The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan is so vast that the lazy cheat inside me said:

'wait until a streaming service makes a TV show out of it, spending vast sums of money, so that all you have to do is lie on the sofa and stare at a screen, then 20 books of adventure and lore can be beamed into your brain for no effort.'

This is what I started on Monday night, having noticed some time ago that Amazon, like some vast media Ungoliant the world eating spider (also reading the Silmarillion at the moment), had bought up the rights to the books.

Well, I can safely say that it was one of those periodic underwelming experiences, no Phantom Menace, no Hobbit (that goes beyond what is typically thought of as underwhelming), but certainly I struggled to find the motivation to shrug.

Perhaps the books are great and the screen adaptation isn't, I guess I shall never know, but it began with a reference to a feared and reviled 'dark lord' (of which, in fantasy literature, there are many), who commands an army of cloven hooved monsters that turn up to find a chosen one and, er, well, er...magicky things abound etc.

Maybe I'm being harsh, but a good story is all about the set up and I am a fan of the long and carefully told story and this seemed hastily (and, it would appear from the sets, expensively) thrown together.

It seems an odd choice for them to go with the Wheel of Time, a year before they launch their own Tolkien show, but on some level I'm guessing Jeff Bezos knows what he's doing what with the half a trillions dollars in the bank.

Anyway, there's always more to this newsletter than my ascerbic take on the state of fantasy TV, oh yes indeed, so very much more.

On Friday, we launch the first One Dollar One Shot, giving you a complete adventure each fortnight with maps and other cool odds and ends, all for the bargain price of $1.

Make sure you jump on this when it goes live and if you haven't downloaded your Arclands Starter Set, we’ll include a copy for you.

Check it out Friday,

Nick at Verse