Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time)

Description

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The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time)

Description

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Customer Reviews

Pricing issues.
I can't get the Kindle edition until the paperback comes out, and the Kindle edition costs as much as the paperback? I own the hardback -- but wanted a more portable way to read it. At this point I'll haul the hardback around just to make a point.

Publishers claim that there are additional costs to publishing a book other than printing, binding, distributing, etc. I accept that. However, given a paperback and a digital version the publishers must admit that the digital copy has less cost involved when compared to the paperback. The prices for the two being set to the same amount is a clear sham. Worse, there is no risk to making a digital copy of a best seller available. There is no supply and demand - you make copies as they're purchased with no sitting inventory or cost per unit.

Publishers should never have been allowed to set the price for an ebook. Please note: I don't blame the authors for this situation. This is the same problem as exists with the MPAA. They're trying to hold onto the old way because they're afraid of the new. Both trades need to get a grip, analyze consumer demands, and move on. (Don't worry though. As soon as they realize our demands don't match up to their method of making money they'll press Congress to pass laws to make our demands illegal.)

2010-09-03 (St. Charles, MO USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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I had to speed up the audio
First of all, I'm happy to report that THE WHEEL OF TIME is slowly getting somewhere. Though The Gathering Storm is excessively and needlessly lengthy (why do I, after all this time, still need the clothing styles of each country detailed?), a few things actually happen. And a few important things! Some storylines are mercifully wrapped up and it finally appears that the "storm" is truly "gathering" and that perhaps we might actually see some rain or lightning in the next volume.

Also importantly, the transition from Robert Jordan to Brandon Sanderson has been seamless. I have no idea how much of The Gathering Storm was written by Mr. Jordan before his death, but it all felt like Mr. Jordan. A couple of times I thought I detected Brandon Sanderson in the background during the Mat chapters, but this is a good thing because I like Sanderson's sense of humor. Good job, Mr. Sanderson!

The seamless transition is mainly a good thing, but it means that most of the issues I've had with THE WHEEL OF TIME are still there -- the pace is excruciatingly slow (for all the pages in this big book and all the traveling going on, there's not much overall plot movement), there are too many characters with similar names (I had to look up several of them at Encyclopedia WOT), and each of the cultures is unrealistically stereotyped (e.g., the Aiel still won't look at horses, the Domani women are seductive, etc). There are fewer braid pulls this time, though spanking is still the preferred method of punishment.

The Gathering Storm is very much like Knife of Dreams. The plot is moving toward resolution, but there's a lot of filler along the way. Bill reported that Sanderson had streamlined the prose, but honestly I couldn't detect that; it sounded the same to me. However, this may be because I was listening to The Gathering Storm on audio with the familiar voices of husband-and-wife team Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.

And speaking of the audio, here's a confession: Listening to a WHEEL OF TIME novel on audio is a massive undertaking: 33 hours of life in this case. Not only is the pace of the novel too slow, but Kramer and Reading read it too slowly, also. But I have a trick for this: I speed up the audio to 1.4 times normal speed and then it's tolerable. In fact, it sounds like a normal reading rate at this speed. I recommend the audio version if you have the capability of speeding it up. If you don't, make sure you're up to 33 hours of leisurely listening or else get the print version.

2010-09-03 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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I'm sure glad R. Jordon didn't burn his desk!
Years ago apparently Robert Jordon said that if his health began to take a turn for the worse before the WoT series was done he would burn his desk and all his notes so that no-one could finnish it. I'm glad he changed his mind.

I was alittle afraid when I heard that a mostly inexperienced fantacy writer would be taking over, but it seems to have been the right choice. While you can sometimes tell where the writting styles change, it's not extreamly obvious and so can mostly be overlooked. The story is great and I'm glad they desided to split the ending into three books instead of one massive book like R. Jordon had been hinting at before his death, God rest his soul.

So anyway, to sum up: A great continuation to the story and a good attempt at meshing the writting styles makes this a definite buy for any WoT fan who was worried like me that a new writer wouldn't be good for the series.

2010-09-02 | E.C.W. (YNP, WY USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Kudos to Sanderson. It works!
In previous books, one of the few things I never liked that well about Robert Jordan's writing style was the lack of consistent in-depth verbose dialogue from many characters. Many scenes that depended heavily on dialogue felt incomplete, and the characters ended up seeming like social idiots at times, because of all of the things that were left unsaid, the scene relying on to many inferences and other subtleties. At times, I felt that the WOT world was a world where no-one really every communicated honestly with each other or said anything meaningful! And so, much of that dramatic element was lost from many scenes in previous books.
In this book, Brandon Sanderson fixes that problem. Every character in the book (which the exception of Mat) feels more alive and in-depth than they have in a long time. Not since very early in the series have we been privy to the feelings of the characters to this breadth and depth as in The Gathering Storm. Also many loose subplots, such as The Prophet, etc are tied up in this series. That was needed, as the number of never-ending subplots in the series was growing to epic proportions. So Bravo! to Brandon. This is the most enjoyable book in this series in a long time.
Note about Mat: Mat was one of the few characters in the book who didn't need to be more verbose, more forthcoming with the other characters, or more in-depth. Subtlety and trickery are main aspects of his character, and Brandon applying the same "coating" of verbosity and forthcoming-ness to Mat, makes him seem a little off-balance. Brandon had Mat say things and behave in ways that he wouldn't have done before. And so this was out of line with his character somewhat. The other characters however, still seem much the same as they did before, just more verbose and forthcoming in their dialogue. It could be argued that this is also a change in character, and it is, but it is an enjoyable and welcome change and makes a better book. Mat's change takes away from his character somewhat. However, I also recall that Mat's character, to me, seemed somewhat flat and boring early in the series, until it changed considerably after he more or less accepts his new found memories and knowledge. I feel that Jordan reworked Mat's character at that time, really for the first time, "filling it out". Let us hope that Brandon also is able to get more in tune with Mat's character in the next book.

2010-08-27 (anaheim, ca USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Epic!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, just wow. Jordan sucked me in and made me want more. I read his first 4 books in 4 weeks and the fifth in 2 weeks. I was devastated, weren't we all, when he died. I heard of the new author and I did not have high expectations. Brandon Sanderson, I must admit, is better then Jordan. I don't know why I like Brandon better, I am horrible at book analysis, but I liked #12 better than all the others. It seemed simpler and more direct I suppose. Basically what I am trying to say is that for all of you who have yet to read The Gathering Storm, you are in for a treat.

2010-08-26 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, Book 9)

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• Fettle: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Aplomb, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and maintenance to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9780312864255

Description

The eagerly awaited sequel to The Path of Daggers, the New York Times #1 bestseller that swept the nation like a firestorm. Ninth in a series by a writer who has won the hearts of North American readers like no one since Tolkien, Winters Heart is bound to create demand for the earlier volumes in hardcover. Rand, with Min, is on the run, and Cadsuane, in Carhien, is trying to figure out where he is headed. Mazrim Taim, leader of the Black Tower, is revealed to be a liar. Faile, with her companions, is a prisoner of Sevannas Sept. With Elyas Machera, Berelain, the Prophet, and an army of disparate forces, Perrin is moving through country rife with bandits and roving Seanchan. In Ebou Dar, the Seanchan princess known as Daughter of the Nine Moons arrives. In Tar Valon, the schemers and counter-schemers in Elaidas White Tower are shaken to the core when the rebels appear suddenly outside the walls.

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Is Robert Jordan still doing the Light's work? Even loyal fans have to wonder. (And if you're not a fan yet, you'll have to read the previous 6,789 pages in this bestselling series to understand what all the fuss is about.)

Everyone's in agreement on the Wheel of Time's first four or five volumes: They're topnotch, where-have-you-been-all-my-life epic fantasy, the best in anybody's memory at the time since The Lord of the Rings. But a funny thing happened on the way to Tarmon Gai'don, and many of those raves have become rants or (worse) yawns. Jordan long ago proved himself a master at world-building, with fascinating characters, a positively delicious backstory, and enough plot and politics to choke a Trolloc, but that same strength has become a liability. How do you criticize what he's doing now? You want more momentum and direction in the central plot line, but it's the secondary stories that have made the world so rich. And as in the last couple of books, (A Crown of Swords and The Path of Daggers), Jordan doesn't really succeed at pursuing either adequately, leaving a lot of heavily invested readers frustrated.

Winter's Heart at least shows some improvement, but it's still not The Eye of the World. Elayne's still waiting to take the crown of Andor; the noticeably absent Egwene is still waiting to go after the White Tower; Perrin gets ready to pursue the Shaido but then disappears for the rest of the book. About the only excitement comes with the long-awaited return of Mat Cauthon and a thankfully rock 'em, sock 'em finale in which Rand finally, finally changes the balance of power in his fight against the Dark One. --Paul Hughes

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Customer Reviews

A pretty good entry for a late one...
I read this and liked it. The camera was held pretty tightly on the action. It let Mr. Jordan write in his active style, and when he does that I find that I like his books in this series somewhat better. The trade-off is that we don't get a lot of sweeping action sequences, but that's a good thing here. The claustrophobic view is held on individual characters and so we get to see more intimately the actions they undertake in the story. In other words, what we do get is less "watered down" than the stuff we read in, say, The Fires of Heaven.

2010-07-21 (Lexington, KY USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Fantastic
The book was a gift for my daughter and she could not have been more pleased. She has long since read it and I am about to get her another one. It arrived exactly when predicted and shipped to a second address just fine.

2010-02-22 | Pixienot (Clarksville, IN) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Conflict galore
Ooooh. I can see the end in sight and this one hooked me by the nose, pulling me along.

My patience with the previous book (no Matt) was rewarded this time. And, boy did I love how Mr. Jordan drew out the whole Matt finding out who Tuon was. And Matt's response when he does find out? Priceless. And the 3 women who love Rand and what they do? Hilarious. And the attempt to cleanse saidin? Whoa!

My only concern is what is going on with Faile (but there was a little hint of another plotline there).

Setting: Nothing much was new here. We just get to see even more of the world. I don't remember having anyone go to Ebou Dar before, though. So, that was very interesting.

Conflict: I touched on a few above, but there is a lot going on here. Every chapter seemed to have something new, some new way to deepen and intensify the conflict, or even to add another level of pain for the characters. I actually started to like Alanna (I know!) and I'm understanding Cadsuane more - and totally respecting her.

Plot: The main thing is about Rand trying to cleanse saidin. But, there is also the Seanchan in Altara and Matt's love life. There is Rand and the Asha'men. There are the machinations of the Forsaken. There is even Paiden Fain, crazier than ever.

Character: We get even more insight into characters like Alanna, Cadsuane, Nynaeve, and even Rand. I had gotten a bit tired of Rand in previous books. But in this one, we get some more insight into his thinking thanks to some intimate psychic connections from others.

Text: Still lots of flowery description and details about what people are wearing. I felt like the action sequences are also getting better, though. Previously, I was having trouble following along sometimes.

2009-10-12 | HeroJourneys.com (Eagle Mountain, UT USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Still stretching out the trilogy
Here we have the ninth book in the series. I have read this book at least twice before. We diverged with Perrin in a extraneous quest but he needed something to balance all the fun Mat seems to be having.

Thus we run square into the problem that Jordan has created, too many streams. The entire discussion during this reread is where can this series end, for it was a trilogy.

After the series achieved success others will show how Jordan purports to have thousands of pages on the history of the world. That is all well and good, but back when the story was only going to be a trilogy, you wouldn't need to create so much unless you were sure you were going to be paid for it. Before WoT, Jordan was not all that well published. Conan books, and not as memorable as the items published much earlier by those who expanded on Howard's iconic barbarian hero.

But now as a writer making money. Probably very good money, why not take the time to step back and create a mega opus. Bigger then Tolkien who is regard as the God of Fantasy.

Why not write so many character sketches that you can fill rooms with them. That may make the world richer, but it sets up problems. Winter's Heart fails though not as badly as the previous transition book. The failure is having so many story lines that justice is not done to any of them.

Further the time scale is again destroyed, where earlier books almost a year will pass in the telling, now it is weeks, and our heroes can accomplish what used to take them months. One has to remember that they are novices at there jobs of magic casters, or rulers, or battle leaders despite what memories may be inside their head.

Those of you who aren't twenty, how many really know that it does take years to have the wisdom to read people. To analyze the interactions of your environment quickly and correctly. If every twenty year old could do it (And there are several in Jordan's world who can.) Then what need of older people. Surely everyone over twenty-five are idiots...

In the Music Man, "The older-but wiser girl for me..." (It was on last night) and that is highlighted everytime a Wise One or Aes Sedai of years of experience is bossed around by one of the children. Sure they need to be heroic, but elders need to help them manage, not jump to every order.

So again do you read this book. Well it is better than the previous for stories, though shortened, do complete. But once again Jordan is stretching out his trilogy beyond all reason.

2009-09-27 (La Habra Heights, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Winter's Heart
Even though this was sold new, two of the CDs were defective and chapters could not be listened to. In the auto, even the slightest bump caused the cds to skip.

2009-09-11 (USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, Book 2)

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• ISBN13: 9780812517729
• Acclimate: New

Description

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. For centuries, gleemen have told of The Great Hunt of the Horn. Now the Horn itself is found: the Horn of Valere long thought only legend, the Horn which will raise the dead heroes of the ages.

And it is stolen.

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Customer Reviews

An enjoyable continuation of the story
First notes specifically on the Kindle edition, everybody else can skip this part: formatting errors seemed fewer and further apart in the book so perhaps as the books continue through the series the publisher is learning more and more about how to properly format. I still enjoyed the convenient chapter marks at the bottom and I'm sure it was true of the first one but apparently the speech synthesizer is enabled in this book for an impromptu audio-book-like-experience. Of course the text-to-speech can't make heads or tails of the special words in a fantasy book and a character named Min is apparently too much to handle (kept saying minimum). I still think a commercial product I paid pull price for shouldn't have these formatting issues but they are easy to ignore. I don't think there was a map of the world included in this book but I don't suppose it would be very clear on a Kindle-sized screen anyway (I have the smaller one).

I should perhaps note I have only read the first two books and I'm writing this having not started the third one yet. This review will be spoiler free (I try to stay vague).

As for the book itself I think Jordan learned some lessons from the first book and avoided making the same mistakes. There were a few obvious foreshadowing moments here and there along with some blatantly convenient plot devices to move the story along and avoid the issues that would have come up had he not resorted to the plot devices (one example is conveniently skipping over several months and traveling a long distance just when it was needed).

After a while I got a little tired of the main character constantly denying he was this reincarnated (for lack of better term?) ancient character with a destiny. I mean a lot of stuff has happened here to him that wouldn't necessarily happen to any random humble sheep herder. It just got tiring after a while. Can you imagine if say Luke Skywalker constantly whined about being manipulation into bringing balance back to the force and talked about wanting to go back to Tatooine and be a farmer? Do you know how annoying that would be?

I think some people have mentioned the straight story with no symbolism. And that's mostly true but I can't help but think "The Source" that is constantly such a temptation to use, super powerful and can inadvertently hurt people and yourself could have some kind of subtle or not so subtle metaphor. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it, that could be.

Judging by the title of the third book (spoiler?) I think he's finally going to be over it and accept that he is in essence a super-hero-like-guy...

I've already purchased the third book and am looking forward to reading it.

2010-08-31 | Subassy (Sacramento, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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A Richly Detailed World Building Quest (Spoiler Free Review)
The Great Hunt is more original than The Eye of the World, but the story occasionally gets bogged down by some rich poetic world building. If that sounds ok to you, then you'll enjoy reading this book.

Story:
Rand and the rest of the party are on a quest to find an ancient battle horn with the power to summon undead heroes. The Eye of the World, Book 1 of this series, was basically a Fellowship of the Ring clone. In this book, the heroes find themselves on a new adventure, traveling across the world and facing new enemies as well as old ones.

World:
The world that Robert Jordan has crafted is amazing. It's a world building fan's dream. There's a deep history, a myriad of different factions at war, mystical creatures, a well developed magic system, and parallel universes. It's easy to understand how his fans can get lost in these books.

Writing Style:
The strength of Robert Jordan's books is his rich writing style that pulls you into his world. At times, the books seem slow paced, but it's mainly because there are so many poetic details that bring the world to life. Jordan has one of the most mentally engaging writing styles in all of fantasy.

Characters:
The survivors of the first book are back, but they seem a bit thin this time around. There's so much effort spent on the world, the characters seem a bit secondary. Also, there are so many main characters that it feels like there isn't enough time spent on their development.

Action:
The magic battles are fantastic, but the sword fights are not. Lightning rips the sky and strikes the ground throwing cobblestones in all directions. Arcing fireballs destroy buildings. The visceral descriptions of the magic battles are great and pull the reader right into the action. However, the swordfights are written like, Rand performed Monkey steals peach, then Cutting the Silk, followed by Angry Humming Bird. Really? It's terrible. The swordfights need to have the same visceral descriptions as the magic battles. Swords should cut enemies down, pierce their bellies, lop off heads... Some of the action is good, but some of it is too poetic to carry an impact.

Maturity:
There's no sex, no swearing, just a complex plot, fancy college words, and some fantasy violence.

Overall:
If you liked The Eye of the World, you'll like this book. The main appeal is the richly developed world, but take note that the characters and action do take a back seat. Fans of Stephen Erickson will also enjoy these books.

If you want some light reading that's heavy on action, you can probably skip this series.

2010-07-12 (California) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Enjoy It While It Lasts
This book showcases what's best in Wheel of Time, and is one of the only pieces of serial fiction I can truly give 5 stars to. The first book was too slow and "introductory" to be fully entertaining, but here in the second book the fun and adventure really starts. Rand, Mat, and Perrin are still together on an adventure, with only temporary separations. Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne are likewise still together, first learning in the Tower, and then on an adventure. There's just enough splitting up of characters to explore their differences, while still bringing everything together so it doesn't get lost in details. There's exploration, self-discovery, and an introduction to the mysterious mirror worlds and portal stones, and of course, the greatest mystery, the titular Horn of Valere. Moiraine is absent for most of the novel, allowing the characters to develop on their own without her supervision, but we're provided another Aes Sedai in her place, giving us a different perspective on their organization and culture.

Alas, all of this is bittersweet. Everything that makes this novel great is abandoned in later novels, with the 6 main characters separated into 4 or 5 different groups, instead of the 2 basic groups used here. The mirror worlds and Horn of Valere are never revisited. The dream world is covered for two more books, then almost forgotten as well. Instead of being introduced to new Aes Sedai one or two at a time, later books provide 10 or 20. Still, _The Great Hunt_ is one of the best fantasy novels ever produced, and anyone who's read _Eye of the World_ should continue at least this far to experience it.

2010-06-21 (Boston, MA United States) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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The Great Hunt
I really like the series and the book, however, they all contain typos!
Sentences are split between paragraphs, characters names have letters missing/different and the italicised thoughts are so choppy!
I have read the paper versions, which didn't have all this going on. It is so frustrating!
Great story, but I think they need to be checked and rechecked for all this messiness.

2010-05-12 (Australia) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A slow read, but it was worth it
I just finished the second sequel, The Great Hunt, and currently am reading the third one. Robert Jordan wrote the plot in a very slow pace. Six young people from a remote village gradually found themselves being a major part of the grand pattern that could change the world. That was a lot to take on one's life, therefore, the length of words to tell how those people adjusted themselves was justifiable, I supposed.

These characters took a long time (like one full book between 700-800 pages) to step up to another level of acceptance. It wasn't bad. I think we, readers, were given enough time to follow the mental growth of the characters when they were struggling with fate that changed their lives forever.

I like the way Jordan described his world. Although for that, I had to slow down my reading pace, to grasp the rich tapestries of that world. It was described in detail, that I could imagine vividly everything in it, each place with its very different people, buildings and grooves.

What Jordan lacked though, was a clear description of his female characters. I found it difficult to tell the difference between Nynaeve to Egwene or Moiraine, or Selene. They were all very similar to each other. I don't understand why they were angry all the time. There was not enough back ground to explain these females' angry attitude towards the world in general. Whenever any other character in the book said anything at all, the females replied with harsh words, or balled their fists, or twitched their mouths/eyebrows. All this only showed they were angry, but no particular logical reasons provided at all by Jordan.

Also, from several times description through the boys' thoughts, all those females were the prettiest girls the boys had ever seen in their lives. If it was said once, I can understand it. But as it was said to describe all the ladies, I found it confusing. I mean, all the ladies had was the same things, the prettiest face on earth and an angry attitude, how to tell their difference then? I don't know if in the following sequel books the female characterization would be improved, but I certainly hope so! It is too bad if such a good story line with a richly described world became annoying at some parts, due to some flatly described characters.

2010-05-09 (Depok, Indonesia) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1)

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• ISBN13: 9780812511819
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Description

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

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Customer Reviews

In Which The World is Literally Made Out of Prophecy
There are generally two ways a main character can begin a journey. The first is on his own, of his own decision, for some goal of desire that makes him leave the comfort of home. The second is that some event occurs that ends up with him being dragged kicking and screaming out of his village, off to have adventures whether he wants it or not.

Luke Skywalker's decision to join the rebels in Star Wars is an example of the first kind of journey.

The Eye of the World is the complete embodiment of the second.

Rand, Mat, and Perrin are three ordinary boys who live in the completely peaceful and backwater farming village Two Rivers. Events Happen, and they end up fleeing the village with an Aes Sedai (a kind of female magician that nobody likes), a Warder (a kind of ranger/knight that nobody trusts), being chased by Trollocs (basically orcs, that nobody likes).

The reason for this adventure is in the giant metaphor that author Robert Jordan has constructed to represent the world: the Wheel of Time weaves the Age Pattern, with individual lives acting as the threads. Occasionally, certain threads called ta'veren can shape out the pattern, pulling other threads along with them. Guess what the three main characters are!

Yes, nearly every coincidence, good luck, convenient meeting, unfortunate event, or basically anything that happens in the book is explained by "the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills". Helpful farmer willing to give a lift just when you need to leave a village quickly? The Wheel did that. Tree fell on a Trolloc? The Wheel did that too. Did a rare and mythical creature show up right in time to guide the party through ancient and forbidden dimensional pathways? The magical giant Wheel in the sky commanded it.

If you go through the book and replace "Wheel of Time" with "The Author", the whole thing becomes a fourth-wall breaking comdey. "Darn, we got separated. I guess The Author wanted that to happen."

This reliance on prophecy and fate isn't a crutch; it's full on life-support, the entire hospital. And yet I still thoroughly enjoyed Wheel of Time despite all that. The story is engaging and well paced, though often confusing. The characters are all interesting, even if their actions are controlled by the giant Sewing Machine in the sky.

The Eye of the World is as fantastical as Fantasy gets. It has the simple sheepherder destined for great things. It has magic. It has prophecy. It has sword fights, and cannon fodder monsters, and bigger monsters, and ancient ruins. It has muddy villages and witch hunts and dream visions and an all powerful Evil Being who got locked up way back when and wants to escape. If you like those kinds of things, then you'll love The Eye of the World.

If you're looking for something more original, more distanced from the Lord of the Rings type of world, you should probably look somewhere else.

2010-09-01 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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Why in Hell would you pay the same price as a paperback book?
Have I missed something? I do not understand why you would pay the same price as a paperback book? I thought the whole purpose of this endeavor was to save paper and reduce costs for the publisher as well as the consumer? Obviously people are buying them at this cost, shame on you consumers for buying into this rip off.

I have read the whole series except for the last two books. My intention was to buy a kindle and then buy the whole series again and start from the beginning. NOT, I will just go buy the paperback series.

What a complete disappointment. I would rate it a zero!!! but the system doesn't let me

2010-08-29 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

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A Horrible Read
I read this book on the recommendation of my brother, who raved about this series and this book in particular. I now know that it was a mistake to trust his judgement in fantasy books. Like many other people who have given poor reviews to this book, I am utterly shocked at the number of people who are wild about it. Maybe these people have not read many books, and maybe they have never read any really good ones, or maybe they cannot tell the difference. Even more annoying, there are so many reviews here that make comments on the entire series (positive and negative) when the review should just focus on this book, which incidentally has more than enough shortcomings on its own.

First and foremost this book is too long. Apparently Jordan never learned the maxim that your writing should be concise, but your ideas should be complex. This book is not well thought out and it is appallingly slow in its pacing. The story never seems to progress, and the characters never seem to accomplish anything. As others have mentioned, it is very repetitive and the level of detail sometimes seems like a cover for the fact that he cannot move the story along. I originally started this book and read only the first 60 pages before putting it down because the story went nowhere. At that time, I thought I was just not in the right frame of mind to get into this book, but when I later picked it up and read it completely, I realized that my initial impressions were not only correct, but that the boredom and the lack of a meaningful plot carried on through the whole novel. And that is another thing, since the book is the first of a series, there is no real resolution at the end because the author has already decided to continue the story. It was a slog, a battle to finish this book, and when I finally did, I was disgusted and relieved that I would never subject myself to another novel by Robert Jordan.

When I think of the worst writers I have ever read, I have to say that Robert Jordan is right up at the top. One of the things that make a writer is his style, his ability to tell a story, his facility with words, his attention to his craft. Jordan has no style and and thus he cannot master any of the aforementioned attributes. I found his characters to be dull and lifeless, his world was not original, with many place names that were copies of Lord of the Rings, and his storytelling ability almost non-existent. You literally could rip out every third page of this book before reading it and not have missed a thing, if anything, it might improve the readability. In fact there were entire chapters that could have been removed and the book would still read the same-- boring. The writing itself is atrocious. His prose is at about the same level as Dan Brown (See Spot. See Spot run. Run, Spot, run.), although Brown can at least finish a story in under 800 pages. Jordan uses his words as a bludgeon and he never gives the reader a respite either.

When I think of some of the better fantasy books that I have read, the contrast with this tripe is really evident. I can only assume, as I alluded to previously, that the people who like this book have never been exposed to anything better. The only thing worse than being unoriginal, is to be unoriginal and needlessly loquacious. I noticed another reviewer mentioned Terry Pratchett as a better alternative, and I agree completely. Another suggestion of a better series would be The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock . In fact, the entire Elric Saga (six books) takes less pages than this tome and it is infinitely more exciting and better written.

2010-08-24 | Steppenwolf909 (Buffalo, NY USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

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Pathetic
"This title is not available for customers from your location in:
Europe (change region)
Shop titles available for Europe"

Pathetic. I guess it's the publisher's fault.

2010-08-18 | Ölbaum (.ch) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

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You will be hooked.
I started reading this book series before finals in high school and I hardly studied! I still don't see how I passed. Once you start reading this book you will not stop. It feels like you're somewhere between Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter while a plot to rival 24's drags you behind at an unstoppable speed. The characters are well-written to begin with and then they grow on you more and more. The risks become more dangerous and yet more difficult to avoid. The emotions and thoughts of the characters are very evident to me and you as readers, the internal struggles becoming our internal struggles as we mentally will them towards this or that. The battles are not over-described nor over-simplified. The balance between battle, drama, and recuperation is, well, perfect.

If you have come to the end of The Return of the King and Deathly Hallows and find yourself in depression now that there is nothing to look forward to, then have hope because Robert Jordan gives it to you in this first installment of the Wheel of Time, The Eye of the World.

2010-08-18 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time, Book 5)

Product Details

• Shape: New
• ISBN13: 9780812550306
• Notes: BUY WITH Trust, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and aid to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and go. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

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Customer Reviews

enjoyable read
Enjoyed it as much as the first four, had a hard time puttng it down

2010-07-19 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Characters really grow in this novel
This novel goes into much more detail than others in the series to date as far as character growth and storyline. The action culminates at the end like most novels do along with some added twists and unexpected character changes. Other readers describe this novel (along with many others in the series) as slow and boring. If you like a novel to pique your interest every minute, then this series will leave you disappointed. If you want to immerse yourself into the storyline and world completely, then you are in the right place.

That being said, there was one point of the book that always made me want to read right past it. That was the women constantly getting angry with the men for being decent, well, men. Always rolling their eyes or sternly talking to them as if they were complete idiots. If I didn't know any better, this book feels like it was written by a woman who hated men. I certainly hope that the following novels don't have as much of this bashing as it became old very quick.

2010-05-03 (Des Moines, IA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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an excellent read
If you've been reading the Wheel of Time series, you'll really enjoy this book. It continues the plot well and was really hard to put down. If you haven't been reading the Wheel of Time series and are a fan of fantasy books, pick up a copy of The Eye of the World, the first book in the series.

2010-04-23 (Michigan) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Another Very Happy Customer!!
I love Amazon! It is easy and the reviews make it easy to know what company you want to use for your purchase. I am VERY happy with the books I purchased. I made my purchase at 8:00pm and they were shipped the next day. I expected it to take 14 days to recieve them but recieved them sooner than expected since I had them sent the cheepest slowest way possible. I think it was a total of 7 days and I had my books! That's GREAT service!! Thank You Very Much!!

2010-04-09 (Oregon) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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This is where it all fell apart for me...
I started rereading the series because of the kindle releases. The long and short summary of my review is that this is where it all fell apart for me. I slogged through the remaining books until the excellent Gathering Storm, but Fires of Heaven is when the series noticeably became dragged down by the constant unnecessary detail, the confusing expanding plot threads, and the repetitive interactions of the characters. There are long stretches of this book that are mind numbing to read, unlike the previous four. From here on out, I began to live for the vanishingly infrequent moments that recaptured the magic of the first four books...

2010-04-03 | reviewer (Seattle, WA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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