Rating: 
Summary: Finish it, already!
Review: Don't buy this book until Jordan finishes the series -- I have my suspicions that he never will.This series has degenerated into books, written a year or more apart, that detail a myriad of character plots, but do little to advance the major plot. Jordan has a cash cow here, and he's going to ride it as long as he can. I started reading this series many years ago, and by the time Winter's Heart came out, it took me several hundred pages before I was even close to up to speed again. And how much is really happening here. Not much. We keep meeting new people and being diverted by new character plots. Is Jordan stalling? Does he have no clue how to finish this series? At the rate he is going, he is going to die before book 47, the final in the series, can be written. Personally, if I was doing it over again, I'd wait until the series was done, then read them all back to back.
Rating: 
Summary: "Winter's Heart" shakes the permafrost off the WOT series
Review: I remember getting "A Crown of Swords" the day it came out and reading on the net soon after that Robert Jordan was breaking his tradition of one WOT book per year and moving to one every other year. Suffice to say, there was a good deal of disappointment amongst the Robert Jordan fandom. This disappointment bred resentment when the first follow-up in this extended wait period, "Path of Daggers", proved to be one of the shortest novels in the series and advanced the timeline not at all. It was at that point that "Wheel of Time" fans, especially those who had followed the series from the beginning, began to wonder if their author had either lost control of the series or was milking them for all they were worth. The debate continued with "Winter's Heart", released in November of 2000. Many decried the slow pace, comparing it to "Path of Daggers". However, where the two books differ is in advancement of plot. Whereas "Path of Daggers" was more of the same thematically with "Crown of Swords" (really they should have been one book!), "Winter's Heart" addresses some long-standing character issues and plot hooks. In this case, Jordan's methodical pacing (present from CoS onward) serves him well as he is able to set up where the characters are at mentally and storywise for a number of major events that (presumably) will follow in the next book. Most of all, especially in the last couple of chapters, Jordan shows that he still has the ability to rivet the reader and amaze them. For any Jordan fan, the ending alone is worth the purchase of the book. I believe that Jordan is back in form with "Winter's Heart", but I guess we'll have to wait 'til the next "Wheel of Time" entry to see whether I'm right or not. Not withstanding, "Winter's Heart" is a superior entry to the series, coming off the heels of a disappointment, and should help ease the minds of worried readers out there. Besides, IMHO, I'd like to say that our overall concern and disappointment is driven less by the length/pacing of the series and more by our fear that Robert Jordan is going to die before finishing!
Rating:
Summary: I was wondering why the gender stereotypes were annoying...
Review: Now I find out his wife edits them. Dear god, if I have to read "I better be good or [inset female char here *any female char] will give me the rough side of her tongue." The books were great in the beginning... but now... I can't stand it.
Rating:
Summary: Oh Lord, make it stop, make it stop...
Review: It's taken Robert Jordan only 7500+ pages to convey what some of us realized long ago: this is epic crap. There are so many references to hairbraid tugging, sulking, and pouting that RJ should concern himself solely with those. The great philosophy behind the books is inaction resembles action. The female characters (Nynaeve, Elayne, Egwene) exist to pout and look pretty; the male characters (Rand and Co.) complain about the women and are made into their gibbering slaves. I can feel I'm going to be accused of extreme simplification here, but what can one expect with paper-thin characters? Evil characters refuse to stay dead, and even though Rand has slaughtered one every other book, the list seems to grow and grow. This is the true Neverending Story. Many people ascribe to Jordan "clear, vivid, detailed" writing, but does it really need to take 700-1000 pages per book to tell so much detail? I think the sign of a good writer is the economy with which he writes. Forgive me. Thinking about this degenerate slush is depressing....
Rating: 
Summary: Frustration
Review: I know at this point nothing I can say will dissuade you from continuing to read the series. However, I must vent. This series has degenerated from enthralling to absolutely frustrating. This book is the final straw for me. The last four books including this one are nothing more than a series of subplots. It's difficult to maintain interest when the story meanders so. I gave this book two stars, because the main story does progress a little bit. I can give it no more than that however. In this and in recent books Jordan undermines the rules that his has set up for his world. He also eliminates any drama as only expendable star treklike crewmen ever die. The penalties and punishments doled out in previous books have all been removed in subsequent books, thereby lending credence to the notion that if a character is good they will forego any unpleasantness. Finally, the characters in the series are almost wholly defined by their gender. Everything that they do, or are compelling to do, is always somehow related to their gender and how wayward the opposite gender is. People are slapped, caned, whipped, or otherwise coerced by nothing other than the raise of an eyebrow. It's too much to take. I can read no more. If you are already at this the ninth book I'm sure that you will read on, but do yourself a favor and wait for the release in paperback. As for me, the frustration has outweighed the pleasure, and I honestly couldn't care how it turns out anymore. I'm sure that in the end all the primary characters will live happily ever after anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Falling in the Ways!
Review: As he closed book nine of the series, Kyle thought he had gone mad. There was a flash of blinding light that ripped the air around him as the dull thud of closing the book echoed distantly. -Light, where am I?- As it donned on him that he was actually in the Ways, that once majestic means of travel created by the Aes Sedai and grown by Ogier, his heart began to pound in his chest as if it were trying to break free. Darkness closed in around him. Heart racing ever faster. "Hello? Help," he gasped. He took a step back by instinct, like stepping away from an attacking badger, but the edge didn't hold. He slipped over the edge of the island and began a fall that would last for eternity. ----------------------- Will this story every freaking end? Light help me. Light help us all!
Rating: 
Summary: great again!
Review: Book 8 was not as good as the rest but this book certainly made up for it! Jordans books are amazing the best ive ever read so far. This series has captured me and i cant escape. Winters Heart i could not put down like the others and i read it in a few days. Some charactors are left out completely or just a little but i think it would be very confusing if they were all there! Every time i read this series i find out something new, some small but important detail i missed out before. This book is full of suprises (that i wont tell you other wise i will spoil it), and made me giggle quite a few times! My only complaint is the wait for the next book. It drives me crazy!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely INCREDIBLE!!!!
Review: I have to say first that the excitement pulsing through this book comes and goes like the tide: some parts are dull while the others you read so quickly that they dont last very long. But do not get me wrong: this book ends so unexpectedly that I jumped up and down on one leg shouting and laughing in exhilaration. Questions of identity are answered; questions of what exactly happened in the past are answered. In some ways it leaves more questions behind, but we know who Mazrim Taim really is, now, for example. Get this book. Then read it. You will NOT be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, a little slow and confusing though
Review: I thought that this book was better than 5, 6, 7, and 8 but not as good as the first four. There are so many minor characters that I can't remember them all and It gets confusing. Also some parts get a little boring and the book didn't extend the plot as much as I would have liked, but it was a definate improvment. I think that after the first few books, the main plot slows down and the subplots start taking over. It seems like your just following people around hoping something will happen as opposed to the first 4 where you were actually engaged and wondering what would happen next, instead of hoping something would. I have to say, though, that I do love this series. It is the best series I have ever read and the only books I have read in the last 6 months were by Robert Jordan. I can't wait for the next book, i just hope a little more happens. One more thing I have to mention is that the last chapter was the BEST ending in any book I have ever read. I think that all the RJ fans will love it, and be glad that men can now channel in peace, or more than before anyways.
Rating:
Summary: Still the best
Review: I have begun reading the series 8 years ago and for me every book has been like a pile of rock building to a mountain. I read the first 5 books in the series 3-4 times each, and after each time I begin to catch small details that only a person who has read the whole series could understand. I agree that in the last two books the pace of the story was slow, almost crawling. Winter' s Heart is no different . But I think this is what makes Jordan so special. In Jordan 's world there are no easy victories; there is not only one hero, nothing is black or white completely, everything does not solve itself in just one book. To me Jordan just breaks all the traditional laws of the genre. It is slow and sometimes too datailed, but I still believe that this is maybe one of the best fantasy series ever written (I surely liked it more than Tolkien's work)
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