Rating: 
Summary: Help! I'm trapped in a menagerie with Nynaeve!
Review: Or so it will seem to the reader while reading this book. The promise of the WOT is amazing but squandered hopelessly. If every book was written like the prologue to the Eye of the World, this series would have been more than great. As it stands, Jordan seems to find the need to write badly, sloppily, with complex yet dull plots and dull characters who love to complain.Around this time the series turns quite sour. I didn't bother to read the rest of the books- just skimmed through the endings at the local library. So here's a short description of what happens in this book. Forsaken scheme and plot. Rand is trying to lead the Aiel out of the waste. Nynaeve and Elayne are wandering the countryside trying to report back to the Amyrlin. Forsaken scheme and plot some more. Nynaeve and Elayne join a menagerie and bicker (no, not bicker, BICKER) for 500 pages. Rand finally leads the Aiel out of the waste. And then BANG, the ending, and the next book. There are some VERY well written scenes in this book- the part by the caravans near the end, for example. But there are so many flaws, and so many pages and pages of nonsense that must be trudged through, that its just not worth it. In addition to the utterly boring female characters (apart from Moiraine) and the dull plots involving travelling circus adventures, you will be subjected to endless verbiage about the World of Dreams and cleavage. Yes, cleavage. And nudity to a lesser extent. Jordan apparently can't get enough of cleavage. No description of cleavage possible is left out. About once every 3 sentences in any chapter involving women we have cleavage. If you positively must read this book, do yourself a favor and read the following parts only: 1. the one chapter with the forsaken in it at the beginning.
2. the chapter called "the Far Snows"
3. the chapter with the battle and Mat
4. the chapter with the scene near the caravans (its near the end) and everything after that.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book but Jordan is starting to slip.
Review: I thought The Fires of Heaven was a good book. But Jordan is starting to slip. It seems that Jordan is repeating himself. But when I finished this book it seemed to me that the six book was going to be better.
Rating:
Summary: Great but the Women Need to Go
Review: Let me start off by saying that this really is a great book in a great series. This is the first time I have reviewed one of these books. The plot developes in this one and Jordan tells a great story with a lot detail. But there is one thing I have to get off of my chest that drives me crazy and I don't care what anyone else says, I hate the women in this book They are all arrogant, femenistic, and have constant PMS. I'm not just saying this because I'm a guy; they are all insane except one...and she dies in this book! (but I won't say who that is) The women all want to control the men, who they feel are useless even though they are rescued by one whenever they get into trouble. They "sniff" whenever spoken to and Nynaeve(sp?) is tugging her braid. They have petty arguments and seem to hate all men considering them "woolheads" and yet, all that is ever written is how their necklines swoop in the Dream World when thinking about the man they love (by love i mean those they call a wool head the most) Which brings me to my next point. Jordan's obsession with sex and breasts and necklines and bosoms and shifts........ I mean its like he 15 years old the way he can't metion a women without saying she is wearing a sweaty shift and how low-cut her dress is. The dreamworld is the worse for this. And when they wake up, rest assured you will get a description of how they have a ring "nestled between their sweaty breasts." That is a pretty nice description except it seems very out of place. It seems like all Nynaeve worries about is how much cleavege she (and every other women) is showing. Jordan can't metion a women without saying she is undressing or in her shift or in a tight, lowcut, or clinging outfit. This book has too much senseless mentiong of sexuality it doesn't get a 5th star. The sex doesn't do much if you can ignore but it can get anoying,(so can almost every women in this book) GREAT BOOK BUT THE WOMEN NEED TO CHANGE
Rating: 
Summary: Instant Classic
Review: holy cow! i could just die, i love this series so much! however, i give the fifth installment in the series only 4 stars, or actually, i would give it 4.5 stars because, i felt the story line was weighted down by a little toooooo much detail & history. the story is still incredible, there are still amazing & surprising turns everywhere, but the story seemed weighted down by too many words. but i still LOVE this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't get this!
Review: Close to two years ago, I started reading The Wheel of Time series. I was pretty hooked once I read The Eye of the World. Now, four books later, here I am at The Fires of Heaven. I started this book OVER a year ago. Over the months, I have trudged my way through this book page by page at some points. Jordan had a solid storyline going for him, so where did he go wrong? Here are a few things that may answer this. First and foremost, he seems to have become completely convinced that the quantity of pages in each book outweighs the quality of them. The first book was around 800 pages. Thats fine. The next one, I believe, was shorter. Now though, each next book gets more difficult to fit in my hand. The main cause is that he spends nearly an entire page or more to tell us that . . . "The sun is hot." If a blade of grass was bent on the other side of the castle, he makes sure we know about it. He spends way too much time with description instead of the story. Each step our characters take seem to take a chapter.(Gamers, have you noticed how these books are more like sidequests in a game? Simply there to keep you a little occupied before the grand finale . . . only, you HAVE to do the sidequests!) Also, in his descriptions, he forms sentences that are the lengths of paragraphs. Obviously, he wants to prove that he's capable of forming complex sentences. Unfortunately, he fails miserably. Simply because it annoys me now to not know what the heck was just said, I have found myself rereading sentences over and over to no avail of making sense out of these bunched up sentence fragments. Terrible grammar skills has he. . . . I could be a grammar teacher now that I've had so much practice observing what is bad. Maybe the more hooked readers haven't noticed, or refuse to, that many characters seem to have very little diversity from one another. Elayne, Egwene, the wise ones and just about every other female character seem to sound like an old, bickering nanny whom all have nothing but confusing "sayings" to say. Most of them are also red-heads too. . . . Honestly, I used to like them. Now, it really wouldn't bother me if a couple of them just . . . vanished. He does do a better job with the male characters however. Also, have any of you people noticed how this series is subtly becoming a . . . porn tale? Jordan had me convinced that the showing of a woman's ankles was controversial in his world. Now, it seems that its become offensive to NOT have sweaty, naked women giving massages by the fireplace and sneaking off into Rand's room to seduce him( I never said I disliked this change mind you! I merely find it quite odd.) Overall, he's gotten in over his head now. The story grows ever complex and you wonder what he WON'T suddenly add in. One of our characters has suddenly gained the ability to make ser and ter'angreals(something not done since "the breaking of the world."). Some of these sudden additions not only make ZERO sense, but are completely annoying. My prediction is that by the 15th book, Rand and a crazy old lady from Tear whill have created Grenade Launchers and B-52 bombers. I constantly find myself wondering who many people, that he had previously introduced, are. With too much rubbish having been said in these books, I just find myself guessing when this or that happened or who the heck he or she is. I guess that I've simply grown accustomed to not caring about so many things in this. I have bought pretty much the entire series though . . . or have I. In five years, I may discover that I'll have ANOTHER ten books to buy. How many more nannies must come and seduce Rand and how many times must everything be retold from a different angle!! I've almost confused myself trying to clearly disect all of this. . . . All I can say for myself is that I've wasted my time(and money) if I don't continue my trudging. There are still more irritating flaws that I may have overlooked. Sorry for the length of this. Just thought I'd give the rest of you a heads up on this one. If you're new to all of this, buy a DragonLance book instead. The plot is deeper, takes less time and gives you more innovative and emotional characters for you to get attached to. I still think this story has massive potential, but perhaps if someone else were in charge of the writing, editing and etc. . . .
Rating: 
Summary: Nynaeve Needs a Good "Thumping..."
Review: So. Book 5.
After reading it, I must say that I was a trifle bit disappointed. I still love the series, and cannot wait to sink my teeth in the remaining books. But really -- one can only take so much of Nynaeve. I really do not have a problem with headstrong women characters. But, when a headstrong female character takes up over 300 pages of detail describing how men are fools, one gets tired. To his credit, Jordan displays Nynaeve (as well as many of the other "woolheaded" women) contradicting her own thoughts. Not a line after admonishing men for thinking that violence could solve everything, Nynaeve wishes she had a stout stick to thump the men with. (Just after Nynaeve talks to Galad in Samara, for the curious.) Really, with the headstrong feelings of the women, subtle glances passed between men and women alike, descriptions of scandalous diving necklines, and an inconclusive ending, Fires of Heaven leaves a foul taste in the back of ones mouth. Part of the problem is that my favorite character was barely even mentioned in the book. It seems that Jordan, in 600+ pages, could not seem to remember Perrin Aybara. Which to me, is unfortunate -- I absolutely loved The Shadow Rising because of Perrin, and to not have included him is annoying. Especially since the addition of Perrin could have saved the book from Nynaeve. Even so, I cannot give the book a really bad mark. It did succeed in keeping my attention. And, Jordan was able to weave threads of suspense during the endgame of Fires, even if the pattern failed to resolve any issues. I just hope that Lord of Chaos finds Jordan's characters in more favorable positions.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!!!
Review: I consider The Fires of Heaven to be the beginning of the truly complex volumes in the series. So much of interest happens that it's nearly overwhelming: the Far Snows dance, accidental forming of the Band of the Red Hand, what happens to Birgitte, what Nynaeve does to Moghedien, Moiraine doing what she does at the end, Rand giving Rahvin what he deserves, what happens to Asomdean at the end, Galad and the Prophet, Gareth Bryne catching up and getting involved...That's just a taste, really, the highlights of the highlights; without giving anything away. In TFOH, RJ laid the foundation for a dozen subplots, all of which he would develope in the later books, and it's all we can do to keep track of what's going on.
I have sometimes skiped the Elayne/Nynaeve thread whenever re-reading through the series, as I usually found it far less interseting than the other threads. This time, I made a determined effort to give that thread as much of my time as the others, and I'm pleased to conclude that there is much to reconnend it. Despite my feeling that Nynaeve's absurd reaction to Birgitte's fate was unnecessary and detrimental to her character's development, she gets a chance for redemption. When she does what she does to Uno, the Prophet, and Galad, that was probably one of RJ best-written scenes in the book, and it shows us that Nynaeve is capable of more than just losing her temper and pulling her braid.
There are plenty of surprises in TFOH, and RJ rolls them out with the expectant glee of a proud father. It felt like he was reading over my shoulder, and every time I got to another plot twist, I could hear him say, "Didn't see that one coming, did you?" There was even RJ first big outdoor battle scene. When RJ talks about various maneuvers, I'm a bit lost. However, RJ does a smart thing-he flips between Rand and Mat's point of views, giving us the moments before or after battles. We don't actually get any scenes where he describes a conflict in detail, which is a decision I totally agree with.
The only real complaint I have is that we see absolutely nothing of Perrin. Granted, there wasn't much to tell, but at least 1 scene of him and his new bride would have been nice. However, RJ soon makes up for it.
PLOTTING: There were 2 main plot threads, and a handful of minor threads. As said before, RJ laid the foundation for a bunch of subplots. I liked how RJ brought the 2 main threads together at the end the way he did; it brought both to a satisfying conclusion.
CHARACTERIZATION: Rand's character at this point is already so strongly established that RJ uses him as a way to flesh out other characters; his interactions with Aviendha, for example, tell us more about her than him. RJ sets up Moiraine's departure with a subtlety and class that makes readers miss her all the more, and Mat's attempts at leaving serve to illustrate both his unfortunate attraction to battle and his intense desire to avoid it completely. However, the most developed character in the book is probably Nynaeve, who grows into a real leader of men (while still needing to learn much about leading women).
PACING: As always, the beginning was slow, but things picked up, especially once Rand and Aviendha had sex. As his plots grow more complex, it will become more difficult for RJ to keep an even pace, but no problem with that here.
BEST SCENE: There are some who might think I would choose the Far Snows scene, Heh. For me, however, the best scene was Moiraine's very last meeting with Rand. After you've read the book once, when you get to that scene again, you know what's going to happen, and her calm acceptance of what will happen still stuns me with its power.
MOST POV: Rand and Nynaeve split time fairly evenly, with Elayne, Mat, Egwene, and Siuan getting a few paragraphs here and there. I think from this book onward, RJ tries hard to keep the POVs even between the sexes, so that the women get as much time as the men do.
OVERALL: Highly entertaining, especially in the second half, and full of surprises, TFOH builds on the positives of book 4. Another outstanding volume. Sorry for my rambling on, and making the review so long. Hope it helps!
Rating:
Summary: Fair Reading
Review: Jordan's series is interesting and imaginative, there's no disputing that. However, I find that it rather resembles a retelling of the Star Wars story in a Middle-Earth atmosphere. First, you have your young people struggling to learn about and use a magical power. You have spunky princesses and love triangles (or other multi-sided polygons). You have heroes with questionable parentage. You have a potential romance that develops into a more fillial relationship (rather abruptly, might I add), and of course there's the fact that Aiel spelled backwards is Leia (ok, maybe that's stretching it). and then, for good measure, there's a dose of Tolkein in the form of Trollocs (creatures that seem quite similar to Orcs) and Fades (remember that black riders in Fellowship?). But anyway, even if the series isn't completely original, at least Jordan had good inspiration and fresh presentation. Over-all I'd say book number 5 is as interesting as all the others so far, and I reccomend the series to anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre. However- I have just one more beef. Mr. Jordan, it's time to use some new descriptions. "honey-colored hair" and "plumply-pretty" were clever the first several times you used them, now their starting to sound rather hackneyed...
Rating:
Summary: Someone save me from the women!
Review: The thing that ruins this book in this beautiful series is the fact that 90% of the book is Elayne and Nynaeve, as well as Egwene, complain and plot. After about 600 pages, you get utterly bored with Nynaeve's tempers and her tugging on her hair, and worying about how much clevage she is revealing.
This book also goes through some major dry points in its plot. It goes from so boring that you want to cry, to relatively exciting, but since the previous parts are so brain numbingly boring, it makes the action scenes so much better.
One more thing, what the heck is up with Robert Jordan and his obsession with naked women? He constantly describes Avienda (spelling?) naked, or getting dressed, and in other books as well... oh well. If you want to read the entire sieries... read this book out of nessesity, the 6th is great... oh! and the ending of this book is amazing as well!
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST BOOK OF THE SERIES
Review: THere are so any plot twists in this book it will leave you thirsty for book book 6.
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