Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time"
Created | Updated Dec 13, 2004
The Wheel of Time is an epic series of books spanning three years in the extraordinary lives of five young people from a small village and the various characters surrounding them.
The ten volumes in the series are titled The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, Lord of Chaos, A Crown of Swords, The Path of Daggers, Winter's Heart, and Crossroads of Twilight. The average length is approximately seven to eight hundred pages, providing an in-depth, unprecedented realism of the world in which the tale is spun.
The beginning is inconspicuous and provides little evidence of the scale the series quickly reaches. Set on a simple country road leading to an equally simple country town far from the complications of kings, queens, and the all too numerous villains. The day before an annual celebration, excitement builds around gleemen and fireworks. Quickly, this attention is shifted to the presence of an Aes Sedai, a woman who can "channel", or use magic, called the "One Power". Soon after, monsters appear in the night and the five main characters depart for greater things along with the Aes Sedai, Moiraine, and her bodyguard, Lan. These five characters are Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, and Nynaeve.
The story soon splits into multiple plot lines, a style that is kept throughout the entire series. What makes these books a joy to read is that the author manages to juggle several plots without taking away from any or letting any to fall flat. The same level of colourful, descriptive writing is maintained for all nine thousand plus pages of this expansive series.
Also, the characters are constantly developing and changing, often in unexpected ways, giving the story a fresh feeling that encourages the reader to read "just one more page" until the end or unconciousness. Such is the quality ofthese works.
The many cultures and countries our heroes encounter are sampled and mixed from ethnicities from around the world, giving the hundreds of background characters an equally dynamic feel as the more important ones. From the Ogier to the Aiel, the Shienarin to the Cairhienin, Jordan never disappoints.
But, as we all know, every book, even the best, has its faults. The Wheel of Time is no exception. Sometimes it seems that everything is being set up just a little too conveniently for the primary characters as though the entire world was working towards their victory. Fortunately, this pattern begins to fade after the halfway point of the series, book five.
Another downside is the way the basic plot of each book is similar. Beginning calmly with the same paragraph each time and ending with another victory or accomplishment for our motley crew of heroes and heroines. Luckily, the specifics of each story are extremely diverse and follow few preset traditions of fantasy writng.
Though the books were published more than ten years ago, all ten are number one New York Times bestsellers and are still in print. Jordan displays a true god-like mastery of his world and of story telling. I recommend them highly to fans of fantasy and of any literature.
The ten volumes in the series are titled The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, Lord of Chaos, A Crown of Swords, The Path of Daggers, Winter's Heart, and Crossroads of Twilight. The average length is approximately seven to eight hundred pages, providing an in-depth, unprecedented realism of the world in which the tale is spun.
The beginning is inconspicuous and provides little evidence of the scale the series quickly reaches. Set on a simple country road leading to an equally simple country town far from the complications of kings, queens, and the all too numerous villains. The day before an annual celebration, excitement builds around gleemen and fireworks. Quickly, this attention is shifted to the presence of an Aes Sedai, a woman who can "channel", or use magic, called the "One Power". Soon after, monsters appear in the night and the five main characters depart for greater things along with the Aes Sedai, Moiraine, and her bodyguard, Lan. These five characters are Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, and Nynaeve.
The story soon splits into multiple plot lines, a style that is kept throughout the entire series. What makes these books a joy to read is that the author manages to juggle several plots without taking away from any or letting any to fall flat. The same level of colourful, descriptive writing is maintained for all nine thousand plus pages of this expansive series.
Also, the characters are constantly developing and changing, often in unexpected ways, giving the story a fresh feeling that encourages the reader to read "just one more page" until the end or unconciousness. Such is the quality ofthese works.
The many cultures and countries our heroes encounter are sampled and mixed from ethnicities from around the world, giving the hundreds of background characters an equally dynamic feel as the more important ones. From the Ogier to the Aiel, the Shienarin to the Cairhienin, Jordan never disappoints.
But, as we all know, every book, even the best, has its faults. The Wheel of Time is no exception. Sometimes it seems that everything is being set up just a little too conveniently for the primary characters as though the entire world was working towards their victory. Fortunately, this pattern begins to fade after the halfway point of the series, book five.
Another downside is the way the basic plot of each book is similar. Beginning calmly with the same paragraph each time and ending with another victory or accomplishment for our motley crew of heroes and heroines. Luckily, the specifics of each story are extremely diverse and follow few preset traditions of fantasy writng.
Though the books were published more than ten years ago, all ten are number one New York Times bestsellers and are still in print. Jordan displays a true god-like mastery of his world and of story telling. I recommend them highly to fans of fantasy and of any literature.
