Robert Jordan's The Wheel Of Time

[Lord Wudious]

This is another fantasy book writen by Robert Jordan. It is a 10 book story about three boys and their exploits and adventures as they journey through the lands to defeat the Dark One.

Its very interesting and very descriptive, especially when it concerns the surroundings and the people.

Short Synopsis:

Book one of the Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World, tells of three boys, Rand, Mat and Perrin, simple village folk that does not want to have anything to do with the troubles of the outside world, got whisked away to an adventure when their village was attacked by some evil creatures. Namely, a Myrdraal and dozens of Trollocs.

The three boys, accompanied by an Aes Sedai (Humans that have the ability to summon powers to aid them. The only thing about Aes Sedai is only women can summon the powers) called Moraine, a Warder (Warriors who fight alongside an Aes Sedai against the Dark One) name Lan, a village girl named Egwene and a gleeman (An entertainer) travelled far and wide across the land until they reached the borders of the enemy, where they fought with the Dark One and won.

[Rhyden]

Well, WoT started out as a 10 book epic, now stretching to 12!! And Book 12 should be out in perhaps 1-2 years time.

As a longtime WoT fan, I both love and hate the series. I would unconditionally ask the members of this forum to read Book 1 - 4 but after that... *shrugs* each to his own. But of course, the following are just my personal opinion (albeit much much shorter than my normal rants about WoT ).

The problem with Jordan is that he often chases after so many minor plotlines and developments, sometimes it is just too easy for readers to lose track of what is really going on. Without a doubt, book 1-4 are spectacular pieces that keeps you awake at 3am, frantically flipping the pages, desperate to know what will happen next.

I would rather pretend that books 5 to 6 never happened because they were so tedious I was about to lose hope in the man. They feel like he is desperately trying to stretch the books to 12 at all costs even to the frustration of his readers. Book 7 was much improved but no where close to the master I know that Jordan was. Books 8-9 were superb... almost as good as the first four books. He is baaack... folks. Yay yay! ;D

But what can I honestly say about Book 10, Crossroad of Twilight... Jordan went back to his Book 5-6 excesses again and meandered off the track, plying the readers with so many new characters and side plots, your head probably start to seriously ache after the first 120 pages. I feel somewhat cheated after spending so many hours on reading and actually buying the book. I have a very strong stomach for descriptive sentences, since it is an indulgence I frequently wallow in myself , but there is a limit to my tolerance. I don't think Jordan ever heard of the term information and sensory overload. Thank goodness I learnt my lesson after Book 6 and refused to purchase anymore HC from this author unless I really liked that particular book. The truth is if you start with a low, low, low, low expectation, the book isn't half bad. If you are expecting tEotW and its ilk... look elsewhere.

The newest book, Knife of Heaven was released in in the States early October. The reviews are decent so far... much better than the trashing than what CoT got but that is not saying much. I don't think it is on the local bookshelves yet... I know I would read the HC first and only buy the PB since I cannot bear not having all 12 books after being a fan for so many years. Personally, I just hope Jordan would finally stop screwing around with the series and get on with it!

[Lord Wudious]

Nice to see someone else who likes WoT here. I've read until book 4 so I haven't got the next 7 books yet. If you don't mind, um... the 11th book is called Knife of Dreams and I saw one copy being sold in MPH Summit, USJ.

[Rhyden]

*laughs wryly* I just found that out myself... when I was at the bookstores hunting for GRRM's latest high and low. And my apologies from the wrong title... was reading something else when I was typing here and I didn't realised that I have typed 'Heaven' rather than 'Dreams'! ACK! hehehe.

Those 4 books IMHO are still his very best stuff... I am hoping the last two will leave me gasping and howling for more.

Oh goodie... another book for my Christmas list and it is starting to look a little obscene at the rate I am adding to it each time I waltz through Borders or Kino. ;D Yes, I am hopeless... I said I won't buy the HB but the sheer temptation...

[Lord Wudious]

You can say that again... So many books... So little time...