A New Player in the Game (Wheel of Time Fan Fiction)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Before the War of Power erupted Taija Kosola had been a physics professor, happily ensconced in research. Like so many other Aes Sedai, the Shadow brought her peaceful, happy existence to an end and pulled her into a war she neither expected nor wanted. She should have died fighting one of the Forsaken during the War of Power, never living to see the final end of the Age of Legends.

What if, instead, she was trapped in a stasis box, freezing her in time until she was finally freed in the Third Age?

Taija is alone without her friends or comrades, with no idea where or when she is or what happened to her. All she has is a determination to live up to her title as a Servant of All and the lost knowledge and skills of her long dead civilisation.

A Wheel of Time fanfiction.

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Readers can expect:

Time travel into a post-apocalyptic future.

A protagonist struggling to adapt to being dropped into a far worse future.

A powerful, but flawed protagonist.

A completed story covering the whole span of the Wheel of Time books.

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Posting schedule: Daily Until Completion (roughly 600k words written)

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2025
Author: TF Warden

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 193
Views: 181,754

Chapters(206 total)

What readers say about A New Player in the Game (Wheel of Time Fan Fiction)

“I was initially hesitant about trying to read this without knowing much about the original fiction, but I’m glad I did. I’m sure I’ve missed out on a lot of subtext, but the author has done a decent amount of work to explain the story/world, especially with…”
BanthorRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Seriously, if you like WoT you should read this fanfic. One of the best characterized fanfics of any IP I've read. The characters still feel like their canon counterparts. MC is smart and strong but not overpowered and offers a fresh perspective of the cano…”
DreadstoneRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

BanthorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I was initially hesitant about trying to read this without knowing much about the original fiction, but I’m glad I did. I’m sure I’ve missed out on a lot of subtext, but the author has done a decent amount of work to explain the story/world, especially with the mc being semi new to the world she finds herself in. I’m not really sure in what ways the original story is impacted by the mc because I haven’t read it, so I can’t say much about that. It is well written overall, and definitely worth a read if you like isekai adjacent stories.
DreadstoneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Seriously, if you like WoT you should read this fanfic.
One of the best characterized fanfics of any IP I've read. The characters still feel like their canon counterparts. MC is smart and strong but not overpowered and offers a fresh perspective of the canon characters and events. The changes to canon make sense and the mc's reasoning is internally consistent. Mc's perspective is really clearly laid out and understandable. Their actions make sense. They don't make the choices that someone with knowledge of the books would make. Their perspective is really clear and fits their level of knowledge AND ignorance. That's hard to balance, especially in a world as expansive as WoT.
Seriously bravo author. Loving this read and chance to have fun in this universe again.
EnigmaniacRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
i have always wanted a wheel of time book but i never knew how it would actually work. TF Warden has done an amazing job of putting a person from the age of legends into the story and showing what it would be like if Rand had a little help. Have thoroughly enjoyed this and always want more.
EodarkRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I really enjoy this story. I mostly love the changes introduced the world. I have been surprised by some of the big moves in the narrative, but approve of active characters rather than slavery to plot.
I do wish we would see more about preparing the nations and people for the last battle. However, I can accept that isn't the story that TF Warden isn't currently telling.
Laxen47Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Since I first finnished reading the original series I've missed the world and the characters in it, and this is the perfect fic to fill that role.
-Keeps true to the character and characters of the original series
-The new protagonist adds alot so it doesn't feel like rote repetition of the original books while still by and large following the same plot points
-Will be fun to see how Taija's actions will influence future events
Bonus points for fun pop culture references, comparing Rahvin to modern manosphere pervs was hilarious.
The only minor gripe I have is that in some places the words get a bit jumbled together, likely a consequence of typing quickly, and simply not checking afterwards. Some passages meant to illustrate a character stuttering are also quite hard to parse.
The biggest improvement from the original series is how the fights are acted out. The author wrote that they were proud of those, and they should be. In the original it was usually fights between two powerhouses of magic simply battering eachother with power, the finer control and such was simply missing in most fights. Thus far all the fights have been fantastic at showcasing fine control, quick turnarounds, and interesting tactics.
Loving it thus far. Tf warden is a fantastic author, both this and Bones in the Dark are great. I have no doubt they'll keep me hooked throughout the whole story.
OverlyCriticalRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There was a bit of fast forwarding through the early books at the start but the focus was always firmly on the OC characters and their personalities. By now it's spun in a completely new direction and it's impossible to even map events to particular books because they're all so different.
Probably the main weakness as far as I am concerned is the extreme focus on Taija. Not that she isn't a cool character but she is clearly the true main character of this story and everything revolves around her. It's strange because much of the WoT major characters are still around and themselves but they almost never get to do something on their own. Its a double edged sword. It keeps the story much more focused and linear without endless slogs where someone is just waiting for the right time to act but still getting chapters. At the same time the world feels much smaller because everything important that happens is somehow related to Taija.
Taija really is a fun character though and she's having interesting effects on the others as well. I would appreciate getting some more focus on Rand, Nynaeve, Egwene so we get a better perspective on how they are different in this iteration. We got a bit of that for Elayne and Matt recently and it was good but too brief. Currently the focus very heavily favors characters from the Age of Legends.
Rangana PereraRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This was an amazing take on WoT! Loved the fact you mixed canon with subtle plots but make it as good as an original. Binged the chapters in 2 days it was that good! Eagerly waiting for the next update. Keep it up, I'm really excited to see where this epic leads 🔥
FoxFace24Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This is such an interesting new perspective on the Wheel of Time series. I am thoroughly enjoying this story and its insights into the Forsaken, the Age of Legends and the MCs opinions of the Aes Sedai. To be perfectly honest, I like this version of Rand better than the kinda whiny kid he was in most of the original series.
LordJJJRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Solid fanfic at the start but just felt like there wasn't much direction and the dialogue started to feel really repetitive. A whole lot happens but nothing apecer did at the same time. It was the first WoT fanfic I've ever read and I think this is a solid go at a daunting world. Lots to dig your teeth into if you are looking for something next
Evil LegendRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
The main character’s behavior is completely inconsistent. The only thing that seems to dictate what she thinks, says, and does at any given moment is the author’s desire to stay within the bounds of the canonical timeline while pretending that some meaningful changes are happening because of the new character (at least, that’s how it reads to me).
Sometimes it gets so absurd that it happens within a single scene — like her first trip using Portal Stones, where she actively interacts with ancient technology and discusses it with others. But as soon as they encounter Lanfear, plot happens, and everyone acts as if they’ve never met or interacted with Taija. Somehow, even her subsequent fight with Lanfear had no lasting impact on the main characters — aside from a brief “wow, you’re alive, we thought you were dead” moment — after which everyone just moved on, never to bring it up again.
Or, in stark contrast, she spends a month walking to a city in the beginning because “oh no, the guy I’m traveling with mustn’t find out.” And yet later she casually tosses Elaida out of a city through a portal, and just one adventure later, she can’t even sit still for a few hours while waiting for the Amyrlin Seat to summon her, complaining of boredom and playing with weaves right in the heart of the Aes Sedai’s power. You literally decided a few chapters ago to walk for a month to preserve your “advantage of secrecy,” and now you can’t wait a couple of hours without fidgeting with the One Power?
Or take the pseudo-drama with Egwene and Elayne — she apparently ignored them for over a month (if I understood correctly?) and then, just as inconsistently, stopped ignoring them.
Other reviews often praise the preservation of the original character traits, and I cringed when I read that. In my view, the only thing this story has preserved from the original cast are their meme-level caricatures. Siuan Sanche apparently cannot utter a single sentence without a fishing metaphor or pun. Moiraine