Rating: 
Summary: getting worse
Review: Thes books are getting worse and worse. The story in Winter's Heart just wandered around without getting anywhere. Even worse Jordan opened up new subplots without resolving any of the old ones!
Rating: 
Summary: Getting Good
Review: This book is definitely better than the previous few, although still not as good as the first 4 books of the series. The book contains some good, suspenseful fiction, as well as moving some of the main plots along quite nicely. One can tell that Mr. Jordan has an ending in his head now, and is navigating towards it.
Rating:
Summary: Robert Jordan is one of the best
Review: I really loved this book it was so great!
Rating:
Summary: Out of the Doldrums?
Review: It has to be said that volumes 7 and 8 where quite poor. Poor in the sense that little happened. Jordan is a master in expanding a paragraph into a chapter (a crime that occurs in Book 9. The foreward falls into this category. How many pages does it take for Perrin to walk up one hill?).
However book 9 is a breath of fresh air after the previous 2 stagnant installments. The plot picks up, characters actually do things. The ending is gripping. However the book overall does not match the intensity that Jordan managed in the first 6 books.
Taim finally shows his colours (as if we did not know them but at least he is not Demandred, that would have been to much for some).
Is this series out of the doldrums or was book 9 just a faint breeze that managed to toss briefly the large ship that Jordans series has become?
Jordan has to recapture the old intensity of his earlier volumes, increase the size of the next installment and make sure the plot picks up speed both in plot lines and time span. If not this ship might sink without a trace!
Rating: 
Summary: Double Edged Sword
Review: Much of what I have read in the reviews is right on target: it seems that this epic is slowly turning into a marathon soap opera. Having started the series when Eye of The World first appeared I have now invested somewhere around 10+ years in a story that reads like it is at the HALF WAY POINT.What is obviously Mr. Jordan's strength -- character development -- has also become his downfall. Dozens of pages of material are used to provide insight into characters that would rate no more than an "extra's" role in a movie. To make matters worse, the glacial pace by which the books are produced are compounded by the fact that a MAJOR character/subplot may be skipped entirely in a book. The net result is that I often find myself reading about characters that I vaguely recall but don't have any real idea of who they are or where they fit into the story, taking away from the overall experience. Needless to say, it is really disappointing to see this. Had Mr. Jordan found a way to conclude the [seemingly] final battle in about book 6 and reengaged the characters in a sequel (ala David Eddings' work) he would likely have been hailed as one of the greatest SFF writers in history. Instead we are faced with walking away from a decade's worth of reading or struggling through psychological work-ups of stable boys and footmen in order to get to 100 pages of plot development. Bottom Line: If you have not started the series yet, DON'T. Wait until (if? :o) it is done. You'll have a much better chance of following the hundreds of characters in the story, making the overall experience more enjoyable. hT
Rating:
Summary: Epic momentum of finale overcomes all the boredom.. as usual
Review: I first became aware of Robert Jordan not long after the Great Hunt came out. It was a friend actually who had received the books was gracious enough to loan me them to read. Now, I am the one rushing out on day 1 to acquire copies for both of us.
Let me continue by saying that this is the first sci-fi/fantasy series that I have truly become immersed in. Having read little or no sci-fi/fantasy before this (not even Tolkein) Robert Jordan's series truly seemed Herculean. Even to this day, I am astonished by the amount of word-vomitting this series has gone thru.
If nothing else, Robert Jordan can write, and write, and write and write. Never have I encountered a series whose average length ran 600+ pages per episode. It truly boggles the mind to think of how many hours I have spent reading and re-reading this series. But thank god, now I have the luxury to skip over the hundreds of pages that no longer bog me down with drudgery and instead can zoom in on those sections where resolution/revelation and actual conflict take place. Some people may take relish in all the micro-management and sub-sub-plots woven throughout the book, but after awhile, without a flow chart to keep track of who is doing what to whom, it can become very easy to get lost. And not only that, but one reads the entire series with the desperate forboding that very little is being said, despite all the words being used. Jordan's characters do not interact within his world; instead they exist within narrow margins of thought, bullying their way thru every situation so that it seems as if nobility's emphasis upon arrogance and secrecy were a virtue instead of an impediment. Instead of peasants bringing straight-forward talk to the fray, the peasants become even more aristocratic than the aristocrats, in terms of secrets and pressing arrogance. The more Rand takes himself seriously, the less dangerous he becomes, except to those around him, and the less of an impact it makes upon the reader. The double-edged sword with Jordan's series is that although Rand is titled as the 'pivotal' character, there is no lack of supporting characters whose stories not only deeply enrich the plot but work as better examples of storytelling than the main characters sometimes. Even simple sub-plot characters like Bayle Domon, the merchant sea captain first met in Eye, continue to reappear throughout the series, and that brings up my main fault: some of these people are infinitely more interesting than some of the main characters. I am not sure about anyone else, but Mat has become a favorite of mine, and his haphazzard appearences can either make or break a book sometimes to me. With so many characters, just when you find someone worth reading about, the story switches and you have NO idea when/if they might be reappearing. With an epic this size, that is unfortunate, but it also begins to feel unwieldy, as if the story were taking on a momentum just from the sheer number of characters involved.
So what does this have to do with Winter's Heart, just that the same elements that appear in every book appear here, with no exception: shifting perspectives, characters appearing and disappearing far too often, long-winded descriptions whose value can be summed up far more quickly and whose end result often leaves a 'mixed' taste afterwards (with thoughts like 'I dragged myself thru that unbearable chapter for THAT???')
And just like the other books in the series, Jordan momentarily redeems himself at the end, allowing action to cut thru the ridiculous machinations of everyone and allow them an almost zen moment of pure 'movement', unburdened by all the worthless strategizing they have fretted over previously, and at length. Whether it be rescuing Rand from a renegade Shaido army, resulting in a slaughter, killing a Forsaken, or just fulfilling yet another of the Dragon Prophecies indirectly, Jordan's characters drop their weighty pretenses and actually do what Jordan has them thinking they were doing in the previous 500+ pages; fulfilling their destinies. Every novel is broken down into 85% acting important, 10% moving around and 5% doing something important, and Winter's Heart is no exception.
Rating:
Summary: Hmmm...
Review: The problem with this book, and, indeed, the two-three books preceeding it is not really that the plot seems to have stagnated, or even that the reader is taken through the twists and turns of seemingly endess subplots to reach an inconclusive ending. It's that, at the beginning of this series, there were actual characters. I speak particularily of the female characters. It doesn't matter of what culture they come from, every female character may be strong but they are strong in exactly the same way. And that supposed strength is also a weakness. They are all stubborn, unwilling to compromise, and hot-tempered. Very child-like, as other reviewers have pointed out. I don't think he can write women very well. It's really unfortunate, considering at the beginning there was some actual differentiation between them. And with all of these plots and subplots he so masterfully weaves throughout this epic series, he seems to have lost the humanity of almost all of his main characters. Detail we get, and characters in large numbers, but they have begun to blur at the edges and hardly resemble anything more than stereotypes. There are exceptions. But I actually liked Rand at the beginning of this series. And after the Dragon Reborn, I began to lose him. And at one point there was an actual difference between Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elaine. No more, apparently. And the relationships - as I believe one of the characters put it in the beginning books "whenever we're not fighting, we're kissing." The men aren't really entirely subservient to the women, but the relationships these people have are all unstable, to say the least. And all exactly the same. It would be refreshing to have a relationship where two people could actually get along half of the time. And Mat as a boy-toy, and this entire three-woman and Rand thing - if truth be told, it is difficult to mark the actual point in the storyline where Rand went from thinking Elayne, in particular, was pretty to when he was sleeping with her. It's getting a little ridiculous. But I will say that to keep a work like this straight and without conspicuous editorial mistakes is an accomplishment. His description of culture is rich and fruitful. But if you're looking for humanity in your characters, I would suggest, like so many others, George R. R. Martin or Michelle West's Sun Sword series. At least their characters are different and not omnipotent. All of these characters have too much power than can be good for them; all battles have worked to their advantage, no one intricately important to the plot line has died recently - I hate to say it, but it's beginning to get a bit predictable. They haven't really lost significantly yet, but they aren't progressing either. Jordan is a good writer. I just am beginning to wonder if he's spun a web to big to control. Nevertheless, if you're hooked, you'll keep reading. And it was better than the two previous books; more development, some actual (if minute) charater progression. Maybe he'll pull it off yet.
Rating:
Summary: Its out of control
Review: Robert Jordan has lost control of this series after Lord of Chaos (the sixth book)books 7 and 8 were very bad Book 9 seems to be an attempt to get back control . But Jordan needs to get atleast some of the sub plots to a logical conclusion and get on with the main story. The main problem is that there are too many sub plots which do not get closed. I got nothing against sub plots but they should get over in two books or so. Carrying them on and on dilutes focus from the main plots. Further the new books come with more sub plots and when the old ones are not closed it just becomes too much. Best thing about this book is that Mat resurfaces
Rating:
Summary: Tidy book... with a blockbuster-ending!
Review: The latest installment in The Wheel of Time, Winter's Heart, at least shows us Jordan worth the money. Though the books, from The Fires of Heaven and forward, has slowed their pace and gotten into a sly and tidy pace, Jordan has his moments.
Mat Cauthon is back and is still in the place we left him two books away. The Daughter of the Nine Moons arrives and Mat is getting itchy. Perrin is hunting for the Shaido and Faile, Elayne is waiting in Caemlyn for her crown, the Aes Sedai is still fighting and Rand is on the run. This book would be an average book if it weren't for the massive ending where almost all of the Forsaken and Rand's company battle each other while Rand and Nynaeve is trying to cleanse saidin...
Rating: 
Summary: You gotta love critics!
Review: This is another excellent book. What do I base that on? Well, I ask myself if I really want the series to end? The answer is always no. I love the character's and the subplot's, as well as the way that the story is told. I started reading this series a decade ago, and I still find it as enchanting as ever. I know that it must end eventually, but what is the hurry? Is Jordan really stalling? I don't think so. I reread the series again when I bought Winter's Heart to sum up everything that Mr. Jordan has done since it started. I really don't see how he could tie up all of the loose ends he started without seriously diminishing the quality of the books. I don't want to feel that I am being cheated by a hasty last battle, etc., - this seems to be what some of the reviewers want. Shouts of HURRY UP JORDAN, GET IT OVER WITH!! resounding. I am as impatient as the next reader, but I am willing to go as far as the author will take me - the series is that good. I don't want to give away any spoiler's, but in this book we are being set up, or rather the conditions are being set, for the final confrontation - whenever that may be. Good job Mr. Jordan.
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