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Winter's Heart

Winter's Heart

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Trees Sacrificed their lives¿for this?
Review: If there is divine justice, the karma piling up from the loss of plant life due to rotten WOT books will inspire Robert Jordan to write a good sequel. In case he does not, I suggest printing Book ten with biodegradable ink, and pressing little seeds between the pages. This way, if the next book stinks as bad as this one, the reader can dig a hole, bury the book, and with luck...by the time WOT ends, have contributed back to the earth at least one tree to atone in some way for the needless slaughter of it's brethren.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: i hope it NEVER ends
Review: Having grown up in an age when writers are "forced" to write endless mediocre sequels, it's nice to find a series that is intended to stretch out. I started when Eye of the World was first published back in '90. I was not originally satisfied that it didn't end in 3 books, but I was young and still happy to read stuff I had read in jr high school. Mr. Jordan's characters are some of the few that I could talk to if they appeared in real life. They aren't perfect. They have peccadillos like all real humans do. They aren't sketches, relegated to a shadowy corner of your imagination until the author needs them to advance the plot on Rand Al'thor's behalf. There was a point or suprise to every less than blockbuster chapter in the book. Hooray! Matt found the Daughter of the Nine Moons. (wonder what he'll do to the Seanchan?) No man wielding the One Power will go mad. Logain suddenly has the potential to be a great man. Life is a suprise. The characters in these books are a fairly accurate mirror of a human being. Fantasy for grown ups. Thank you, Mr. Jordan!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Winter's Heart.... a turning point.
Review: Winter's Heart in my opinion is a turning point for the series. the rules have been changed and Robert Jordan shows a hint of the next step. The important thing for this series is to read each book, in order, again, before reading Winter's Heart. I did this and was amazed at the aspects that I missed from the first time I read them. It was much sweeter the second time. Read the books and enjoy them for the journey that they are. I can't wait for the tenth book, and a chance to reread the first nine again.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Why the wait?
Review: Many people are complaining about the pace of the storylines in the Wheel of Time series. I have a different opinion on this matter. It is not the pace of the storylines but rather the pace of Jordan's writing that is killing the series. Waiting well over a year and sometimes closer to two years between books kills the continuity of the story (or actually stories). I began reading the series when The Eye of the World first came out (I believe it was '89 or '90). I was a senior in high school then. But that was over ten years ago. I have had to re-read the series completely twice now (before book 6 and again before book 8) to try to remember all that has happened. It is impossible to keep up with characters that can disappear for whole books and come back two or three years later as the series continues, i.e Mat, Perrin, Egwene in the most recent book. The "main" characters can't even find space in each book because there are so many different story lines. I do enjoy all the stories though. Its like getting four or five books in one. You just can't keep up with them over such a long time between books. I hope Jordan makes the series last for another 9 or 10 books. He has the talent to keep the story going that long. Just don't make us wait so long between books.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I gotta admit, it's gettin better...
Review: As most agree, Jordan has taken a dip in quality in his series. I feel the first five books were great in character development and action, but subsequently his work has not been up to snuff. This book appears to be an upswing.

Jordan's writing was near the level of C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and George MacDonald, but the series *has* truly dragged on much longer than need be. Jordan also appears to have difficulty with character continuity errors- the descriptions of characters presented earlier on do not always line up with future descriptions. One could argue that this is merely character development, but often no development is presented- a character is one way, and then slightly another, without explanation.

This is particularly true in respect to how much power a character has, and how much self-respect they have. Characters that are presented with initially strong character, such as Aes Sedai or Nynaeve, we later find with little self-respect, but with no explanation as to how this might have developed.

It is sad too that a world is presented where there appears to be so little altruism and desire to help others. Oh, certianly, people help each other, and one could say that you can't get much more altruistic than Rand being willing to die at Tarmon Geddon to save the world, but you get little hint of his care or compassion in this act. Or from anyone else- everyone appears to be looking for power over others in some way, and pursuing that goal at all costs. While that is generally true of humanity, perhaps, it would be nice to have some foil within the text to show true goodness and love. Far too often the reader is left wondering what really is the difference between the good side and the bad side, other one fights to save humanity from the Dark One, and the other fights for the Dark One. But both sides, in a pinch, appear to be comfortable with many of the same methods.

This style of writing continues through Winter's Heart, but the dragging ends to some extent, and we get some real action accomplished. Read through to the end of the work and you'll be pleasantly suprised at the forward motion. More of the questions regarding the two ethnicities to the East and the West of the main people group are answered, and Jordan appears to get closer to his more gripping style present in the first 5 novels.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: When is the series gonna end
Review: I spent 2 years waiting for this book to come out, and overall nothing happened. The book was great, a lot of fun 2 read, but i kept waiting for something 2 come 2 a climax and it just never happened. Jordan is getting on my nerves. I have been following the series since 8th grade and i am now a junior in high school! Maybe someone should tell him he's been dragging this thing out for 2 long.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Pink Slip
Review: Mr. Jordan, you're fired.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: More money, less enjoyment
Review: Like a lot of other reviewers, I find this series more irritating as it goes along. It gets really confusing - you read pages not having a clue who you're reading about until suddenly you remember, or you read something that rings a bell, and you have to go back and reread it. A full list of characters at the back of the book would help, and also maybe a synopsis....

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Leather-bound Edition
Review: Here's the skinny on the leather-bound edition. Arrived in cardboard wraps. Board slipcase, exterior in dark green leather, no markings, white interior. Volume is fully bound in dark green leather. Faint oily residue from both. Gold imprint of the title, author and publisher on the spine. The fit is snug, but the book slides out easily.

Both front and rear endpapers are the color map of Randland. Book Nine starts on p.15 and ends on p.656; Glossary runs to p.668, followed by one-page "About the Author".

Signed in black ballpoint or similar on the first page (facing back of the front endpaper) by Robert Jordan, above a printed paragraph that reads, "This signed limited edition of *Winter's Heart* is published in an edition of 202 copies, of which 150 numbered copies have been released to the trade, and 52 lettered copies reserved to the author and publisher." Below in black broadpoint is "69/150". On the reverse side, embossing is evident from the hand-signing by Jordan and the edition number.

Copyright page is identical to the trade hard-cover edition, though the actual release was February 2001. Between the copyright and dedication pages is a double-page color plate of Darrell K. Sweet's cover art, without text. Sweet's copyright is on the reverse of the second plate.

Collecting purists will not want to open the cardboard case, because it too is numbered, albeit in black marker. I'm no purist, but I kept the box.

In all other regards, the edition seems identical to the trade hard-cover edition, including the poorish paper quality (waviness seen along the top and bottom.) One star is deducted because the Glossary is word-for-word the same as included in *Path of Daggers*.

On the content... I wrote a review early on, after reading the uncorrected proofs, but it's since vanished. My impression is that this is the first book in the turn towards Tarmon Gai'don, that from *Crown of Swords* to now has been that lingering on the crest and *Winter's Heart* is the first step down the other side.

The Prologue is extraordinarily tedious, couldn't remember the first character for the life of me, nor was she listed in the Glossary. (I eventually did remember.) But even there some gems are found. Certain developments with Elayne, Avienda, and Min are...intriguing. Mat's return was nearly anticlimactic, considering he was buried by a building last he was heard from. And I may be wrong, but I can't recall Nynaeve tugging that braid even once! Light be praised!

The book includes what may be the best last chapter I've ever read. Something very cool happens (beware earlier reviews; some give it away and trust me, it's so cool you want to wait for it).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Don't be impatient!
Review: All of you who wish the series was over, don't you realize that a story this big does need a lot of time to finish? True, the books could be a bit more condensed, but even if it has slowed down since The Fires of Heaven, it's still the same epic story and all it needs is some time to wind up to a satisfying conclusion. So don't be impatient - stick with it. Though I do wish a few of the books after Winter's Heart were out as well.


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