Rating:  Summary: A new perspective Review: Let me begin by saying that yes, I have read this book, unlike so many other "reviewers" here. And let me say that this book is a good buy for fans of Jordan's series.The book itself is good, if not great, because it lacks some of the characters that made the main stream books so great. No Rand, Mat, Perin or Foresaken. This is the story of two young women being raised to Aes Sedia, and the beggining of their search for the Dragon Reborn. The fact that these Aes Sedia will one day become the Amyrlin Seat and the one who finds the Dragon Reborn twenty years later is important. Here, you get to see the roots for the division of the Tower later, of a Red Aes Sedia's hatred for two Accepted becomes an earth shattering event. You see how the last of the Malkieri becomes bond to as Warder. You see the past of the series, and you get more of Jordan's typical writing, love it or hate it. Am I disapointed this book came out instead of book 11? Yes, of course. Am i disapointed I read this book? Not at all.
Rating:  Summary: New Spring Review: This prequel is nothing short of amazing, it is just as interesting, if not more so, than the series' main sequence. It takes a step back to the very beginning and shows you how two of the greatest Wheel of Time characters started. If you like the series this is a must have!
Rating:  Summary: Dissapointed Review: While I like the Moraine character, as I read this book I kept wondering when something would actually happen. It was nice to get a glimpse of the character's before they assumed the roles that we know them for, but we barely get any actual conflict until the end of the book. This is such a stark contrast to Jordan's earlier books which were action packed and yet still maintained the intrigue that got us hooked. I hope that he can manage to regain the passion he had for this series, because it's been harder and harder to get through the last couple of books.
Rating:  Summary: I feel bad. Review: I feel bad for suggesting Robert Jordan to my friends. Luckily I've redeemed myself by getting them into George R.R. Martin. There's not much more to say that hasn't already been written here. This series was at one time my favorite. It has fallen so low that I don't even think about it much anymore. I'm guessing that Mr. Jordan never comes to sites like this to see what his fans are saying. That's too bad because I'm sure he has lost quite a few with how the more recent books have been. Add to that the prequels and now I'm about ready to give up on him.
Rating:  Summary: JUST FINISH IT!!! Review: First off, I love WoT. I have since I opened the first book. Unfortunately Mr Jordan has decided that the endless bickering of a couple of snot nosed female characters is better reading than the actual storyline. I dont know how many times I can read about Elayne, Egwene and Nynaeve bickering about men and decision making before I just want to start throwing books out the window. And dont get me started on Perrin's "adventure." That character had such awesome potential, and now hes not doing anything but whining about his wife. Matt, well I still like Matt's storyline, but how many pages can 10 miles of travelling really take up? Why not start smacking people, this is MATT were talking about, Im sure he knows how to slap people. But on to New Spring. I bought the thing just to get a breath af fresh air. No Elayne, no Egwene, no Nynaeve, no Faile, no White Tower time wasting... wait. Yes, in this book there is a WHOLE LOT of White Tower time wasting. But, still at least the story moves in this book. The only drawback to this book is that now we have to wait longer for the next 8 trillion pages of WoT to come out so we can skim through until we find something that actually forwards the plot. But if youre a WoT fanatic and you actually want to read a book where *gasp* something HAPPENS, go buy this one. Its a little breath of fresh air in the right world with a little action... but not much.
Rating:  Summary: What a waste of paper pulp Review: This book is a flimsy attempt at continuing RJ's one story career. Running out of delaying tactics, and facing the realization that the story must now be drawn to a close, Jordan stoops to writing a 'prequel'; delaying for yet another year the conclusion of what was once a great story. Its dull and adds very little to the story-that-will-never-die. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK - WAIT UNTIL IT HITS THE USED BOOK STORE. Its only worth the dollar you'll be charged for it there.
Rating:  Summary: Action-packed ! ... especially for longtime fans. Review: Regardless of a few of the low reviews this book has received I feel it is a novel well worth the purchase from the raging battle around the city of Tar Valon to the Keeper foretelling the rebirth of the Dragon, the world's only hope of winning the fight against the Dark One, it's a captivating read especially for longtime fans. Although its not a fast pace novel it does move along at a good pace. All in all I thought it was an excellent book. When you're done reading this one here's another book I'd recommended Dragon Man The Adventures Of Luke Starr ... it's an excellent book from cover to cover ... and it will mesmerize you with its charm.
Rating:  Summary: Excellent Review: I don't see how anyone familiar with the series can dislike this novel. The only problem with it is the length, and I will assume that Jordan has kept it relatively short in order to keep the prequel series paced. Yes, we may know the general events going into the novel. But that's the point of a prequel, to flesh out what we already know. It's wonderful reading from Moiraine's and Lan's points of view, especially to get a view of what they were like when they were younger. The novel does an excellent job developing the two most familiar, yet unknown characters in the series. Regardless of what anyone else says, this novel does have several revelations (and hints of things to come), and if you miss them, it's only your fault, not the author's.
Rating:  Summary: Considerably better than Crossroads of Twilight Review: Those familiar with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series know that a great many readers have something of a love/hate relationship with it. On the one hand, the world in which the story takes place is meticulously constructed, diverse and highly immersive, a true joy to read about. Some of his characters are quite intriguing, and his numerous subplots were always enough to keep readers highly involved. On the other hand, his series has two huge defects. First, almost every single female character is cut from exactly the same mold; Jordan says he wanted to write "strong" women, but what he means is that they behave like arrogant, spoiled teenagers who see men as little more than beasts of burden. I've read a number of strong women in literature, and met a number of them in my life, and none acts the least bit like Jordan's harpies. The second problem is that in the later volumes of the series, "glacial" doesn't even begin to describe the pacing. At least glaciers make progress once in awhile. New Spring, thankfully, rectifies the latter problem. It moves along at a fine pace, keeping the reader interested from beginning to end. It's a measure of the depth of Jordan's story that even those of us who have read through the whole Wheel of Time series numerous times can find plenty of interest in this latest volume. A number of long-standing questions are resolved to greater or lesser extent in this book: - What history does Elaida have with Moiraine and Siuan? - What is the nature of the test to become full Aes Sedai? - What happened to the other Malkieri following the fall of their nation? - Why does Siuan suspect that Cadsuane is Black Ajah? - What was the "unpleasantness" following the Aiel War that Cadsuane has referred to? - How did Moiraine meet Lan? - What was Lan's life like before he met Moiraine? - How was the Tower involved in the fall of Malkier? As you probably know, New Spring first appeared in short story form quite some time ago, and sometime following its release, Jordan's publishers at Tor convinced him to expand it into a novel, since he had told them that there was a great deal of the story he had to leave out in order to fit it into the space he was given. Keep in mind that I have never read the compressed version of this book, so I cannot compare the two, and tell you what was added or expanded in the novel form. However, the book doesn't read like a very short story that's been lengthened to fit a higher page count, not at all. The other thing of note is that a number of sections in this book are written with Lan as the point-of-view character, which is an interesting experience, since I don't think Jordan has ever used him as such in the standard Wheel of Time books. Lan's character is already much as it will be about eighteen years later, when the opening events of the series proper take place, but the look into his mind is still fun. The other main characters, Moiraine and Siuan, do show a little difference from their older counterparts that we're used to. Moiraine in particular is interesting to read, as she really comes across as a younger version of herself: determined and capable of great focus, but yet to attain the dignity and composure we're used to seeing from her. Siuan is a bit of a different story -- she seems to change rather rapidly after becoming Aes Sedai -- but it's still interesting seeing her as a younger woman. In summary, despite some of the low reviews it's received, this book is well worth the purchase for Wheel of Time fans who miss the much better pacing of the first several books of the series. I wouldn't strongly recommend reading it if you've never read Jordan before, as it's better to have the background information from his full-size novels first, but if you're set on doing so, you should be able to pick up enough to keep from getting lost. An excellent purchase.
Rating:  Summary: Oh no he did it again ! Review: To explain the rating (1 star) , it is necessary to explain what some reviewers seem to have missed , that there are 2 categories of readers of this book . 1)Those who have read the WoT untill the bitter (preliminary) end of the CoT . 2) Those who have not . I belong to the first category . Follows that I know already everything about the plot , the characters and the style of the author . I am not really surprised that the Dragon is reborn - in my world he's already cleaned the Saidin . I am not really surprised that there is a Black Ajah - in my world they have been hunted for a long time . Sure there are some minor details that are added to fill up in order to get a short novel . Those details don't make it a worthy read and surely not worth the money . It's like you study the history of the Napoleonian period and somebody comes and tells you :"Hey , I can fill you in what was the young Murat like between 1793 and 1794 . Gimme 20 $ and I tell you the story ." You'd probably send him to hell and rightly so . Besides I was extremely irritated by what seemed to be an obvious attempt at putting a story in a movie scenario format . Conclusion : if you are from the first category , you should stay away from this rather useless book . . Unless of course you are so hooked on Jordan that you don't care about anything as long as it's signed Jordan . If you are of the second category , it's a short fantasy novel of average quality and it might be rated 2 or perhaps even 3 . But then why not to go directly to great authors like G.R.R Martin or S.Erikson ?
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