Jordan puts thought into everything. His world is vast and complex. Actually, the major criticisms I've seen of his work is that it's too much so. The series is comprised of over a dozen tomes (currently totaling just over 11,000 pages) with more characters and history than it's humanly possible to keep track of unaided. There's a whole wiki dedicated to trying to keep it all straight.
(I should perhaps mention that much of the background is a patchwork of snippets from existing mythologies. At first, I considered that lazy. Later, I came to appreciate the skill, knowledge, and thought it takes to combine all of that into a sensible whole. I still find it less impressive than, say, China Meiville's whole cloth, but I don't see it as the weakness I first did.)
That said, the magic system isn't quite as well-defined as this post may have implied. Traveling is introduced, and it's explained that the approach to it is different for men and women. It's explained that forming a Gateway requires intimate knowledge of the origin point, but after it's introduced that limitation doesn't come up very often. The people using them tend to stick to places they know well, at first. Although it's never explicitly stated, it seems that with experience you learn to know a place more quickly and/or need to know less in order to form the proper weaves.
But that's part of the progression of the books, which, on the surface, follow a very familiar pattern: Young farmboy from a small town in the middle of nowhere develops into the long-prophecied hero who will stand up to ultimate evil. There's a lot more to the story than that, and, as much as anything, it's about how the story is told. This is a story which continuously widens in scale and complexity. As the main characters go from rural children to living legends, Traveling goes from a lost art from the Age of Legends to something almost commonplace.
The magic system is defined. Its limits and abilities matter. Each thing it can or cannot do is discussed. There are big revelations along the way. But all of that is a small part of a very big story. Part of the background. The way the world is.
Am I making sense? The costs and the learning are part of it, but perhaps not as big a part as this post, which focuses on one small detail, might make it seem. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't giving you a false impression.
As for getting out of bed in the morning... that was something of a joke. I've got a pile of sleeping disorders. It's always hard for me to get up. I've woken up feeling refreshed only once that I can remember, and that was when I'd accidentally overdosed on my nighttime medications - something which greatly backfired later in the day. So it's fun to make the excuse that in getting up and moving, I'm actually changing the curvature of the entire universe. The Earth is pulling me towards its center. At the same time, I'm exerting an equal and opposite force, pulling the entire planet towards me. No wonder I'm so tired.
It's not that I'm afraid to move or to step on metaphorical butterflies. I want to change the world. What's the point of a life that doesn't?
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Jordan puts thought into everything. His world is vast and complex. Actually, the major criticisms I've seen of his work is that it's too much so. The series is comprised of over a dozen tomes (currently totaling just over 11,000 pages) with more characters and history than it's humanly possible to keep track of unaided. There's a whole wiki dedicated to trying to keep it all straight.
(I should perhaps mention that much of the background is a patchwork of snippets from existing mythologies. At first, I considered that lazy. Later, I came to appreciate the skill, knowledge, and thought it takes to combine all of that into a sensible whole. I still find it less impressive than, say, China Meiville's whole cloth, but I don't see it as the weakness I first did.)
That said, the magic system isn't quite as well-defined as this post may have implied. Traveling is introduced, and it's explained that the approach to it is different for men and women. It's explained that forming a Gateway requires intimate knowledge of the origin point, but after it's introduced that limitation doesn't come up very often. The people using them tend to stick to places they know well, at first. Although it's never explicitly stated, it seems that with experience you learn to know a place more quickly and/or need to know less in order to form the proper weaves.
But that's part of the progression of the books, which, on the surface, follow a very familiar pattern: Young farmboy from a small town in the middle of nowhere develops into the long-prophecied hero who will stand up to ultimate evil. There's a lot more to the story than that, and, as much as anything, it's about how the story is told. This is a story which continuously widens in scale and complexity. As the main characters go from rural children to living legends, Traveling goes from a lost art from the Age of Legends to something almost commonplace.
The magic system is defined. Its limits and abilities matter. Each thing it can or cannot do is discussed. There are big revelations along the way. But all of that is a small part of a very big story. Part of the background. The way the world is.
Am I making sense? The costs and the learning are part of it, but perhaps not as big a part as this post, which focuses on one small detail, might make it seem. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't giving you a false impression.
As for getting out of bed in the morning... that was something of a joke. I've got a pile of sleeping disorders. It's always hard for me to get up. I've woken up feeling refreshed only once that I can remember, and that was when I'd accidentally overdosed on my nighttime medications - something which greatly backfired later in the day. So it's fun to make the excuse that in getting up and moving, I'm actually changing the curvature of the entire universe. The Earth is pulling me towards its center. At the same time, I'm exerting an equal and opposite force, pulling the entire planet towards me. No wonder I'm so tired.
It's not that I'm afraid to move or to step on metaphorical butterflies. I want to change the world. What's the point of a life that doesn't?