Skip to the end?

[Matt]

I'm almost done with audiobook of Dragon Reborn. I've gotten this far and have enjoyed it. However, I get the feeling that a lot of the incidents in the middle books will ultimately be insignificant.

So here's my question: How much will I miss if I just skip to the last three books? Is there anything in the middle books that is absolutely essential to appreciating the ending?

[matt]

You would miss a lot. Some of it important, some of it not.

To me the ending of book six has one of the most delicious confrontations, and one of the best battle scenes in fantasy literature ever, and you'd miss those, which would be your loss. The events are described well enough later that you'd be able to fill in the gaps I'm sure.

[Gianluca]

Yeah, you'd definitely miss a lot of things. And by that I mean more than 2 years of story, hundreds of new characters, absolutely crucial events and some of the best character development in the series.
I do not recommend skipping anything, even if a couple of books in the middle are indeed slow.

[[deleted user]]

yeah i would say read them all, the last book is full of action and a lot of people you have not met yet. All you be thinking throughout is who are they and why did the do that.

[J.T.]

you really have to read them all to get a strong grasp of what is going on.

[Rob]

Matt,

Thanks for asking that question I have been thinking exactly same :)

[Brian]

I personally feel that one reason so many of the middle books were oftentimes disliked is because we had to wait a couple years and things that we thought would happen didn't. So then it was like "now I have to wait another two years to get resolution from something two books ago". When I reread the series prior to the final trilogy, I no longer had that frustration because I could just keep reading. As a result, I focused on what was actually in the books, and not what was not in the books. Ultimately, they are all pretty good, although books 8 through 10 are still not quite as good (although 9 has some really strong moments).

[infael]

The authors put so much good work into the series, for us to enjoy. Why invalidate their hard work?

[Matt]

Just to follow up, I tried skipping ahead. I chose Shadow Rising(mostly because the audiobook was immediately available at my library.) I didn't get very far. I wasn't lost as far what was happening and who was who, but I guess I lost the thread of why I should be interested. I think what I really needed was a break. I'll try again after a while, going back to book four. As long as I have this commute, I might as well endure the whole thing.

Brian, I get what you are saying. I think a similar thing happened with the Star Wars prequels. We had all spent so much time imagining what would happen, no actual movie could live up to what we expected. (It didn't help that the movies weren't that good either.)

[Chris]

So, I disagree with the reason the middle books are disliked is because of the wait. I think it's because the first books were so good, and the middle ones are not. They are filler.

So to answer the OPs question. You probably shouldn't skip if you want the full effect of this series. Books 6-10 contain a whole lot of filler. These 5 books could be condensed into 2 books. What that means is, there are 2books worth of knowledge you need going forward, and experiences you will miss out on. I would not SKIP them.

My advice. SKIM A LOT, but don't skip.

[Patricia]

Matt wrote: "I'm almost done with audiobook of Dragon Reborn. I've gotten this far and have enjoyed it. However, I get the feeling that a lot of the incidents in the middle books will ultimately be insignifican..."

I've read them all several times. I'd say take your time and enjoy the journey, don't skip the middle.

Also, RJ seems to introduce new characters and then use them again several books later. If you skip, you may find yourself wondering who you're reading about.

[Adam]

Don't skip anything in this series. Im currently on book 10 and haven't been dissapointed yet

[Judy]

I started the series in 1991. I have every book in first edition print. I read and reread waiting for the next book to be published. I invested many hours to the what 18 main characters. I enjoyed each and everyone of them. I made guesses to what would happen next and sometimes I was even right. I say read every page and go along for the ride.