The Wheel of Time *spoilers*

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IMO, the biggest criticism of the series stems from the fact that later books suffer in comparison to earlier ones; like others talk about above. That said, imo, even the later books are pretty okay when you are able to divorce yourself from any disappointment from a failure to live up to expectations.

I'd recommend reading them because, let's face it, there is a finite amount of fantasy worth reading. Yes, yes, you can list good books that will go for pages. But, as far as accessible, good fanatasy books go, there really isn't that much out there when you have been at it for a few years. It's kinda like -- seeing a spectacular movie, waiting for the sequel, and while it was good it wasn't the original. Like a lot of people view the Matrix. Compared to an original it suffers but compared to many other sci-fi flicks it is still very good.

The books are certainly better than 90% of the schlock filling fantasy shelves imo. So, I wouldn't recommend them above many other fantasy books but I could recommend them as 'good' books to read eventually. No need to rush though.

 

I've just finished the first one. It' one of the best books I've read in a long time. I can't wait to read the one's everyone (well nearly everyone) says is to dragged out. I'm starting the second one tonight

 

You know, I'm going to state an opinion here that will raise a few hackles, but here it goes: The worst Jordan book is still an order of magnitude better than any FR book. Come to think of it, as far as I'm concerned, the worst Jordan book is better than the best Goodkind book -- and I like Goodkind's early stuff! But I like Jordan better. He is long winded and his quality drops each time he publishes a new book, but he's still pretty blasted good.

 

Yeah, from what I've read of Jordan's books and FR books, I must say that Jordan's books are a lot better. I've never really taken to FR books. They just don't have... how can I put this? They just don't seem to have enough depth in them I guess.

 

The majority of FR books are really bad but every now and then they have some really decent ones: Spellfire, Elminster The Making of a Mage, Song of the Saurials.

They almost redeem the series from being the complete washout it would otherwise be.

 

I loved the first WoT books. I was reading them in 6th grade and couldn't wait for the next ones to come out. And I do feel that the character developement in the beginning is pretty good and although the main plot is def. your typical save-the-world fantasy, Jordan does it in a way that is pretty original.

HOWEVER, (and yes, there has to be a however here) I became more and more disappointed with the books. At the end of the 7th book one of the main characters gets a building toppled on him and throughout all of the 8th book (which I waited 2 years for) they don't even mention what happens to him! It's not until the 9th book that you find out and even then, it was fairly pathetic. And speaking of the 9th book -- that was also fairly pathetic. It just seemed that real happenings slowed down to nothingness but that was nothing on 10th, where absolutely NOTHING AT ALL was resolved. N-O-T-H-I-N-G! I was pretty . . . annoyed. All that happened was he decided to add still more pointless plot twists and he didn't resolve any of the older problems, just added more new ones.

Still, I recommend the beginning books at the very least -- the characters up through the 7th book are good and memorable. And I do intend to continue reading the later books with the pure hope that maybe Robert Jordan will realize that he's losing more fans with each book instead of Harry Potter's gaining more fans with each book. But a word to the wise, don't buy the later ones in hardcover, it's better off just to wait until they're in paperback.

 

bah silverwolf...you'll keep reading them because you know that, at the least, the last book is gonna kick ass.

And you don't want a bigass blank spot where Rand is struggling to gain control, Mat to survive, and Perrin to find his wife, and suddenly they're all leading the attack against The Dark One.

 

Lol that would suck Gaidin, i think all the books are good but that the first 7 are better by far than the last 3 and if the last book isnt kick ass(if it ever comes out) i will be very dissapointed in Robert Jordan.
Also He doesnt use Callandor because he feels he can do anything with it but is afraid of its power, and also he knows that not everything can be done with it since he tried to bring that child back to life in the stone after the trolloc attack.

[ July 09, 2003, 05:37: Message edited by: LoS_DrIzZt4 ]

 

he doesnt even have callandor anymore....that one green sister's warder has it.

And the ones he's afraid of using are the Chodean 'Kal(sp?!).