| | Comment from (2005-02-28) |
| After reading a few books in the "Wheel of Time" series, I have began to realize many quirks in it. Quirks so bad, that I came close to giving up and donating the series to my local library many times.
1) Too many setting descriptions. Everytime a character takes a few steps, it seems we must read about looks and smells. This may sound like par for course, but they are very long winded, and not usually colorful or useful. They seemed to be added for padding more than entertainment.
2) The characters are alright alone, but they interact terribly. I, again, almost gave up, shaking my head in disgust, when (usually female-to-male, and visa-versa) they grouped up, which they mostly are. The males do not understand the women, are afraid of them, and say the most baffoonish things. The wemon think they have the males pegged as stupid grunts (which in Robert's universe, they are), believe they must take charge of everything, and must kick and scream like 4-year olds if anyone else takes an inch of authority or, for the men, initiative.
I see this as all downhill from here. |
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| | Comment from (2004-07-05) |
| Short version: don't bother. The first four, maybe five, books are very well written and eminently readable, but then the series starts a long slide into mediocrity. Books six and onwards could do with a lot of editing and condensation; they are verbose, tedious, and very much (IMO) a cure for insomnia. It's almost as if Jordan is challenging himself to spin the story out over as many books as he can, to maximise the profit... god, am I that cynical?
I've read through to the end of "Winter's Heart". Maybe, once the whole thing is finished, I'll pick it up and read it from start to finish. Probably not, though; there are plenty of other authors that I feel are far more deserving. |
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| | Comment from (2003-05-08) |
| After the first few volumes, the story reads like one enormous novel. This is truly a story of epic proportions--epic in the original sense of the word. It easily challenges the Scandinavian Sagas in complexity. Although the two year waits between new releases grow frustrating at times, the finished product will be a masterwork that will bear reading and rereading for decades. |
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| | Comment from (2003-03-07) |
| The wheel of time starts out as one of the best series you'll ever read, then it slowly slides down hill, until book 10, where it's probably only an average series. You get the feeling the 10 books he wrote so far could have easily been condensed into about 6-8 books. Still, there are few authors I could really recommend over Jordan if you have the time and don't mind larger novels. |
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