Rating: 
Summary: FAN TIRED OF BEING RIPPED OFF!
Review: ROBERT JORDAN SHOULD REREAD HIS FIRST SEVEN BOOKS.THEN MAYBE HE'LL BE ABLE TO ADVANCE THE CHARACTERS AND STORY LINE TO IT"S RIGHTFUL END.WORD TO THE WISE RJ ;STOP RIPPING OFF WHAT READERS YOU HAVE LEFT!
Rating: 
Summary: Not great, but better than the last 4
Review: I hope Jordan/Oliver is reading these reviews. This book is at least tolerable because it is focused ... shocking but true .... it has a beginning, middle and an end. It suffers from some of the flaws of the Eye of the World series: it is full of characters (mostly Aes Sedai chicks) who are carbon copies of one another and do nothing to advance the plot; the plot devices are shallow; and the ending is silly -- in a paragragh Moiraine and Siuan patch together an extraodinary conspiracy. (Ann Coulter is obviously Aes Sedai.) Lan is an afterthought in the book, just another puppet of the Tower, albeit a swashbuckling one. But the book does have something that gives me hope, it has some of the charm of the first 4 or 5 books of the series, before Jordan/Oliver started milking it. The New Spring needs editing badly, but TOR apparently decided that they wouldn't bother years ago. (the fact that Jordan/Oliver is married to his editor probably has something to do with this.) But here's the deal: the book is fun. And blessedly free of any Forsaken, who Jordan keeps recycling book after book after book....Which is more than can be said since Lord of Chaos. So go ahead. Read it. It won't hurt like Path of Daggers... Winter's Heart... Crossroads.... ouch. It just hurts to say the titles.
Rating:
Summary: Bored....
Review: When I first picked up the Eye of the World, I didn't know what to expect. I was captivated by Jordan's smooth writing style that keeps you turning pages. As I progressed into the series into books 6-7 I felt Jordan needed to wrap it up soon, he was getting long winded and the story wasn't going anywhere. So I figured I would just wait until the end of the series to pick it up again. But Jordan wants to milk a cow that is out of milk. From the reviews I have read on amazon.com I am not the only one thinking Jordan should finish the series in 1, 2, 3 books at the most. I think the reason it sometimes takes him 2-3 years to write a book is that he is out of ideas. So he writes a short(by his standards) prequel to hold the reader of. He now numbers 2 or 3 prequels but the end is still no where in site. Do yourself a favor, save your money, wait until the entire series is finished, then buy the entire series.
Rating: 
Summary: A Jordan and Tor Publishing Rip Off
Review: I cannot review a book that I have no intention of buying...What nerve for Jordan to release this prequel to a novel that he hasn't even finished...to think of all the time he wasted writing this instead of moving ahead with the novel...I'm sorry, but anyone who purchases this fits right in with P.T. Barnum's old addage: "THERE'S A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE!"...Jordan has turned into a greedy and selfish hack who has no concern or loyalty to the many readers that made his books a success in the first place...Too bad they do not allow giving 0 stars as being forced to give it 1 star makes me ill!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, not what was wanted, but not bad.
Review: As a book, it's typical of Jordan's writing. The same cliches exist, the same problems with his writing style, the lengthy and unnessecary prose, but other than that it's a good book. It's not the NEXT in the series we are all waiting to finally read the end of, and it's not even the next book before the end, nor does it lay any new groundwork. All it does, is attempt to cash in further on the WOT series and milk more cash from the cow. Note to Robert Jordan. The cow is almost dry. Your readers are becoming irritated with the story and are turning elsewhere for entertainment, notice declining sales figures and read between the lines. You have alienated your readers, get back on track, and they MAY return.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: After I read New Spring, I took a deep breath of renewed hope. Robert Jordan had won my loyalty once again. After treading through the declining pace of his previous novels, I had begun to think that Robert Jordan had lost the richly complex but simple tone to his books. I was becoming weary of his "filler" paragraphs describing events that just aren't interesting. New Spring has proven to me that Robert Jordan is still the best of the best. This book gets momentum rolling that I dearly missed from this series. I recommend this to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: The Backstory of Moiraine
Review: New Spring is a prequel to the Wheel of Time series. A decade before The Eye of the World, the Lady Moiraine Damodred is a niece of the King of Cairhien, but she is also an Accepted of the White Tower. Together with her closest friend Siuan Sanche, she is on duty in the Amyrlin's sitting room when Gitara Moroso, the Keeper of the Chronicles, has a Foretelling of the Dragon Reborn taking his first breath on the slope of Dragonmount and then drops dead. Tamra Ospenya, the Amyrlin Seat of the Aes Sedai, warns them to tell no one and dismisses them from their watch. In this novel, the Amyrlin sends out all the Accepted to record the names of the babies born in the vicinity of Dragonmount within the previous few days and, on the first day, Moiraine and Siuan are assigned together to gather such names in one of the camps. However, Siuan arranges for her to stay behind on the second day to rewrite the nearly illegible lists and, of course, Siuan also has to stay behind to help her. Despite Moiraine's advantage in schooling, Siuan is much better at solving puzzles and has realized that they will have a better chance of discovering the identity of the Dragon Reborn from the lists than by taking names in the field. The Dragon Reborn becomes as obsession with Moiraine; she even has nightmares about the coming war against the Dark One. Siuan shares in her obession and her nightmares, although to a lesser extent. They start exchanging possibilities and keeping records in small books which they keep on their persons while awake. They make secret plans for their search after they pass their trials. After they become Aes Sedai, however, Moiraine and Siuan find themselves unable to leave the Tower for any extended length of time. They are assigned duties which keep them busy and close to the Tower. They know that others are searching, but they are frustrated in their own attempts. Then they discover evidence that the Black Ajah is also looking. In this novel, Moiraine finds her vocation in searching for the Dragon Unborn. She also meets Lan Mandragoran, who has a problem of his own to solve and distrusts Aes Sedai. Siuan gains access to the Blue Ajah's Eyes and Ears and looks for signs of the Dragon Reborn. If you have not previously read the Wheel of Time series, start with this one (or whatever is the earliest prequel). It fills in much of the backstory of the Aes Sedai immediately prior to the first volume in the Wheel of Time. While the side story herein provides hints about Lan and the Borderers, the full history of Malkier and Lan's ancestors is worthy of another prequel. Moreover, the story of the Dragon himself is barely mentioned, so that is another possible prequel. Highly recommended for Jordan fans and for anyone who enjoys tales of high intrique, daring youngsters, and complicated magic. -Arthur W. Jordin
Rating:
Summary: New hope for WOT future...
Review: Jordan's first prequel, New Spring, drifts eloquently back to the style and verve generated in his opening three novels of the Wheel of Time series (which I understand only has two more volumes to come). Recent installations have suffered from being high on fill and low on action but with this (for Jordan) considerably shrunk single tome, a lot of fill vanishes along with a distinct lack of braid tugging. It comes as minor relief to realise that Jordan hasn't lost any of his ability for providing a story that pulls no punches in its raw talent.
New Spring takes us back to the time of Rand al'Thor's birth when both Moraine Demandred and Siuan Sanche are young Accepted at Tar Valon, days before their calling to take their tests for elevation to Aes Sedai. Whilst the story threads its neat way through the politics that surrounds their elevation and the foretold birth by Gitara Sedai, we get occasional snippets from Al'Lan Mandragoran who is attempting to force a thousand Aiel from the Waste to battle.
The first half of the story focuses on the pair becoming Aes Sedai, verbal scuffles with seamstresses, carrying out a census of all newborn children in an attempt to locate the genuine Dragon Reborn, the odd enforced penance and the deaths of the current Amyrlin Seat and Keeper of the Stole. All the time, Moiraine is planning to leave Tar Valon which she does by the novella's midpoint, arriving at the town of Canluum at the same time Lan arrives with Bukama.
After a run-in with the ever icy Cadsuane and Siuan's turning up speaking of multiple Aes Sedai deaths, Moraine leaves Canluum and promptly comes across Lan, Bukama and Ryne. A childish episode involving a lot of water and some flopping fish means that the 'Lady Alys' takes their protection to the town of Chachin. It is here that the climax builds as Siuan and Moiraine end up discovering Lan's claim to the throne of Malkier, discovering Merean Sedai is black Ajah and both Lan and Moiraine end up in personal duels on a parapet. It concludes with the two joining, Lan as Moiraine's Warder.
The story of Moraine was an obvious choice for Jordan to commence his prequels and provides a necessary expansion on the lady who had some much impact in the opening books of The Wheel of Time and on the ta'varen, Rand, Mat and Perrin. I confess I was not aware this was a substantially rewritten expansion on a previous short story but having not read that made absolutely no difference to my enjoyment of this latest effort. If indeed, there are only two more Wheel of Time books to come, then my enthusiasm to get them has been reestablished.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good!
Review: When will this series end?!? Somewhere in middle of reading this book I had a Foretelling of my own- it involved being old, rocking in my chair, and reading the latest WOT novel to my great-grandchildren... Anyways, whoever said this series starting going downhill after book 5 was spot on. But still, this is a great book if you are a true fan of this series! It's great to read in details things mentioned in passing before. Although I have to wonder why Jordan didn't write an Age of Legends prequel instead. Maybe for the next century?
Rating:
Summary: Why he's making a prequal you ask?
Review: The reason why he's making a prequal is because of the success of the LoTR movies. He realizes that there's no way he can make a movie out of the bloated, out of control storyline so he decides to make a prequal trilogy that can be told on the big screen. I think he's milking this cash cow as hard as he can... too bad, I used to think he was a great writer (well, he still is) but he doesn't have any of my respect. He doesn't care about the fans, he cares about the all powerful dollar. I can't believe at one point I wished the series never ends... now I want to see it buried and done with.
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