Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time - Page 3 - Writers Forum

Walker Pierce · 12-14-2005, 06:09 PM

I think Robert Jordan's writing abilities are legendary--to say the least--but I have to agree with Rhea that it was drawn out.

Of course, I've only read the first...two books, almost halfway through the third, but it seems a bit stretched. I am, of course, going to finish, but, despite the quality of the work and the massive plot and setting, it is a tad over the line on stretch for my own taste.

Sephiroth · 12-15-2005, 11:26 AM

I really like the Wheel of Time, but I do agree with everyone that its too stretched....I mean, book 10 was completly pointless and could have been covered in one or two chapters

Iholly · 01-03-2006, 08:23 PM

I got through book 6 or so. Each book had a good opening and a good conclusion but the 10,000 pages in between were useless most of the time in my opinion. Plus the characters weren't as good as they could be in my opinion.

I'm new, don't know if there has been a post about this in the past. But anyone read both "Wheel of Time" and "Sword of Truth". What's going on there? Seems like the same author with different psuedonyms writing the same story if I didn't know better.

Kimahri · 01-11-2006, 03:48 PM

I think Goodkind and Jordan are entirely different writers and their stories are from each other. I personally think that Goodkind does not meet the scale of Jordan's writing ability. Their styles are very different but I do think that both their series were better in the beginning and have been drug out. However Knife of Dreams, I think, rekindled the fire of the Wheel of Time series.

Kimahri

Roberto 14 · 01-12-2006, 01:23 AM

I agree with most of the opinions posted here. The Wheel of Time series, for me, was an refreshing new fantasy approach, unlike the normal fantasy genre stories. Most fantasy novels since Tolkien have seemed variants of the same story, and not many managed to create a whole new world for themselves in the manner of Tolkien. Christopher Paolini made a good effort in trying something different himself, but his imagination didn't stretch far enough to create enough new concepts.
Robert Jordan created a whole new world of places, histories, evil beings, and even a world of dreams, which no other fantasy writer has managed since Tolkien. Jordan's world shows new concepts which will doubtless be 'borrowed' by other fantasy writers in the near future. For example, the concept of "Breaking of the World" by Aes Sedai gone mad by the Dark One's taint. The concept of heroes saving the world from Shadow turning villains destroying the world as it is known is something never before explored by fantasy writers.
Wheel of Time has been criticised for the length of the series, and I do agree with that. However, it must be said that Jordan probably wanted to develop the side plots and explore the history and minds of the principle characters and people. As a result, the series seemed to drag from Book 6-10, with some events in between triggering interest to pursue the reading.
However, Knife of Dreams - the latest offering, changes all that. It is written with a pace remniscint of the few books which moved really quickly. The one criticism that can be fairly levelled against it is it's length. Despite the fast pace of the book, and my tremendous reading speed, it took me five days to finish reading the book. I'd still advise reading it, for Jordan handles this book masterfully.
In anticipation of the last book in this very long series.

scott777ab777 · 01-13-2006, 09:44 PM

I love the series, and yes it is very long in FLAVOR TEXT.

I currently am following four series of books.

Laurell K Hamiltons's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series
( 14 Books 2 of which come out this year )

Raymond E Feist All the books Dealing with Midkemia.
( 19 Books with 4 more planed for the same world.)

The Harry Potter Series ( Snape needs to DIE! )

And of Course
The Wheel of Time

I guess you can tell I like Series Novels a lot.

WriteStuff · 04-19-2007, 06:57 PM

Personally, I think that the Wheel of Time is the best fantasy series of all time. Robert Jordan is my hero. I do agree that the later books dragged on a lot. I'm rereading them in preparation for "A Memory of Light" and I realized how much I forgot since the beginning. Jordan is a genius on par with Einstein to keep so many plots and characters straight and just the reality of his world is amazing. After Lord of Chaos it got really confusing and boring. The only good part between Lord of Chaos and Knife of Dreams, is the last chapter of Winter's Heart when Rand cleanses saidin. That was some of Jordan's best writing in terms of pacing and suspense. Knife of Dreams is by far the best book since Lord of Chaos, and I think that Fires of Heaven is much too drawn out.

I think that Jordan has surpassed Tolkien, but Tolkien will always be a classic because he came up with a lot of the original concepts used today. I've also read the Sword of Truth (so far) and that, for me, was boring after reading WoT. Terry Goodkind drew it out way too much. Pillars of Creation was worthless, and Naked Empire, while good, didn't advance the plot at all. The last one, Phantom, was awesome, as was Wizard's First Rule and Faith of the Fallen. Temple of the Winds (#4) was great because the climax was about 200 pages long. Then of course, everyone was let down by the 3 pages (count 'em) of climax in Soul of the Fire. I'd still recommend it but, the world seems shallow compared to WoT.

Roberto, I hate to say this, but all fantasy (including Tolkien, sorry) is derivative of medieval romance. Paolini, in fact, is getting slammed because his work is so derivative, some say he plagiarized. About the Breaking of the World, that's old. David Eddings came up with that in the '80's. Read The Belgariad to find out about the God Torak cracking the world with the Orb of Aldur. (BTW, once you read the first 100 pages, you won't want to stop. Eddings has that same sense of reality as Jordan, or vice versa rather.) In fact, if you want to stretch it a little, Tolkien had his own "breaking of the world" when Numenor was destroyed by the Valar. (Read Akallabeth in "The Simarillion".)

My final thought: Jordan is awesome; no matter how the last book turns out, I'm still going to love his writing. (And cut the guy some slack, he's dying and it's uncertain whether he'll live to finish the last book.)

Rahvin · 04-24-2007, 06:45 AM

The Wheel of Time is one of the best written fantasy series I have read. The pacing may suck a little in the later books (especially 10), but that's more a result of the plethora of characters that he has introduced. In book 10 (I forget the title) he had to devote a thousand pages to explain what was going on with all the other charcters, because he stuck with one or two in 9 and made something happen. It might be a bit annoying, but it gives the whole series a sense of realism. I have read other books that are as well written as Jordan (but not many), and all of them fail to bring such an epic world so vividly to life.

I just want the last book (he says he is going to finish the story in book 12, even if it takes him two thousand pages in hardback...).

archer88iv · 04-25-2007, 06:14 AM

In reading longer works, I find I tend to skim. Lots. And lots. And lots. As much as I love Tolkien, I doubt very seriously I've ever actually read Lord of the Rings cover to cover (thank God for auto-abridge?) and I can promise you I won't ever touch Jordan's series.

Frankly, I don't see paying that much money to skim half of it. My favorite styles are sparse, almost to a fault (well, some would call that sort of writing poetic--but anything poetic is definitely at fault). Probably because I'm wordy.

Look into Across the Nightingale Floor. I don't think the other books in the series (Tales of the Otori) achieve quite the same economy of phrase, but the first book (Across) packed enough punch that I not only read every word but actually reread most paragraphs.

Svalbard · 05-05-2007, 09:09 PM

I stopped reading the Wheel of Time after the fifth book. I thought the first three were billiant but I came to the conclusion that Jordan had lost the thread of his story and is just continuing it for the commercial value.

As for, is it the best fantasy series since LOTR, I do not think so. For me that would fall into the realm of two writers, who at least told the reader from the start, how long their series were going to be.

George R.R. Martin's, Game of Thrones and Steven Eriksons, Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen are outstanding. I believe they are now the standard that all fantasy should be judged upon.

Tad Williams's, trilogy, Memory,Thorn and Sorrow is also fanatstic.

Jordan should look at these writers and learn how to structure his series.