Rating: 
Summary: Average "Wheel of Time" Filler
Review: "Winter's Heart" is mediocre filler for the "Wheel of Time" series. The plot is sluggish, at times almost coming to a complete standstill, but it's not made up with character development at all! Instead the complete opposite happens. Rand, Elayne, Mat, the Seanchan, the Forsaken, etc. devolve to childish one-dimensional characters. Lots of sex and talk about sex, giggling and needless chatter. Felt more like a cheesy cartoon than a serious fantasy epic. The few plot-twists are amateurish and can be seen from a mile away. With the finale so rushed and hastily arranged it's downright comical. But to be fair I think these rough edges will probably smooth out once the epic is completed and able to be read uninterrupted. It's just not a great book solely by itself, a momentary blip in the great "Wheel of Time".
Rating: 
Summary: Patience is a virture, but. . . .
Review: This book reminds me of the first 5 books of this series. Those books I could not put down until I was finished. This is less so in part because it is so difficult to keep all of the characters and subplots straight after leaving them behind for two years. If anything, I would ask Mr. Jordan to put a list of characters and where they fit into the plot in order to help out next time around. The glossary is not adequate. But, Rand is getting it together. Women are fighting less over stupid stuff and realizing that the world is in a precarious position. Tedious, yes, but truly, getting all of us to realize that the world is in a precarious position takes a lot of patience!
Rating: 
Summary: Finally the story moves ahead!
Review: Just before this book came out, I decided to re-read the first 8. Books 1-4 were excellent, exciting, and impossible to put down, and I noticed a lot that I didn't see the first time. Books 5-8 slow down significantly, and I found my self frustrated by reading an entire book without hearing about one or two of the major characters. Finally book 9 moves things along!! Once again the book is surprising, eventful, and leaves on an up note. I disagree with the poor reviews I read prior to reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Robert Jordan's little sinkhole...getting bigger bit by bit
Review: So I pick up Winter's Heart the first chance I get. After Path of Daggers I'm hoping this is the one Jordan will use to break open his Wheel of Time again and deliver a whopper of a story. Three days later I'm finished and left feeling... unsurprised. Hope can give out easily, and it has now. Nine books into this series, and Jordan is sinking, slowly but steadily. In the last two books he has included less material than what would have been in any one of the prior seven. More and more useless details and dialogue is going into each book, which all in all makes it less interesting and more of a trial to bog through each volume. Given, Jordan's world is traditionally one of immense detail, but how many times can he decribe room after room and keep it interesting? Apparently for seven books, because, to me at least, his magic has given out after about 10,000 pages and seemingly almost as many tugs of Nyneave's hair. Yeah, she still does that, just like no one else has changed in the Wheel of Time. The character which excited me the most, to finally have him back, was Mat, all too clearly missing from Path of Daggers. He's back and makes an impact, but it isn't nearly as big as it could be. Perrin and Mat each have about 150 pages to make their marks, then the book moves on to other venues, leaving one wondering what in the world happened to those two and those accompanying them. Jordan doesn't finish either plotline, though I did not even notice until after finishing the whole book. Don't look for much on Egwene either, except in Elayne's chapters. The idea of not being able to channel, in Far Madding, was novel to me, and that section of the book was truly impressive, until the characters once again had to resort to the Power. Jordan backed himself into a corner, and came up with a contrived way to get Rand and others out based far too much on coincidence. So. Read this one if you have gotten so far in the series and found at least the first seven to be great. But at this point I cannot recommend this series to newcomers. Jordan is going nowhere fast, with apparently four books left to write (= 8 years). If he continues at the pace he has set in the last three books, Rand will go mad from another contrived plotline, since the Source has been cleansed, before he gets to the Last Battle. Or Jordan's coffin will be nailed shut. I am not given to care so much anymore about either end to the wait. (Oh yes, and it's finally revealed that Lanfear has returned from the Aelfinn, the people behind the second doorway ter'angreal.) Moiraine, where are you? Please come back and save this once-great series!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best so far
Review: I could not put this book down. I got it less than a week ago, and upon finishing it, im drooling for the next book to come out. Robert Jordan needs to keep up the good work!
Rating:
Summary: Robert Jordan: One of the best these days
Review: Well, Jordan has done it again...I always tell myself to wait for the paperback, but that damn cover of "Winter's Heart" was seared into my mind. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. His characters and their realistic struggles and shortcomings held me riveted to the pages so that I had to force myself to take my time to make it last. I would definitely suggest this book to all fans of Jordan and fantasy alike. As for all you naysayers who complain about the length of the novels and the time in between, I denounce you all. What do you expect? That a book can be written overnight? I didn't hear anyone complaining about the "Belgariad" or the "Mallorean". For those of you who don't know David Eddings, you are not true fans of fantasy and probably shouldn't try "the Wheel of Time" before him. Enough said.
Rating:
Summary: Much better!
Review: I greatly enjoyed the last Wheel of Time. After the muddy indecidedness of books 7 and 8 some stuff actually happened, but the lack of attention paid to Tar Valon was quite annoying. The new chapter icons, return of Bayle Domon etc. were really cool however, and the series has finally resumed progress towards its end, though even so it can only be hoped that the series ends before Robert Jordan dies.
Rating:
Summary: A step up from the previous book
Review: Like one reviewer said and I concur, the hardback books are no longer worth it anymore. I will wait for paperbacks, or I may just stop reading this series all together.
Rating: 
Summary: Take a writing class.
Review: I don't think the fact that this series has reached nine books gives the author or publisher any mandate to allow the writing style to go to hell. I know five-year-olds that can write with more clarity. When I took my one writing class in college, I got reamed by my teacher to forcing metaphors in where they didn't belong. I think that Jordan is the king of stupid comparisons. The book is frustratingly packed with "medieval cliche," terribly slow, and not worthy of the acclaim that the first eight books might have received. I got to page 300, and realized that only maybe one or two things had actually happened so far. I could have written this entire series in 600 pages.
Rating:
Summary: I hate manipulation so much...
Review: ...and that's what WoT consists of now. Yes, it's that old Jordan whine: "Why can't he finish it already?" I know others have said it, but I think it's really disappointing that such a promising series (up to Book 4) has been allowed to deteriorate in quality to this extent, in a money-making exercise. Some of the other reviewers here have stated that Jordan's incredible detail (read: lack of resolution) qualify him as one of the greatest fantasy writers, etc etc. I have to give him credit for his meticulous working through of plot, setting, etc. However, I believe that all of this is rather pointless because the bottom line is that his books are becoming boring. Boring, you don't read it. What's the point, then, of writing it if it bores the reader? There are few things more futile than an unread book. Another oft-repeated plea: please, please, PLEASE read George R. R. Martin rather than this crap. Seriously, his style is similar to Jordan's: multiple point-of-view, epic scale, relatively formal register. However his characters are real, he isn't afraid to break the rules (pivotal characters die!) and I don't want to murder EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN' ONE OF THE CHARACTERS! Plus, as a special introductory offer, you DON'T get incessant whinings about how men/women are emotionally/intellectually stupid/incomprehensible...the number-one cause of Jordan Rage in my household.
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