Reviews

While this book did have some high points, for the longest one in the series I expected it to have more action, not less. Most of this book felt like a long winded attempt of the author to move the characters where they needed to be for the next book. Perrin’s storyline was my favourite and the one I believe had the best pacing. I was constantly entertained by those chapters, but Rand’s journey seemed to be lacking up until the very end, and Nynaeve and Elayne’s journey was very mid apart from meeting the seachan woman. Overall, felt like this was a bit of a slog to get through, hope the next book is stellar.

charliebrown92's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

nageljes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

dda9's review against another edition

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4.0

Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series can only be described as epic--in scale at least. Comprised of 14 books, each nearly or more than a thousand pages, the series is for ambitious readers and those that really enjoy fantasy. Tolkien is the standard for fantasy, but Jordan is probably the first author I would say that stands outside of Tolkien's shadow. I am currently reading the fifth book, and despite Jordan covering as much plot in three books as another author would in one, he has kept me interested.

The extensiveness of Jordan's created world is nothing short of amazing. Though lacking the fine detail in some areas that Tolkien had (linguistically for instance) he has created history, culture, and geography that is every bit as large and detailed. Speaking of linguistics, one of my minor irritations with the series is Jordan's habit of trying to create a sense that his world is separate from our by very small linguistic or pronunciation changes. His characters all smoke tabac, instead of tobacco for instance, and the characters call their fathers, "da" instead of "dad." Their are hundreds of these little word changes and I find them slightly irritating. Another reader probably wouldn't care though, and this is a minor quibble.

A more substantial irritation is Jordan's descriptions of his female characters. Although Jordan has never been explicit, he seems to have a compulsion to describe the neckline of every female's dress in the book. His respectable female characters usually wear fairly modest clothing, but less respectable characters are nearly always described as extremely immodest. Jordan also seems to enjoy talking about cultural differences, but he seems to emphasize the cultural differences in standards of modesty, with some cultures even described as having their women wear no tops. There also seems to be a subtle theme of exploring sexual freedom, with several of the main characters trying various revealing styles, and enjoying the attention they receive. All of this is glossed over fairly quickly and it doesn't form a major part of the story, but I do find it fairly annoying.

Another of Jordan's themes is the two sexes constantly vying with each other for control. Many characters are constantly discussing or thinking about how to "deal" with the opposite sex, or how to manipulate them into doing what that character wants. Maybe it's just me, but I've never thought that most people spend a lot of time thinking about how to "control" and "manipulate" the opposite sex. Understand, yes, but not manipulate.

Despite these undercurrents that are, in my opinion, distracting, Jordan does a wonderful job of creating tension between characters, difficult choices, and all of the other human elements of a story that create fine drama. He also sets the story in a fascinating fanciful world that will keep fantasy buffs absorbed book after book.

I don't know if I'll get through all 14, but I'm happily working through the fifth book.

craines's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.25

While the book definitely has parts that feel like they drag on and begin to lull into boring, the exciting parts are definitely exciting and more than enough to have driven me through the 4th book in the series.

jennyreadsalot's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

The story here is really good but Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the Camel did this need some trimming down.

Book 4 in the wheel of time saga so I can’t say too much without giving away previous books. This is a classic of the high fantasy genre and they are classics for a reason. What Tolkien started Jordan definitely set out to finish

Part of me loved this book…part of me hated it. The story was fantastic and moved our characters into new spaces that allowed for some really great character development. The world and the cultures here are so very rich that you see the time he spent making sure this world made logical sense. Seeing the Aiel homeland was amazing and added richness to all the characters from that area. I am excited for how this plot is going and I will continue for sure to find out what happens next.

However…there was a chunk in the middle which was so boring that I put this book down for almost 10 days and every time I even thought about picking it back up I found literally anything else to do with my time to avoid it. The only reason I didn’t quit was my best friend promising me it got better, and it did those final 200 pages are intense. The problem was I never fully got back into it after that slump, I was just pushing to finish the book because I wanted to be done. Also the one storyline that I rolled my eyes ever time it appeared was Rand, everyone else I’m invested in but out main character I find boring as sin which doesn’t bode well

I will continue but I need some easy reading brain cleanse before I jump into the next one

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