I knew better at the time...

but I read the first book anyway in 1996. And the first book was quite good, however I knew there were up to 10 books in this series and knew it must become stale after awhile. As such, I didn't read another volume until 2005, only because I had just moved and didn't have anything else to read until my stuff arrived from Maryland. So, I read the second book, which wasn't bad, followed by the 3rd book, which was too soon. All of the characters idiosyncracies were getting annoying, the new bad guys didn't seem nearly as dangerous as the old ones, and the Dark One was again (temporarily) defeated at the end. If RJ can't resolve a story in the same number of books it took Tolkien, then I care not to continue, especially as the plot seems to be waning already in book 3. Subsequent books, I imagine must be mind-numbing.

The Beginning of.. a great... a wonderf..a goo.....a series.

I read this book when I was sixteen and was happy at the time. There was a new fantasy series that was supposed to be wonderful and have a great world and all the stuff one expects from a fantasy novel. If I had realized at the time I'd still be slogging through this series at the age of Thirty, I'd have bought a Star Trek novel or something.

Of course there were some warning signs in the beginning, The blurbs the critics gave the book talked about how strong the female characters were in the novel. I get worried when I hear about "Strong female Characters" in a fantasy novel written by a man. So I figured that there would be a large amount of women yelling at people and calling men stupid. I Had NO IDEA! Incidently, no offense is meant to any female in the real world by that comment, I've known strong women and they tend to be strong, not 12-14 years old which is what Mr. Jordan seems to mean by strong.

Dispite that I was actually impressed with many of the characters in this novel (even some of the female ones) and hurriedly rushed to the store to buy book 2.

The plot of this novel.. indeed the plot of most of these novels, is probably too involved for me to summerize with any skill so I'll spare you. Simply put, three boys in a remote village are attacked by standard fantasy monster thug types and leave with a varied group of companions and get into all sorts of fantasy trouble. It should be noted that this is the most formulaic of all the WOT books(even the later books aren't formulaic, just dull). Jordan uses more familiar fantasy settings in this book so the average fantasy fan feels at home.


All in all, this is (as so many reviewers have said) a great beginning to a great series. I give it four stars because the Great Hunt, the next book is the only book in the series that actually merits a five star rating

A rousing start to an epic fantasy series

Way back when I first became aware of the Wheel of Time series, I decided to pass until the series was concluded so I could read them all at once. Well, the series is up to 9 hefty volumes, with the promise of at least one more, so I can wait no longer. This series has become the gold standard of modern fantasy, in the tradition of the Lord of the Rings, which was first continued in the Sword of Shanara series. For comparison, this book far surpasses the first Shanara book.

Late one night a group of Trollocs attacks an outlying village that hasn't seen any kind of violence for decades. They are beaten off by two strangers visiting the town - an Aes Sedai, wielder of the One Source, and her Warder companion. The fact that the stranger is an Aes Sedai is almost as alarming as the fact that Trollocs have suddenly appeared in such a remote and quiet edge of the realm. Why are they there? What do they want?

Three teenage boys discover that they were specifically targeted - the Dark One, long imprisoned by Aes Sedai magic, is increasingly able to influence his traditional Trolloc allies. There is something about the 3 boys that the Dark One wants, and the Aes Sedai must protect them and take them to the order's fortified city, on the other side of the realm.

Thus starts the epic journey, wherein we meet many memorable characters, have many exciting adventures, and become immersed in the fantasy world that Jordan has created. He has obviously been influenced by Tolkien, but how could he not be? Tolkien's strength was that he brought together standard mythology and reworked it into his world, which Jordan does here as well. There are some alarming similarities - the Warder Lan is distressingly similar to Strider, the evil Halfmen and Drakhar are basically Nazghul, etc. Jordan even uses the Tolkien-esque cross-continent journey as a way to ease the readers into the mythology and geography of the planet.

However, if not in originality, Jordan surpasses Tolkien in many ways. His prose is faster-paced, the action is more exciting, the descriptions are concise without being turgid. It's basically a far more interesting book to read than The Fellowship of the Ring, at least the first time. That's not to say the world is less detailed - Jordan has created a fine mix of the down-to-earth (shepherds, blacksmiths, innkeepers) and high-powered (the Aes Sedai). Similarly, he makes better use of females, of magic (Gandalf's source of magic and abilities are never really clear in the LotR), etc.

If this book has a failing, it's that there are a few too many obstacles. Some of the battles merge together and/or seem somewhat arbitrary. 50 pages shorter and this would have been a perfect opening to the series. As it is, it more than adequately whets the appetite and compells the reader to pick up the next book in the series.