Rating: 
Summary: Jail time deserved for reader abuse?
Review: At least I think Jordan deserves jail time for reader abuse. I won't repeat again what a good portion of the existing reviews have already said. But I do have a suggestion for those of you who regret purchasing this book. If your book is in like-new condition and you still have your receipt, TAKE IT BACK. I did. Send a message to both Mr. Robert "show me your money" Jordan AND his publisher, who should be held equally culpable for publishing this piece of <bleep>. If Tor had shown some backbone and stopped bowing to their own version of the money-god, if the editors had put their foot down and refused to accept it, maybe this would have eventually been a real book instead of...whatever it is. I'd not call it a novel by any stretch of the imagination.
Rating:
Summary: Ow....
Review: Like the farce that are the new Star Wars movies, Jordan's last 3 books are heading down the "same tired formula, lack of substance" road. For those few (and very few I might add) reviews that praised the slow, plodding movement of the story as something worthy of good fantasy and imagination, let me point out a few things....even when he was writing well, the character interaction and plot development were wonderful, but placed on a cardboard cutout backdrop. Every city 95% consists of palaces and inns....and even the inns are fairly generic. Now that there is very little plot development and very predictable character interaction, the books drag uselessly on. Stories are not only supposed to be imaginative, innovative, etc., but they should also entertain the reader. I could write a 600 page book about the woes of my commute to work today, but why would anyone want to read it.....no matter how well I wrote the thing. No....either, this is just a poor excuse to make money, or... Jordan is so into the personal exploration of his story, that the interest his earlier efforts generated have fallen low on his priority scale. I could say the same about Lucas....and like Star Wars, I will likely pony up the cash to see the next installment, despite my great disappointment and lack of optimism of the story's redemption.
Rating:
Summary: Weapons-grade Boredom
Review: With artistic skill, Robert Jordan makes Ethan Frohme look like a superhero. I was so inflicted with boredom from reading this book that I can now only see in shades of grey. Let's distribute this book to the military and bore every nation into submission and then issue future installments to keep everyone in line. RJ should really reconsider his profession; he has lost his passion for writing lively, interesting, purposeful literature and instead opts for complacency and mindless minutiae. His superhuman attention to detail would make him a kick-...quality control employee counting gravel, which is what I wished I was doing after 100 pages. Professionally, this book was nothing short of a noose for RJ. Nobody wants to pick up a series around book ten, and anybody picking up book one in a protracted fantasy epic will certainly read a few reviews...why begin reading over 6,000 pages when it's clear the author goes Walden around page 4,800? I hope that RJ will impart sympathy to his fans and grant them the one thing that they need more than anything: Book eleven and the words "The End."
Rating: 
Summary: Perception is Everything
Review: I began reading the book after reading the customer's reviews. The reviews made me expect the book to be terrible and I expected the drawn out story. This perception helped me to really try to get as much out of the book as possible. The book really is a "Crossroad" of decision making for the main characters. I was really impressed at the level of detail Jordan went into in the way that the characters took different pieces of information and made decisions based on the information. As always, much of the plot within the Jordan novels involves "ignorance" by the main characters in relation to what the other main characters are doing. Many of the problems within the novels can quickly be solved if the characters bothered to openly communicate with the other characters. Yet, Jordan's explanation of the thought process each character uses was very interesting. The main thing that makes me come back to the series is waiting for the time when the characters finally get together and discover that their intentions are the same and that their goals match in many ways. I am wondering how the characters will react once they discover this, which I hope will be very climatic. If you like delving into psychology and how people think, you may want to try to take this perspective when reading this installment.
Rating:
Summary: Poor but I still have some hope
Review: I feel I could have skipped this book in the series and miss out on nothing. Most everyone stays in the same situation they began in. The Elayne story was boring at best. The others were okay. Some parts were written very well and others left much to be desired.
Rating:
Summary: the required book
Review: This book is setting up the final dash to the end of the story. Despite all the nay sayers the plot did advance although not as much as i had hoped. It is also the first time in the entire series we arrive at a book where the major plot lines are converging.
Rating:
Summary: The Waste of Time series
Review: Way back in 1994, I noticed the Robert Jordan "Wheel of Time" novels. There were three out at the time and I thought to myself: "A complete trilogy! How convenient. I can't stand to read a book and realize there are two sequels yet to come. I think I'll buy them all, read them back to back and be done with them." I read them, enjoyed them, and was much chagrined when I reached the end of the third novel only to realize that the series wasn't done. I would have to wait for a fourth novel. I was stoked when the fourth novel came out. Finally, I could find out how the series ended. And then I reached the end of that novel. And then the fifth. And the sixth. And seventh... Well, the 10th book in the series was finally released this month, and I hate to say it, but this series may never end. Don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed the novels, for the most part. They were and are original, creative, and incredibly detailed. There-in lies the problem. After 9 novels, there have been so many detailed characters, places, events, etc. that, unless you go back and re-read the previous novels, you don't remember exactly how everyone relates to one another. Of course, you can assume that all of the women are stony harridans or doe-eyed rabbits, and all the men are frustrated and harrassed by all the women, and each is more powerful and dangerous than the next, but at least he deals with women, and that is something for fantasy novels. While I did enjoy the novels, I have no intention of spending the next three months catching up before reading the latest. Jordan also feels that each major character needs to have his or her own story told, which is fine, but Jordan is still introducing new characters and story lines. In fact, he is so busy introducing new characters and story lines that you get the feeling that he's forgotten where he was going in the first place. The book is totally stagnant and there is no movement. It even takes a few steps back! Nothing happens in the entire book. Nothing. I mean it. No exaggeration. If you read the 9th book in the series and want to skip this one and pick up with the 11th when it is out, you won't miss anything. Really. I mean it. If you don't believe me, read the book. All the plot lines are left essentially where they were when the 9th book ended, and some of those didn't even make it into the 10th book. It's like the book was written almost entirely as filler, a means of extending the series without having to do anything like start to wrap things up. I even think that maybe Jordan inserted this book simply to make more money off the series. Hey, if you can sell millions of copies of each book, why would you ever want to end it? It's a money machine! People want to know how it turns out at the end! People have invested a lot of time to get this far, why would they turn away now? Who knows? Maybe he just wrote it to fulfill contractual obligations or something like that. All-in-all, this is by far the worst novel in the series. I was very disappointed, because I do genuinely like the series. After reading this book, I am seriously debating just giving the rest of the series a miss, or picking up the remaining novels in paperback when the series is truly-and-for-real finished. I do enjoy the series, but I was offended by the latest shoddy offering, especially after forking over $...bucks for the hardcover. If you really want to read the novel, wait until the paperback is out, or get it at the library.
Rating: 
Summary: The drag-on is reborn. Or at least rehashed.
Review: Yep. Like they all said, it's the Bride of the Son of the Dance of Swords. If you're even reading this review, you are one of the millions like me. Jordan's first half dozen volumes came, you saw them, and you were conquered. So we *will* keep slogging through these things, because we can't help but care about how those characters we became enthralled with so long ago ultimately make out. Even though there's precious little lately to keep us caring. I'll give it two and a half stars. There are no mighty events anywhere, and (except for the mystery of the ravaged town where Perrin travels for supplies) no new plot elements. Still, several major decisions are ultimately made; and Mat's storyline, gingerly romancing the Seanchan princess he accidentally kidnapped in the last book, is quite enjoyable. But this one makes me worry deeply about the subsequent installments. Winter's Heart had me hoping for an upcoming return to form, but now I have to wonder if Jordan has completely forgotten what fascinates readers. It's not being told, for each and every one of thirty Caemlyn courtiers, which ones have embroidery that clashes with their surcoats. And it's not being told, for each and every one of fifty Aes Sedai, which one will win a who-has-the-haughtiest-stare contest with each of the others. And it's not straining to remember, from the last volume but one, which minor character was a Darkfriend, and which one with a virtually identical name was a trustworthy hero. It's not really true that *nothing* happens in this volume. If Mr. Jordan had sliced out all the page-filling tactics I just mentioned, we'd have had a talky but entirely engaging 300 page episode. My sense of wonder is not nourished by breathless observations of sartorial and pecking-order detail that could be transposed verbatim into a tale of triumph and heartbreak at an antebellum Savannah grand cotillion. When volume 11 comes out, I'll wait for the paperback. It'll be easier on my wallet - and then I can go straight on to the 12th (if I still haven't given up, and I suspect I won't have) with a bit sharper recollection of which indistinguishable windfinder is apprenticed to the Kin with which distinctive hairdo.
Rating:
Summary: Summary
Review: I can basically summarize the whole story in one line.
Winter is almost over lets wait til Spring (aka next book) before we do anything. However, ignoring the snail's pace of the book, I must admit it is very well written. That is the reason why I gave it more than 1 star. However, if you do not find good grammar exciting or gratifying I do suggest you skip this book entirely. With nothing happening in this book, you won't miss a beat by reading the next book.
Rating:
Summary: Now what I expeted.
Review: I truly appreciate Robert Jordans books. I have been following this series for years now. Each book always left you with a sense of "whats gonna happen next... or is he a dark one..." This book on the other hand just left me exasperated. Jordon strung everyone far to much in this book. He hardly touches on Rand. The action is NONE. He does a great job of establishing characters and closing some gaps left open from previous books however this book just leaves you dry. It almost make you not want to know what happens next. Its a good read as all Jordan books are, just seriously lacking in adventure or fantasy.
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