| | Comment from (2004-11-17) |
| The good about this series: Jordan created a rich world with several different factions on it and quality magic description. A very interesting setting.
The bad: Jordan tends to write 600 pages commenting about wich of his 200 characters
"is being cheated" (yet again) or
"has a look that can make something to stones" or
"(woman)is being a bitch against all others who (inexplicably) comply even if they have the right to refuse" or
"is good looking but not really beautiful" (about 3 characters don't fill these description, even the old ones were like this before)
then at the last 30 pages of the book some grand (huge) event is narrated in about 3 pages.
Jordan seems to have a problem with ending stories since every book add new characters, evil threats, migty magics and means of travel. That is not bad at all if not for the fact that every new adition seems to make the old stuff more and more obsolete.
I don;t recomend any of these books since the first ones are good but the story remains inconclusive and the last ones are plainly boring. |
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| | Comment from (2004-08-22) |
| Hmm. A lot of people like this series. But another lot have a love hate relationship with it, and still another lot dislike it.
I gave up after three books. Enough is enough.
To me, this series has two things going for it: the actual writing style is quite easy to read, and the world is interesting.
But that doesn't justify these books. Essentially, they are repeats of the same basic story formula, over and over again. Nothing really happens. It's slow, and it's tedious.
Each book is provides a few more details of the overall storyline, but fills the other pages with endless irrelevant chaff.
If you want an enjoyable read of a single book, by all means check out the first in the series, "The Eye of the World". It's a fun read, especially for the late-teen market. But don't buy into Jordan's endless money-making book series; it's just not worth it. Try something like George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, or something by Robin Hobb instead. |
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| | Comment from (2003-07-23) |
| This is a wonderful series. It was my introduction to Fantasy and I must say a great one. I still remember sitting there dumbfounded after finishing the first book, thinking... "I have to go and buy the second book NOW!"
Book 10 is the only book where I got the feeling like... "ok, enough fluff... let's get on with it." |
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| | Comment from (2003-03-10) |
| The comment one hears most often about this series is, "How soon is the next book going to be finished?" Every so often, someone adds, "Oh, and by the way, the later part of the series isn't quite as carefully constructed as it might be." Then they go back to asking how soon the next book is coming out. Allow me point out, with all due respect and courtesy, that those are related issues. |
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| | Comment from (2003-03-10) |
| What started out as a very enjoyable series has in my opinion failed to keep up the pace.
An enjoyable cast of characters has become a sprawling mass. What was a good pace has become a stop and go situation, with one book consisting of approx 3 days in the life of the characters it touches upon.
The series from book 6 simply became too tedious and unenjoyable to read.
Bottom line, wait for more to come out and then start, otherwise you risk disappointment. |
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| | Comment from (2003-03-09) |
| Great series.
Although the last books has lost its pace a little. |
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| | Comment from (2003-03-08) |
| Damn this series!! This was one of the most frustrating series i have ever read. Starts out great, if a little rambling, but the series quickly degenerates into a morass of pointless characters, and dwells on everyday actions, ALOT. I will say that the ninth book was much better that the previous 4, but the Tenth (Purchased in Hardcover!) rambles on and on, and nothig happens in the entire 672 pages! No really, nothing!! Read this book if you enjoy lengthy descriptions of chairs that are "always threatening to collapse". |
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| | Comment from (2003-03-08) |
| I figure most folks are going to blast the series for degenerating into the minutiae of everyday life (such as chairs that are always threatening to collapse). So I felt it would be great to come down on the positive side.
I have found that the descriptions, while somewhat lengthy, provide a great deal of insight into the world in which the story takes place. It also provides rather a lot of insight into the motivations of the characters and the conditions they are operating under. Once the series is "finished" to the point that the major sotryline is resolved, I don't think it will be quite so annoying. The biggest problem is the length of time between the books which seem to be making no progress. However, much of it has the feel of being "middle of the story" syndrome; that is, necessary background information to understand the big events that are yet to come.
(I will agree that volumes 4 through 10 could probably have been better if they had only been 4 volumes or maybe 5. Then again, I can think of at least a dozen series that suffer the same problem.) |
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| | Comment from (2003-03-08) |
| I found this series good when I was younger, but now I have read and studied further afield I find the language and structure rather tedious and irritating. The lengthy and frequent studies of the glares that pass between the women, the tidy little boxes Jordan dumps his characters in (especially the Aes Sedai!) (and the associated lack of character change and growth) and the infuriating issues he seems to have with women (and how every last one of them is mysterious and totally not understandable) that he projects onto his male characters make me wish I could just pick out the actual storyline sections of the text, which are actually reasonably interesting and worth reading. I think it's time Mr. Jordan got over his problems with women in particular and just concentrated on the story; it's much more interesting than hearing the same sentences about puppets and strings and glares and mysterious women spouted every couple of chapters. |
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