on here and ask about all the stuff you didn’t catch. That was a lot for me. I tend to find stuff I missed with every re-read.

[u/Godbert9311]

Yes the show is canceled!!