Reviews

I was in the mood for a long meandering series because I have gotten tired of always wondering what I am going to listen to next at work so I thought this series would solve that problem and it appears I am right.

The story is good, but pretty standard and there are no real major surprises. I can't say I saw everything coming, but the twists and turns brought more of a "huh" instead of a "wow". The characters were at first uninteresting, but gradually became more deep and real, not exactly stephen king or j k rowling level of characters, but good nonetheless.

I did actually enjoy the story too. Robert Jordan was obviously a talented writer and he weaved a story that does what it is suppose to, it pulls you along by making you want to know what happens to the characters and immerses those characters in a rich environment full of amazing events. There were a number of parts of this book that I just loved and a number of parts of the book that Jordan paints with beautiful and vivid detail that lets you really see the scene in your mind.

Now all of this makes it seem like I loved the book, and you are probably wondering why I only gave it three stars. I wanted to get the compliments out of the way first.

This book could easily have a third of it cut out and earn at least one more star. Like many fantasy novels, Jordan borrows heavily from Tolkien. And most people would say okay, of course. Tolkien is a legend. The problem with me is that I think Tolkien is possibly the most overrated writer ever. I hated Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit was okay, but not great either. Tolkien had some amazing characters, but mostly he made them boring by slowly pulling them along in an almost unreadable archaic language. What I learned from Lord of the Rings was this, that hobbits are the most boring fantasy characters ever created and should never under any circumstances be the main characters of a novel. The sing, dance, eat, and sleep, that's it, the first two hundred pages of Lord of the Rings.

Jordan borrows this from Tolkien, Jordan's characters aren't hobbits, but most of the time they just travel. Walking, thinking, talking, playing music, sleeping, eating bread and cheese. A very large part of this book is written well, but extremely boring. And at first Jordan's characters aren't any more interesting then Tolkien's. I don't read much fantasy so maybe this is a failing of the genre and not the author, but I don't believe that. Rowling had no problem making characters instantly interesting and she is basically a fantasy author.

Secondly I wondered for over half the book if the author, despite being a man, hated men. Almost all men in this book are weak and the only people allowed to use magic and run government are women. Women are strong and smart, men are stupid, weak, immature, and naive. I actually appreciate trying to up the role of women in fiction, but Jordan seems to have taken it to that extreme level of militant feminism. Now either this relaxes a bit later in the story or I just got used to it, but at first it made it very hard to not put down the book.

Lastly the end it good, but it has it's problems. It is like Jordan lost steam at the end, at times I didn't really understand what was going on and Jordan's description had gotten very weak and I couldn't picture much of it in my head clearly. Also, the end was drug out and I had to struggle to hold interest. And yes, it was slightly anticlimatic. But I don't holding endings against books, it isn't about the destination, it's about the journey.

And the book does give you a good journey and I do recommend it. Finishing this book doesn't make you feel compelled to start the next right away, but I am curious what happens next. And I will go on. If you can accept the books shortcomings then it is worth the journey.

calbowen's review against another edition

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2.0

try as i might i could not finish this book - i have begun the novel at three different times in my life, and this is the third and final try - i cannot do it - i do not like nor care for the characters nor do i like or care for the purpose - there is plenty of narrative that goes no where and very little actual movement once the story does start - the beginning is always great and then it goes from 200 MPH to broken down on the side of the road for me, which is a shame, because i know that this series will stand the test of time, just not on my book shelves.

xenotundra's review against another edition

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In the same amount of time I might have been delving Moria, this book had just barely left the village. I can't follow three dull teenage boys for too long with nothing happening. I know its a classic, I know it supposedly gets good, I don't I have the patience.

dougorglenn's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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