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Rating: 
Summary: nice return
Review: ***3.5 stars***Just when it looked as if the Wheel of Time series was going nowhere and no longer worth reading, Jordan comes back with the entertaining Lord of Chaos. Plenty of problems persist -- Jordan's not much of a writer, it's too long, and some of the characters are caricatures -- but enough things are improved over the previous two volumes to make the book recommendable. One of the best changes is that Jordan brings back the bad guys. A problem with recent books, IMO, was that Jordan didn't spend nearly enough time on the activities of the evil powers in the world that he created, and little of their plotting was revealed. SciFi/fantasy books need good villains to succeed, and considering how unlikeable or boring most of the good guys are most of the time, Jordan needs to keep the evil-doers present in order to generate interest, and he does it here. Furthermore, Rand has finally emerged here as an interesting character. He's nothing like the Rand of the first two books, and I guess that's the point. Anyway, Jordan has found a way to make Rand a sort of haunted, complex anti-hero type, and this measurably improves all of the chapters in which he appears. Also, unlike the previous two books, this one gets back to good plotting, good pacing and creating a sense of unity. In other words, after reading Lord of Chaos, you actually feel like you read a book instead of 1000 pages containing randomglimpses of something much bigger. Sure, ther was a 200-250 page section of bloat in the middle of the book where things started to bog down and began to lose my interest, but everything picked up again and moved toward a very exciting climax.
I do wish that Jordan wouldn't be so obvious in his "twists" and be subtle about such things. I mean, the whole idea of Mazrim Taim and the Ashaman is a really good one, but the prologue gives away what is actually going on, and this is really too bad. Jordan does this all the time, and you wonder if he is either really underestimating his audience, or just doesn't know how allow such things to develop naturally and without undue clues. (In case you haven't figured out one of his techniques, 90% of the time that a character vehemently denies something, you know it will actually happen later on).
Still, this is a pretty good book, and is good enough to be considered on the same level as books 2 and 3, IMO.
Rating: 
Summary: A long but good read
Review:
The sixth book of WOT series is one of the best in the series. Although it somewhat bores readers with repeats that is not necessary, but if you've read tireless bambling about nothing (half the book is about things readers already know) in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series before this then you'll learn to appreciate Jordan trying to be as short as possible while informing new comers who's skipped through several books in the series. I don't see how that's possible considering how complicated the series is however. And the battle of sexes in the book was refreshing at the beginning but now it's a little tiring. Also Jordan is trying to carry too many plots at once within the series and sometimes it's too confusing for readers and it's probably confusing Jordan himself since some of the plots mentioned at the beginning gets forgotten long into the series. And so many changes of viewpoints is frustrating as well.
As he has shown throughout the series, I feel that his climax is a bit rushed in all the books. It goes on and on about certain things then doesn't leave enough space for the climax and ending to be as effective as possible. He should cut down on descriptions that don't give the reader anything but more words to read and give more to the climax and the ending, which is some of most important parts of a fiction.
And it's about time Padan Fain gets killed or something, I am sick and tired of his obsession with Rand al'Thor. Let them end it somehow. I would find a great pleasure in learning it ended in book seven or eight. (I felt some satisfaction at seeing Pedron Niall get killed at the beginning of book seven though.) And nine books in a series is about enough.
Overall, it's not as great as some people make it out to be but it's still a good read and it deserves a four-star.
Rating:
Summary: The struggle to unite the nations for the Last Battle
Review: Book Six of Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series, Lord Of Chaos is a two cassette, 2.75 hour, digitally mastered, abridged audiobook that continues the story of Rand al'Thor and his struggle to unite the nations for the Last Battle when the Dark One will break free into the world to spring the snares laid by the immortal forsaken to the detriment of an unwary humankind. Robert Jordan is an accomplished and original author whose popularity increases with every title he writes. Highly recommended, this flawless audiobook production is enhanced with the narrative talent of Mark Rolston.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost perfect.
Review: Despite all its faults, the WOT series is still the best I've ever read, bar none (even though, having done the math, I figure the last volume won't be out for another 12 years). By the time he finishes the series I sincerely hope Mr. Jordan finally learns not to stereotype men and women so much. The women can hardly speak without making some insult to the entire male gender, and the men (for all their common sense) just let themselves be bullied around. Otherwise the writing is mostly good. The later books in the WOT series have suffered from the Frank Herbert Syndrome (where everyone stands around and talks for dozens and dozens of pages where absolutely nothing happens), and so there's a lot less action. I understand the need for some explanations, but do we have to read through every detail of everyone's thoughts, when we've already been through it all before? My only other complaint is that he stays with the same characters for several chapters in a row, until I start thinking "Ok, but what's going on with everyone else?!?" Some of the characters are ignored for a whole book at a time. I didn't mean for this to turn into a rant, but these are the faults I've seen with the series from book 5 onward. The whole series still is definitely worth all the time and money despite these flaws; it's still the best I've ever read. If Jordan can just work on making some of these things better, the rest of the series can be damn near perfect.
Rating:
Summary: One of the better books in the series
Review: The reason that I first picked up the first book of the Wheel of Time series, was that I was waiting for Temple of Winds to come out. I have grown to trust Tor Fantasy as a decent source of reading, and I had heard good things about Jordan's work, most of all the Wheel of Time series. To tell the truth, Eye of the World was not a very interesting read. The world that Jordan did display was impressive, though. I finished the next 5 books rather quickly, and I believe that Lord of Chaos is one of the better reads. The institution of the Black Tower was my personal favorite, and I must say that I am looking forward to Crown of Swords. The complaints that Jordan's stories are drawn out are justified. I agree that most of these books could be about 200 pages shorter, but the world of the Wheel of Time, is definitely worth the extra pages. Overall, a very interesting read, worthy of the cost of this series.
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