Rating: 
Summary: This series is not even close to completion.
Review: We know much of what will happen in the rest of the series, because of all the prophecies. Those of you who are hoping the next book will be the last are in for disappointment. There's still a lot left to cover, so this series is a long way from being finished.I'll share some of my theories about what's going to happen, but to avoid spoilers, I'm not mentioning anything that happened in Winter's Heart. A lot of reviews have mentioned Moiraine, and people are wondering if she's really dead. The answer is a resounding No. Moiraine is still alive, and trapped in the land of the Snakes & Foxes. Recall Egwene's dream where "Thom Merrilin put his hand into a fire to draw out the small blue stone that now dangled on Moiraine's forehead." This seems fairly obvious. Thom will have to rescue Moiraine. How will he do it? Also recall the words Olver chanted at the beginning of the game "Snakes & Foxes." The words were "Courage to strengthen, fire to blind, music to dazzle, iron to bind." Looks like Thom will need courage, some fire sticks, his harp, and some iron. And nothing is more romantic than a good old-fashioned rescue, right? Thom and Moiraine will be married by the end of the series. It'll be interesting to see how Robert Jordan handles a mature, honest romance instead of all the relationships we're stuck with now. Other reviewers are disappointed in the lack of Egwene's storyline, but we're given clues as to her fate. I don't think Elaida was far off the mark when she said the Salidar Aes Sedai would sacrifice Egwene in order to make the tower whole. Egwene will be betrayed. She's already dreamt that "A grinning Nicola denounced her to the hall" and "straps at waist and shoulder held her tightly to the block, and the headsman's axe descended..." Another damsel in disress, eh? It looks like Gawyn will have to rescue this one. After Egwene's rescue, she'll rally her forces and overthrow Elaida. Probably just in time to tackle a Seanchan invasion. We already know who the Daughter of Nine of the Moons is, but what else will happen to Mat? Consider these: "Mat throwing dice with blood streaming down his face." "To give up half the light of the world to save the world." "Mat, placing his own left eye on a balance scale." Mat will choose to sacrifice his eye, and in doing so, will gain some knowledge that helps to save the world. There's also Egwene's dream of Mat. "Mat sat on a night-shrouded hilltop, watching a grand Illuminator's display of fireworks, and suddenly his hand shot up, seized one of those bursting lights in the sky. Arrows of fire flashed from his clenched fist, and a sense of dread filled her. Men would die because of this. The world would change." Tie this in with Mat's involvement with the illuminator, and we can guess that Mat will invent firearms and/or gunpowder. What of Rand? One thing seems certain. Rand will definitely lose a hand. Many of Min's viewings involve Rand, Elayne, a severed hand, and an axe. Remember that game the Seanchan empress likes to play? The one where she uses an a'dam to chain a woman who can channel to a man? If the man can also channel, they both die screaming. Also remember Min telling Rand that Perrin would have to be there on two different occasions, or Rand was doomed. Perhaps Elayne and Rand will be captured by the Seanchan and chained together. In order to save their lives, Perrin will have to use his axe to chop off Rand's hand. Rand will also spend some time as a beggar. "Perrin thought it was Rand. He wore rags and a rough cloak, and a bandage covered his eyes." There's also Min's viewing of Rand and a beggar's staff. It also appears that the Black Tower is going to split, much like the White Tower. Too many of the Ashaman are fanatically loyal to Taim, and we know Taim is bad news. Logain will probably have to bail Rand out of this mess. Finally, Rand is going to purposely destroy the remaining seals on the Dark One's prison. Some reviewers are saying that some of the major characters need to die. Min's viewing of Perrin always seem to show that Broken Crown, which is from the land of Saldaea. Poor Perrin. The current queen of Saldaea is Tenobia, who has no children and no husband. Her present heir to the throne is Faile's father, Davram Bashere. For Perrin to gain the throne of Saldaea, it looks like Tenobia, Faile and her parents will all have to die. Who else will die? Well, what about all those prophecies that mention Rand's blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul? There are several, but none of them mention Rand's life. They all say "Rand's blood." Blood has more than one definition, and what we're looking at here is probably blood as a family connection. Rand's only living blood relative is Galad. Galad is certainly doomed, but will undoubtedly go down in a blaze of glory. How about a whitecloak battling the dark Shaidar Haran? Birgitte's death is necessary, because in order to join Gaidal Cain, she'll have to be reborn. She'll probably die just in time to be summoned when the Horn of Valere is blown at the Last Battle. I'm guessing that someday Rand and Elayne will have a blonde daughter who likes to play with bows. And how will the series end? I don't think Jordan will be able to resist ending the series with a quote from Loial's book.
Rating: 
Summary: In Defense of Mr. Jordan
Review: Apparently my powers of observation are in decline. All of the reviews for this book-at least, most of them-claim that ever since FoH, the series has been going downhill. Yes, Fires of Heaven is probably my favorite book in the series to date, but contrary to popular opinion, Winter's Heart has moved into the second-place slot. First off, a number of important events-all of which were mentioned in the first "half" of the series, giving rise to my respect for RJ's ability to tie earlier books with the later ones-have come to pass. We find something out about Masema the Prophet that still has been wondering. Mat Cauthon meets his long-awaited wife, and I must admit that she wasn't exactly what I expected. Rand and his crew deal out some more punishment against the Forsaken, which is always exciting (except for the wam-bam-done job Moiraine did on Be'lal). Rand and Elayne finally get down to business, which made me happy because Elayne was always my favorite out of Rand's Three. And there was, of course, the finale scene which, in argument against previous reviews, I thought was extremely well-done. My only complaint is that for all the first half of the book was about Perrin, Faile, and Shaido. . . nothing really happens. Overall, WH gets two enthusiastic thumbs up. It may have started off a tad slow, but I was so entralled that I felt compelled to read it one sitting, and I did just that in 20 hours.
Rating:
Summary: AAAAAAAAghYAAAAh! Great God Almighty!
Review: I'm a patient man. Honestly. I've read this series since it first came out. Now reading the series seems like a pennance. To all those people who've been saying 'I think the series could wrap up in 3-5 books'.. what, are you losing your minds!? Thats SIX TO TEN YEARS FROM NOW!! Sure the story is engaging, the world has some great detail and backstory; at 6,000 plus pages it had better be detailed. Has any one of you ever stacked all nine of these books on a table and measued them in feet? I'm all for nice long, detailed books. Normally I don't recommend that you develop a flowchart to follow the characters, but in this case, you need it. If you want to read an epic scale fantasy novel I reccomend Tad Williams DragonBone Chair. Three books, about a thousand pages each. Less than the 15 or 20 characters to follow, and an excellent read. (hint: It actually ends) In summation: All those that have come this far will continue to read the books. With this much time and energy put into reading them, not reading them would be like buying a house and not living in it. The epic part of the books should be the story, not the number of years it takes to finish that same story. I suppose I'll have something to look forward to when I retire.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely better than book 8, but still can get better
Review: Well, finally! I finally got the latest book in this very long series, and I finally enjoyed reading one again. The last two books were disappointing in that very little of significance happened to any one character, and Jordan seemed to be spreading himself far too thinly. This time around, he seems to have realized it and chose to focus the plot much more on a handful of the main characters (mainly Rand, Perrin, Elayne and Mat), devoting about a quarter of the book to each one. The other characters (Nynaeve, Egwene, Min, Faile, etc.) are still involved, but in a much more subdued and effective way, making more along the lines of "cameo" appearances than the tendency in the past couple of books of having their own sub-plots that wasted a chapter. There's still a lot left unanswered, giving me the impression this is going to be a 15-book series (if not longer). I also felt the final chapter was rushed. Yes, there was a lot going on, and the "good" side is much stronger than it was in the beginning of this series, but I still feel that Jordan glossed over this far too much. Without revealing too much, I'm annoyed that all we're told is that the good guys lost two people while only "singeing" a few Forsaken. Jordan gives the opening of the various battles, but then leaves you hanging and simply jumps to "they've gone, let's end the book". If he had just fleshed out this a little more, I probably would have given it 5 stars (or four and a half, if they offered it). As it is, it's still a much better book than volume 7 or 8, which at times just seemed to ramble needlessly. Hopefully, when volume 10 comes out Jordan will get even closer to the quality of the first three books.
Rating:
Summary: as usual, great
Review: It's been almost two years, I think, since PoD. So I strongly recommed to re-read the two previous books before starting this one. Of course Jordan takes his time, but then, who would want all these delightful sub-plots to end prematurely? The secondary characters are becoming just as important as the main ones, and as interesting. The end is impressive, and I think momentuous things are coming. I just hope the series has fifteen or twenty books, we don't mind. Although I can't wait till the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Re: "The Old Days"
Review: I'm not certain that the complaints about the length of this series are entirely without merit. It's difficult to recall a time when books, at least of this genre, were ever actually "SLAM, BAM, DONE!" There aren't many books, on further examination, or series of books, in the history of Western Literature which approach the word-count of the post-WWII fantasy epic. The work of many a modern fiction writer may have been shorter than the average Jordan tome, but there is never really some before-time, some "good old days" when books were always at least 600 pages long and came in at least six installments. Only a few such works come to mind as being representative of a time when men (and the entire population of skirt-smoothing, braid-tugging, arms-folded-beneath-their-breasts, disapproving women, as well, one assumes)liked their books long and in extended serial format. Actually, I can't think of any. If, perhaps, you were to treat all of the works of St. Augustine as a sort of 5th century version of _The Wheel of Time_, then maybe, but they all sort of lack that serial tie-in thing. Even those well-respected doorstoppers, _War and Peace_, _The Brothers Karamazov_ and anything by Theodore Dreiser are a far cry from what Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, etc. have put out, in terms of sheer mass. The arguments concerning the declining degree of quality are valid as well-- there are times when Jordan's tedious descriptive passages make James Fenimore Cooper's seem terse, and Thomas Hardy's seem downright light and airy. In the instances when Jordan seems to care about what he is describing, when he has hold of a truly enthralling idea, the prose improves dramatically and his talent becomes quite evident. But in the times when Jordan seems uninspired, and there are lots of these times over the course of a nine-book series, the result is an all-too expected and pardonable apathy on the part of the reader. The thing is that, on balance, it turns out that this is the best fantasy out there. While Jordan's critics are often right on target, his legions of adoring fans who believe he can do no wrong have a point, as well. I admit to the guilty pleasure of having read this series quite avidly, but with a critical eye, delighted at times but terribly disappointed at others. So this is my hope. I want Jordan to finish this thing, and when he does, I want him to sit down and rewrite it. I'm not certain whether the "dead spots" in the series are the result of shameless exploitation of the market, or a simple earnest desire to meet the demands of fans. Maybe Jordan has simply churned this thing out as it has come to him, barely pausing to fully render all of his ideas (and hedging when the ideas don't come as easily). Whatever the case, I suspect that there really might be a magnum opus in here. Although I don't intend to give up (how could I after nine books?), this series (and this installment thereof) is unfortunately not as good as it seems it could be.
Rating:
Summary: Jordan does it again!
Review: I enjoyed this book and found it a very fun read. I do think he has too many charactors but it is still good. If you liked the other W.O.T books you'll like this one.
Rating:
Summary: GOOD GOOD GOOD
Review: I have to say this is a very good book, despite everything I read. It wasnt that boring. Some things were necesary. Plots so intrincate and complicated need time to unravel; I do have to say that I ve forgotten half of the characters and got really angry to read more new plots beginning again... Nontheless I think finally there is, as the end says: "A message of hope" that Jordan will finish this series soon enough. I love it as much as I hate it because now that I ve finished Winter s Heart I need to keep on reading more and more. I did not give the book five stars just because of this eternity. Please , please Jordan bring up the 10th one and help us get through with this soon!
Rating:
Summary: Sick of Complaints
Review: Though it seems so to many people, Robert Jordan is not trying to drag this series out. His intricate subplots and twists hark back to a time when books weren't: SLAM, BAM, DONE! He carefully invests time in each of his characters, even those seemingly minor to the story. But after reading (and re-reading for the fun of it) the entire series, I realized their were no minor characters. Everyone had a place and Jordan has filled every niche. I hope that he continues to write this series to at least a fifteenth book, simply because I believe it, too, will be as good as the first. Read it for its plot value, not because you're too impatient to wait for closure.
Rating:
Summary: Overall good book
Review: I got this book for Christmas and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I picked it up, and started reading. Like some of the last few books, it was not very interesting for the first few hundred pages. Jordan seems to be losing his style that first interested me in the Wheel of Time series. A bunch of useless instances, and emphasis on what people are wearing and how they look. Seriously folks, WHO THE HELL CARES? It came across to me that it was just some filler. But if you think about it, these last few books have had endings where you know that something in the next, or later book(s) is going to happen. Putting the boredom aside for the half of the book, you reach the ending, which is undoubtly one of the best in the series. Robert Jordan couldn't have come up with a better one. Sure it's a little predictable, but once you read it, you can't stop until the end. Then you'll find yourself waiting for the next book. I just can't wait.
|
