GregHowley.com

I've been looking forward to Amazon's adaptation of The Wheel of Time for a long time. Now it's here, so I've got to share my thoughts. I have many. Some things were done very well, and others not so much. Be warned: there will be spoilers aplenty for the first three episodes.

The casting initially caught me off guard. It's an incredibly diverse cast. But as I thought more about it, The Two Rivers was once Manetherin, an ancient kingdom in a mature civilization. As such, many areas of the world likely became melting pots and held peoples from many origins. So it works.

Tam Al'Thor is perfect, as is Rand with his red hair. Mat looks a bit older and more haggard than I'd imagined - I think I'd envisioned him more as a young Christian Slater. I'd always envisioned Perrin looking like my brother Sean, probably because I thought the cover art on Winter's Heart kind of looked like him, but I think the actor they found is perfect. Egwene being an Indian actress takes some getting used to, but it can work. Likewise, it took me a bit to get comfortable with the actress playing Nynaeve, but she does stubborn well. I just wish she'd call men wool-headed more often.

Moiraine works despite being far too tall, but I wish they'd had her pull her hair back rather than wearing it down. Lan being an Asian actor also works well, although all the book art has him far bulkier. I'd always envisioned Padan Fain more like Gollum: small and pale, but the actor they found will be good as an unsettlingly creepy character. Thom Merrilin is awesome. I'd always seen him as Sam Elliott, but this actor does a great job. I only wish his music had been more spectacular, given how much everyone raves about Gleemen. I also got a laugh over how often he has entry and exit music. Here's Thom. BWAAW!

The scene in which Egwene is inducted to The Womens' Circle and is thrown in the river is well-done, and foreshadows the way a woman has to surrender to Saidar nicely. And while the Coplins and the Congars were often like the Sackville-Bagginses of The Two Rivers, the scene where Daise Congar leads a pitchfork charge against a trolloc was perfect.

There were other things added of which I wasn't a huge fan. Rand and Egwene's relationship is way more involved in this adaptation than it had ever been in the books. I recall the three boys always thinking that the others knew so much more about talking to women, and I certainly had the impression that all three were virgins.

I don't recall Mat's family being in the book much, and the whole deal with Perrin's girlfriend Leila is certainly not in the book. Can't say I really liked either bit, although the talk of the knife being a tool rather than a weapon is a suitable parallel to Perrin's choice between the hammer and the axe.

The special effects, surprisingly, worked. The weaves look nice, although they never let on that only women can see Saidar weaves. The Trollocs and Myrdraal look great too. I wasn't able to see much in Lan's color-changing cloak - maybe they decided to leave that out. And Mashadar looked great, adapted from a mist to the creepy black stuff that moves along surfaces. I always get Mashadar mixed up with Machin Shin, the black wind that exists inside the corrupted Ways.

All in all, I like the show, and I'm looking forward to more episodes. Still, I'm looking at it from the perspective of someone who's read all the books. I'm left wondering how someone who's never read them will react to the show, especially the first episode, which is my least favorite of the three released today.