The Blog Fantastic 025: The Dragon Reborn review

This isn’t really a review. It’s more of an assessment of the series from the prequel to the third book in the series. It’s not about summarizing the plot or helping potential readers of the series to make a decision to read or not to read the series. It’s simply a way for me to share my thoughts, confusion and general commentary on the series while making judgements and criticisms along the way. It’s good fun. Participate by using the comments section below.

In many ways, the Wheel of Time is like the yin-yang symbol which is used quite frequently in the series, albeit under different names (the Flame of Tar Valon and the Dragon’s Tooth). Half of it represents the best that the fantasy genre has to offer and the other half represents the worst. Robert Jordan is the kind of genius author who’s unaware of why some people consider him to be so great and doesn’t realize why his biggest critics can so effectively make him look like a hack author. That might read like a personal attack but it’s not. I’m saying this based on his novels I’ve read and on the online reaction to this (in)famous series. Three books and a prequel into the series I have to say that this is simultaneously one of the most entertaining and also worst fantasy series I’ve ever read. Most time the good outweighs the bad but the sheer amount of bad can, and has, turned off many a reader. The biggest negative thing about the series isn’t its length. It’s that it’s long because of the author’s self-indulgence, the use of unnecessary details and incredibly slow plotting.

While the overall story has no huge shocking moments, it has a simple plot in which all of the characters have quests that are connected to Rand’s quest for Callandor, the book isn’t without it’s little twists and turns. I want to emphasize small twists and turns. If there are any large twits they were either over my head or are yet to be important in the grand scheme of things. Jordan’s kind of fond of leaving bits of his books unexplained and having explanations provided in a later book or regularly taking the time to over-explain things (like every few chapters). Jordan is a writer of extremes. He’s incredibly blunt most of the time but he can also be very subtle to the point where he reveals next to nothing to the reader. There is no middle ground and that makes the book pretty frustrating to read based on what chapter you happen to be reading.

One of the things I liked The Dragon Reborn is its structure. There is very little point of view chapters from Rand. Instead, the book focuses on the many other characters in the series and it’s great. That’s what we needed after two books that focused on Rand. It’s a breath of fresh air. I was tired of being in Rand’s head. He’s not a very engaging or interesting character. Rand is bland. Easy joke, let’s move on. Rand isn’t the only annoying thing about the Wheel of Time. What’s also annoying is that Jordan is fond of beating the reader over the head with whatever problem it is that the characters are facing. Perrin is constantly worried about losing control of his wolfbrother powers and turning into a wolf-man. Egwene and Nynaeve are second guessing themselves sick over who is and isn’t part of the Black Ajah. Rand is always worried about losing control of saidin while trying to learn how to use it and not go mad from the taint. Some of Jordan’s repetitions are mandated by the story and actually serve a purpose for the reader but so much of it padding and repetition. By sharing the load of point of view chapters amongst multiple characters and not particularly focusing on one character for most of the book helps with that repetition because it gives the reader a break. Instead of reading about Perrin and his problem for ten chapters in a row – Actually, that’s exactly what Jordan does. Instead of spreading out the chapters evenly amongst characters, he bunches them together for the first half so that the book begins with a lot of Perrin, then most on to a lot of Egwene to end up a more or less balanced mix by the second half. The arrival of Mat’s chapters was very nice. He’s a great character post-healing.  

Aes Sedai and the White Tower seem rather different in this book than they were in the prequel. I think part of it has to do with the fact that Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve have to become super powerful very quickly (meaning, in few books). It’s not really mandated by the plot yet but Jordan seems to think it’s really important that they achieve the rank of Aes Sedai as soon as possible (meaning a few books in Jordan-time). He also wants to make all three of them, particularly Egwene and Nynaeve, two of the most powerful Aes Sedai in a thousand years. It feels like the characters haven’t really earned their level of power.  They’re at a point where their level of skill is way low and staying there while their power levels are rapidly rising. It’s also odd that they are rising so quickly in rank when everything else in this book goes by so slowly. I think I’m also upset that it all seems so easy for them when Jordan is constantly telling us that the training to become and Aes Sedai is brutally hard. I believed him in New Spring because most of the book was about showing me just how hard it was for Moiraine and Siuan. They had to work hard at it and look where it’s brought them; they’re powerful and are knowledgeable on the mythology of the world. Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve are just coasting. They’re away from their magic school tower for months and when the get back to the White Tower two of them graduate their current level and move on to the next. That makes no sense and don’t start telling me it’s because they’ve had practice in real world setting and that’s why they’ve improved on their skills. That’s bullshit. It happened because Jordan wanted is to and that’s it. That’s why it feels so cheap because it is.

The best thing about the series continues to be the world building and the way all of the seemingly disparate elements comes together. The biggest addition to the world building in this volume is the reveal of the Dream World called Tel’aran’rhiod. In the Wheel of Time, people, events, all of existence repeats itself over and over. We learn in this novel that it’s not just Time that repeats itself but there are also multiple mirror worlds that co-exist and mirror each other. In these mirror worlds, events that happen in one happen in all of the others. For example, if the Dark One is imprisoned in just one world, he will also be imprisoned in all of the others. It seems pretty clear that Rand and the gang aren’t just fighting to protect their world but all of the mirror worlds as well. All of Existence, all of the Pattern. I’m not yet certain how this ties into the parallel worlds of the Portal Stone but there does appear to be some kind of connection.

If I understood the book correctly, one of these mirror worlds is the Dream World. That’s what I think anyway but it could very well be separate yet connected to the rest of the mirror world. It gets pretty complicated pretty quickly. Dreams have played a considerably important part in the series so far but the development of Egwene’s power as a Dreamer makes it even more important than it was before. I think we spent far too much time in characters’ dreams in the first couple of books but the revelation that the world of dreams actually matters to the events of the story and that it isn’t just a way for Jordan to include portent and foreshadowing to this already bloated novels is rather exciting. It gives substance to dreams and makes the events that happen in dreams more important to the characters, the story and the reader – even retroactively to the first two books in the series. Hopefully this means that dreams will be used less for foreshadowing and more for actual plot development and action.

While I do not understand the way everything connects, I appreciate that Jordan is developing the series’ cosmology. Like most everything else, it’s problematic. The Wheel of Time turns and weaves the Pattern using the lives of men and woman as the thread (no, not Pernese Thread, this is good thread – thread of Destiny . . . whoaaaaaa). Events aren’t going to be random or chaotic. They’re not even going to be as random and chaotic as works of fiction that don’t deal so heavily with themes of prophecy, destiny and the repeatability of all things great and small. The Wheel of Time, more than any fantasy series I’ve ever read, deals with order, predictability and a strong use of coincidence as plot points. While the land in which these stories are told is large and encompasses hundreds (soon to be thousands) of characters, the main characters are always bumping into each other. The three ta’veren and their friends get split up into groups of varying sizes on a regular basis and for three consecutive novels they’ve always end up together by the end of the book for the big finish. You can dismiss this with the fact that all three novels follow the basic fantasy structure of a quest (the search for the Eye of the World, then the Horn of Valere and finally Callandor). But events, large and small, feel more predictable than they usually are in this genre because of the Pattern and the cosmology of the series. It’s ordered chaos, essentially. Everything weaves together to form a pattern, something recognizable. It might not be recognizable to the characters but for regularly fantasy readers the pattern (the novel’s structure, familiar plot points, etc.) and the Pattern (the history of the world in which the story takes place and how the lives of the main characters will turn out) is there, even if we can’t make it out this early in the series.  Most everything in the Wheel of Time feels very familiar but Jordan distinguishes himself among other fantasy writers by making that familiarity of genre elements part of the story. He further distinguishes himself by the vast size and complexity of the world he created. It’s impressive even if many of the elements of his world are often contradictory or poorly developed (so far. I’m still being optimistic).

Another interesting part of the world building is the development of the Aiel. We get our first Aiel (well, fully Aiel as Rand doesn’t quite count) characters and I have to say they’re pretty interesting. They have unusual concepts for familiar and social structure and they make for interesting reading when they show up in the story. I’m looking forward to the development of the Aiel characters and how they tie into the rest of the story since the end of the novel strongly suggests that the Aiel will continue to be present throughout the series.

I don’t know where else to put this so I’ll just say it here. For a series in which people are always travelling from one place to another, it’s surprising that Jordan doesn’t re-use the Ways or the Portal Stones in this volume. Maybe he’s saving those methods of travel for later on or maybe he wanted the characters to travel the old fashion way (by foot, horseback or on riverboats) in order to have them meet other people along the way, such as the Aiel Maidens of the Spear that Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve meet. Maybe it’s because if the characters travelled to Tear too quickly the book would have had a reasonable page count. Since I’m on the subject of travel, I’m pretty certain I read a reference to Aes Sedai having the power to fly or teleport. Needless to say, there wasn’t any of that in this book but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it pop up in later novels since Jordan likes to have his characters move around all over the map.

I’ve said it up top: Jordan is a writer of extremes. The more I think about that idea the more I think it holds true. It’s actually helping me understand Jordan as a writer. He’s derivative while also being original. He creates new and wondrous elements in his stories, particularly with the magic system, the world building and the idea of the Wheel of Time and the Pattern. At the same time though, he borrows heavily from existing narrative both real world myths and other fantasy series. I’m ok with that as long as the end result is something original and, by the third book, it’s pretty clear that it is. I’m even able to forgive the Tolkienesque beginning in The Eye of the World. Another example of his dichotomy as a write is his penchant for plain and repetitive language which clashes with his ability to write passages that realistically should serve as examples for unappealing purple prose but still manage to work. Sometimes these books make me grown and other times I get the feeling that he is intentionally subverting genre convention.

Another example of extremes is that Jordan will nearly always take the time to describe people, clothing and other objects in great detail, some of which even get repeated regularly, but he does a poor job of describing sword fighting. Instead of describing the action of the characters that are fighting, he gives the reader vague and frivolous descriptions of various sword fighting movements and techniques. I wouldn’t mind if it was used in combination with descriptions of the actions themselves but, on their own, it sucks. It especially sucks for three reasons: 1) Mat fights Galad and Gawyn and their actions are described. It’s not much more satisfying but it’s there. At the least it shows that Jordan could write acceptable battle descriptions so why doesn’t he? 2) Sword fighting has played a big role in the climax of The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn but because of the nondescript narration of those fights, they suck the life right out of the climactic battle! The Wheel of Time doesn’t have much action in it so let’s not make it as bland as possible, please. 3) I can’t help but feel that Jordan is being lazy or is trying to make bad sex jokes: Kissing the Adder, Parting the Silk, Threading the Needle to name a few.  

The use and presence of those extremes make for a reading experience than isn’t as smooth as I would like it. I’m equally challenged and bored by the series. During the first few chapters of The Eye of the World it was painfully obvious that Rand is the Dragon Reborn Jordan went ahead and wrote three 600+ pages novels in which Rand and other characters second guess whether or not it’s true. The weird thing is that Rand and the gang set out on three rather huge quests, one per novel, while the debate of whether or not he is the Dragon Reborn takes place. It’s as if the narrative (and the reader) has decided “Yes, he is the Dragon Reborn” and moved on with the story but the characters, which all think different things, are still very unsure of what is really going on. This third novel gave me the impression that the villains agree with the reader (Rand = Dragon Reborn) but instead of focusing on destroying Rand they’re just doing their own thing, causing mischief and sometimes appearing to help Rand is the most backward ways possible (seriously, what’s Lanfear’s deal?).

At the end of the day, I wasn’t able to overcome my frustrations for The Eye of the World. My reaction to The Great Hunt was much more positive, mostly due to my familiarity with Jordan’s writing style and the fictional universe he created to be able to appreciate the tighter focus and plotting of the second book (while also being surprised and excited at the additional world building). The third book is yet again that combination of “more of the same” and new world building surprises by Jordan. It might be a little bit better than the second book if only because we have so few chapters with Rand as the point of view character. At this point in the series, I can only conclude that while the Wheel of Time is regularly frustrating (frustration must be an important thread in the weaving of the Pattern), it’s rewarding if not quite always enjoyable. I look forward to The Shadow Rising but I’m going to give myself the time to unwind and enjoy other novels that are more consistent in approach than this series.

Consider it covered:

Between the time I finished reading The Great Hunt and before I finished The Dragon Reborn I read somewhere online that Jordan was displeased with most of the covers for The Wheel of Time. I don’t blame him. They’re not bad in their entirety but there are so many incorrect details, strange (and sometimes unsettling) anatomy and suggestions of a lazy artist that I can’t blame him for feeling that way. I mention the possibility that Darrell K. Sweet is a lazy artist because he doesn’t seem to bother familiarizing himself with the books for which he painted the cover. I admit, I liked the Wheel of Time covers more before I actually read the books. Thankfully, some of the covers are better than others while some are just plain awful. I think The Dragon Reborn cover falls into the former.

There are a lot of things that work well for this cover. The best thing about it is the architecture. The Stone of Tear not only fits the descriptions in the book but it also good. I quite like the stone pillars. Sure, the pillars aren’t all the same thickness but I don’t think it takes much away from the painting. It’s also nice that we get to see Mat, Perrin and Rand all on the cover together. It’s equally nice to see the Aiel there too. The main problem with Rand is that he doesn’t look to be nearly as tall described and his clothing is kind of ridiculous.

Some of the things that don’t work as well include the face in the middle of the painting, and the soldiers in the background and Callandor. The only thing I don’t like about Callandor is the type of sword it is. From the descriptions of swords and sword fighting I always picture heron-marked blades of blademasters to be something more akin to a samurai’s katana than the sword of a Medieval knight. In other words, I always pictured something with a single edge and a slight curvature as opposed to something with a double edge and perfectly straight. To be fair to Sweet, I can’t remember any clear descriptions of blademaster swords or of Callandor itself so his depiction still works. Ba’alzamon sticks out like s sore thumb just floating away in the middle of the painting but that’s only true when you look at the full cover. When it’s wrapped around the book and the text is included, his face is smack dab in the middle of the considerably wide spine of the book. There, as part of the complete package, it works really well.  As for the soldiers in the background, I don’t get why they look like conquistadors. They look like they really don’t belong on the cover, even though they’re very small and away from the cover’s focus. All in all, probably the best cover of the first three books.

The Blog Fantastic 016: The Great Hunt review

In my review of The Eye of the World (here), I ended it by saying I would be posting the review for The Great Hunt in a few weeks’ time. I lied. It took months! It took months because I felt a bit betrayed and very letdown by The Eye of the World. It was too unfocused and Jordan’s writing is very difficult to wade through particularly during the “action draughts” where characters just seems to be wandering aimlessly and over analysing the silliest of things and trivializing rather important things about the fate of the world. It shouldn’t have surprised me though. I should have seen it coming. Robert Jordan writes like the Wheel weaves, that is he sticks to the pattern and repeats it over and over hoping that the result will be grand and epic simply because of its size and not necessarily because of skill or particularly intricate designs. There are things, such as Rand constantly thinking of women in the way only young virgins think of women, I’m sure will be a part of the series until the very end. Or until Rand and one of the female characters simply have sex and begin to build an adult relationship instead of tugging at their braids and twiddling their thumbs.

Granted, I had quite a few issues with The Eye of the World and most of them are still present in The Great Hunt. The most notable exception to this is that Jordan is pulling away from the influence of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings. He’s making The Wheel of Time his own thing by infusing it with original concepts and ideas. The more he builds his world, the weaker Tolkien’s influence becomes which makes for better reading because I’m not automatically making connections between both works which can only favour Jordan since a strong comparison to Tolkien’s work makes Jordan look amateurish. The Great Hunt is a big book and I had a lot of things I wanted to say about it but I’ve cut out most of the random comments and I’ve tried to limit myself in order to better organize my thoughts. Let’s dive in.

The Characters:

There were quite a few characters in the first book and there is a fair amount of characters that have been introduced in The Great Hunt. I don’t love ‘em all. Some I downright fight annoying. So much so that I think I hate them. If there’s one character I love and I think I will always love it’s Moiraine. She’s just the coolest you know? I love that she’s obstinate but not blindly so. She’s intelligent and she’s a hard worker. She also has a conscience that is true and just and she’s devoted her life as an Aes Sedai to work towards keeping the dark forces at bay and helping the Dragon Reborn put an end to it for good. It’s a noble goal and she’s aware that there will always been obstacles to block her path but with Lan by her side and just a few other allies, she’s willing to take on all opponents because she believes in what she’s doing. She’s also badass and I wish there was much, much more of her and Lan in the first two books. According to The Wheel of Time wiki, Moiraine is only in 7.44% of The Great Hunt. That’s bull! I want more! Who decided on this? I had to wade through 53.16% of the book stuck with Rand and all of his insecurities. That better change in the following books.  

I might as well get it out of the way, right? Let’s talk about Rand. It’s incredibly annoying to be inside Rand’s head for so many chapters. He’s in constant denial of his role in the grand scheme of things. While the Aes Sedai seem to accept that their lives are destined by the Pattern, heck they even seem to depend on it, Rand is uncharacteristically sturbborn. Uncharacteristic for being a character in a world where their culture is saturated with the idea of the Wheel of Time and the Pattern being woven with the lives of men and women. It’s almost as if Jordan thought he had to write Rand this way in order to give the reader someone to relate to which is ridiculous. We’re reading a fantasy novel and come on as if we didn’t know Rand was the Dragon Reborn since the first page of The Eye of the World!*

Rand is whinny little bitch. I find it very difficult to sympathise with him because of his internal monologue. He’s always complaining about how people think of him and label him. To some, he’s a lord. To other, he’s the Dragon Reborn or another False Dragon. To some, Egwene and Nynaeve especially, he’s just a farm boy. All of these labels and titles upset Rand and instead of focusing on becoming the person he wants to be, he’s letting himself be bothered by what others think of him. He’s just too fragile to be the hero he’s destined to be. I understand that Mat, Perrin and Rand have had their lives turned upside down and shaken up but why are they all finding it so difficult to adapt to their new experiences? They live in a world of magic and they’ve seen the proof of it time and again but the idea of being a wolfbrother or being able to channel saidin, the male half of the One Power is too much for them to handle? You would think that because they live in a world of magic and ancient heroic legends it would be easier for them to accept and even embrace it. Even if that’s not the case, they experienced those very things they used to think were impossible. Their state of denial is incredibly frustrating and they’re so dumb about it they even lie to themselves about what they’re doing. Rand regularly justifies his hunt for the Horn as being nothing more than a search for the dagger of Shadar Logoth which he’ll give back to Mat so that he can be healed for good. You can channel saidin and you’re going after the Horn. What other clue do you need?

The sad thing is that Rand isn’t the only poorly written character. The characters are Jordan’s weak point. Some of the characters are interesting and some are even well written but many, far too many for a book of this size and with this many characters, are flat, uninteresting, annoying and just downright unpleasant to read about. Some characters only have one thing about them that’s truly annoying. Liandrin of the Red Ajah is a good example. Her dialogue is terrible. She talks so strangely, it’s like a reverse-Yoda parody. It’s just awful. Other characters are used in regular jokes, or at least what Jordan considers to be a joke. The Emond’s Field boys are constantly wishing another one of the guys was around when they’re making a fool of themselves talking to one of the female characters. When Rand is with a women he finds attractive and he’s blubbering like an idiot he wishes that Perrin was with him because “he always knew how to talk to girls”. A few pages later, it’s Perrin’s turn to wish that Rand was with him because “Rand always understood women”. It was repeated at least one every 100 pages in The Eye of the World and it popped up again in The Great Hunt.

My favourite characters are Moiraine, Lan and Loial. I don’t need to explain why I like Loial, he’s just awesome and I want more of him. He’s one of the few characters that are interesting and despite not being explored as much as other characters; he does a good job playing a supporting role. Moiraine and Lan are good characters because they’re the only example of male/female relationship that isn’t painful to read. All of the other male/female pairings feel forced, passive-aggressive and sexist to both men and women. The male characters all think women are impossible to understand and will continuously act as a source of frustration. Despite that frustration, the male characters will also be continuously infatuate with or lust after the female characters. As for them, the female characters all feel entitled to bully the male characters and have them submit to their will and whim. There is a scene where a female innkeeper gives Rand marital advice when she mistakes him and Selene for a couple after Selene retreats to her room after an argument. It’s not only embarrassing for Rand and his friends; it’s embarrassing and painful to read. Moiraine and Lan don’t dodge all of the above criticisms, but their relationship feels fare more natural than any of the others in the series so far.

I think another reason why I like Moiraine and Lan is that I actually know something about their character but I didn’t learn it from The Eye of the World or The Great Hunt. Most of what I know from them I learned while reading New Spring. It’s incredible how little the characters develop after 1500+ pages. Nynaeve is still temperamental and hard-headed as ever. She also shows no desired to do anything. Sure, she’s travelling with Egwene to Tar Valon but you get a sense that she’s doing it because she has nothing else to do and not because she wants to. This changes towards the end of the book but it’s not something grown out of her own desire to do something, she’s simply doing what she thinks is right after being put in a very difficult situation. Now that I think about it, there was a bit of character development for Nynaeve. I guess she wasn’t the only character to develop. Rand is still a whiny bitch but now he’s a whiny bitch who knows how to do a few neat tricks, like sword fighting thought he took a knack to it like it was nobody’s business. It might sound crazy but as far as characters are concerned, New Spring looks even better when comparing it to the first two books of The Wheel of Time.

There were a few characters that were only introduced in The Great Hunt that I like; in particular I really like Hurin. He’s a sniffer which means he has the special ability to smell violence. How cool is that? Well, when you start to think about it it’s not as cool as you think. Few of us ever experience the kind of violence we see on television and that we read in books. If we ever did, I’m sure most of us would be terrified and we’d probably be changed by the experience. Imagine experiencing that violence through smell? You can smell flesh wounds, domestic violence, rape, murder, torture, every kind of violence. You can recognize what violent action took place in a specific area by smell alone. The more intense the violence, the more intense the smell and the easier it is to recognize. It quickly becomes a pretty horrific “gift”. Hurin is pretty great about it though. He uses his ability for good and even though he doesn’t enjoy smelling certain acts, he does it for the greater good. He’s also very loyal and it’s nice to have a character who seems content with his position in live and doesn’t feel the need to question his motivations. He knows where he stands with the other characters in the book and that refreshing. Still, I hope one day when he retires he gets to spend his time in a huge garden surrounded by happy people so that he can smell something nice for a change.

Though I struggle to find a lot to enjoy in the way Jordan writes his characters, he does show some affinity on how they influence one another throughout the story. Rand in particular seems to more accurately reflect his status of ta’veren. A ta’veren is an individual around which the weaves of the Pattern focus, pulling in the life-threads of others. Everyone who meets Rand has their lives changed because of it. Jordan demonstrates this regularly and it really works because of the well-developed idea of the Pattern. It feels a lot less heavy handed because the Pattern is a real thing in this particular world. It’s not some vaguely defined mystical force; it’s a well-documented guiding force of the universe, as real as gravity. While Jordan struggles at writing realistic characters, he’s much better at other aspects of writing such as world building.

*I added all of those italics because Jordan loves his italics. The only thing he loves more than italics is to reverse italicising words in an italicised sentence.

The World of the Westlands:

One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about The Wheel of Time is Jordan’s development of the Aes Sedai’s magic system. In The Great Hunt, he introduces characters that have other abilities that are unrelated to the One Power which the Aes Sedai tap into. It’s nice to know that even though there is a dominated magic system, there are other forms of magic that also exist. Some forms of magic are specific to a species which no other species can use. Ogiers are a good example. Their ecological based magic can be pretty powerful and Loial has been shown to be a pretty talented at Treesinging. Some humans also have special abilities, like the wolfbrothers or Hurin’s sniffing talents. Min, which we first met in The Eye of the World can see things about a person’s future. Min tells

Some humans also have individual abilities, like the wolfbrothers. Min, which we first met in The Eye of the World can see things about a person’s future. Min tells Elayne that she will share her husband with two other women. Shit dude, it’s got to be Egwene and someone else. Elayne and Egwene have become close friends since they’ve been at the White Tower. Because Jordan’s been introducing new types of magic, I’m expecting to learn new things about some of the magic that’s already been introduced. If Rand can use the One Power, he’s basically a male Aes Sedai which makes me think that maybe he can bound with women, like the Aes Sedai do with Warders. I would also expect that if he can do this he’d try to bond with Egwene. I’m not sure if they can since they’re both users of the One Power but maybe they might still be able to. It’s said that during the Time of Legends, male and female Aes Sedai did their best work together. I guess I just have to keep reading to find out.

When it comes to Aes Sedai and their magic, the whole aspect of weaving which was present in New Spring is almost completely absent from the first two novels in the series. Is this something Jordan introduced later in the series? It seemed like an integral part of the magic system when I read the prequel and I liked it because it worked so well with the whole thing about how the Wheel of Time weaves the lives of men into the Pattern. Aes Sedai are so powerful, they can also weave the True Power into magical patterns and thus influence the course of people lives. Based on your understanding on the Pattern, the Aes Sedai might be weaving a smaller pattern within the larger Pattern.

Jordan’s world building remains interesting because he’s still adding to it. It’s a very difficult thing to do but the Westlands seem large enough and have a rich history that if he paces himself well, the world building aspect of the series can remain interesting for at least a few volumes more. The notable additions to the series are the Portal Stones, the Seanchan and their culture including the damane and their history as the descendants of Artur Hawkwing. The Portal Stones is a pretty big addition. I’m certain that it will have pretty big ramifications during the rest of the series. Portal Stones are used a magical travelling method but it also allows the users to travel through time and to other worlds. These other worlds are variations of the real world. Every single decision that is made creates another world, each one of them a variation of the true world or the true Pattern. Some of the worlds barely resemble the world the characters live in but others are so similar you can travel to one and visit its future and it will likely give you an accurate portrayal of your world.

The other big addition is the Seanchan. They come from a continent to the west of the Weslands, across the Aryth Ocean. They are said to be descendants of Artur Hawkwing and they’ve cross the Aryth Ocean to reclaim the lands formerly conquered by Hawkwing. They have a very strict hierarchal system and it reminds me of a twisted form of the government during the Feudal era in Japan. They’re a very powerful people, skilled in the art of sword fighting but what really makes them fearsome is their treatment of women sensitive to the One Power which they call damane. It’s a combination of human trafficking (the Seanchan actively search for women who can channel), slavery and warmongering. It’s a frightening addition to the world of The Wheel of Time and it feels very dark compared to the other elements present in the series. It could also feel darker because of the character development that can regularly feel juvenile.

The Great Hunt is a better book than The Eye of the World. Jordan makes better use of the world he’s developed. The focus of the story has expanded along with its world. Jordan’s also further developing the themes of his story. The primary theme is balance, dark and life, male and female. He’s also writing quite a bit about how power comes at a price. Rand is the best example of this. As the Dragon Reborn, he is able to use saidin which gives him incredible power as one of the few men able to channel. But it comes at a cost since the male half of the One Power is tainted. The price of his power is death. First he will go mad and then he will die because of his regular contact with saidin. Another important theme is the difficulty of doing one’s duty. It’s very difficult to do what is right. Rand’s reluctance at being called a Lord doesn’t just have to do with him feeling awkward, it’s also because being called a Lord means that he will the responsibilities of a Lord. Likewise, Moiraine’s work is very difficult and incredibly dangerous. She’s been at it for twenty years and she’s still facing dangerous situations but it’s the right thing to do. Mat doesn’t like to use his wolfbrothers abilities but when Hurin is lost and the Shienar needed help to track the Trollocs, he reluctantly communicated with the wolves to help keep them on the right path.

Conclusion:

Even though I enjoyed The Great Hunt quite a bit more than The Eye of the World, it is far from perfect. Heck, it’s so far from excellent but I don’t think that mattered to Jordan. I don’t think he cared. Sure, I never knew the man personally but shit, The Wheel of Time isn’t about supreme character development, it’s not about writing a carefully constructed narrative and reworking it until it shines unto the fantasy novel readership of the world so brightly it burns out our eyes and stops us from ever being able to read again. It doesn’t have such lofty and ridiculous goals. The Wheel of Time is about narrative simplicity for the sake of grandiose storytelling. At its core, it’s a simple kind of book that has huge aspirations. That’s why I’m conflicted when I read it. The story is very interesting; the world is fascinating and the amount of details appeals to me. I want to explore the hell out of the Westlands but instead I’m stuck in the head of Rand al’Thor and his painfully naïve thoughts about women, duty and destiny.

There’s a reason that The Wheel of Time is such a long series. It doesn’t care about being a concise series; it doesn’t want to be like all those other fantasy trilogies, it wants to be big! It wants to be huge! The problem is that it doesn’t really know how. Jordan doesn’t seem to know how to write a huge book either but he tries by filling every page with unnecessary descriptions and (sometimes, but not always) painstaking inner monologues. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter because that’s not what the focus of the series is. Jordan wants to transport you away on a huge journey where Darkness and Light fight an eternal and cyclical battle to Break the World and dammit he delivers on that! It’s not always well told, it has a lot of faults and apparently the series loses control after the sixth book but that’s to be expected. The Wheel of Time is so large I’m not surprised the whole thing got out of hand.

It sounds like I’ve been converted, doesn’t it? Well I guess I have. There is a lot to enjoy here and if you’re going to keep on reading such a big series you might as well refocus your expectations with what you know the book might actually deliver. There are some things that will bug me throughout the entire series, I’m sure, and that’s ok. I’ll just vent about it here. Like hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people before, I’m about to let myself get swept away. It’ll be a rough ride but I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end. It’s hard to ignore a giant of the fantasy genre like The Wheel of Time and I’m not the fool who’s going to attempt it. I’m also not foolish enough to go around saying it’s the best damn fantasy series evaaaaah and whoever disagrees is just a stinky Trolloc! Heck no. It’s obviously not the best but it’s something. Try as I might to resist, I’m slowly being sucked in. I just hope I can keep my wits about me while still being able to enjoy all the good stuff the books have to offer. I’m serious, there are some things to enjoy here but you have to be able to tolerate a lot of suck to get it to.

Man, I really hope making the right choice to keep on reading! Maybe I don’t have a choice and it’s all part of the Pattern. I guess you’ll find out in a few weeks (or months).

A note on the cover:

Alright, let’s talk about that awful cover. Sure, it looks nice and for a moment there I almost agreed with you but it’s not. It’s really bad but it’s not enough to just say it. Let’s consider why. I’ll start with Rand; he looks like a little guy, a fourteen year old, maybe. He’s not nearly as tall as he’s described and he doesn’t have any of the Aiel features he’s repeatedly said to have in the books. The horn looks fine. I kind of like that from a short distance it looks like a regular, every day horn (what, don’t you have a horn at home?). Selene looks ridiculous though. Look at her facial expression! It kind of makes sense once you’ve read the end of the book and know more about Selene’s character, but there’s no way she would be looking at the horn with such a wide-eyed, doe-like expression. It’s ludicrous. The Trollocs also fail to meet my expectations. For starters, they all look far too human for my liking. They’re also average human size; they look no bigger than Rand. The lack of animal characteristic is particularly frustrating. Oh look, they’ve all got horns on their helmets. It’s quite nice that all the horns look different but none of them actually have horns. It’s just decorative! From cover of the rest of the series, Sweet addresses his inaccurate portrayal of Trollocs later on. I do find it a bit disturbing that Trollocs as we see them on this cover are basically black men. It’s made all the more disturbing in comparison to the other characters on the cover. Selene should be pale, and that’s fine. There isn’t anything particularly wrong with Rand though he does look a smidge too pale considering his genetic and cultural heritage. But Loial, there is no excuse for that. Not only is he too pale, his entire character is poorly painted. His ears look ridiculous protruding from an all-too-human head. Actually, that’s the problem overall. He looks human! Almost entirely so. He’s far too short, his nose isn’t as wide or as large as it should be and he doesn’t give the same sense of size and scale from how Jordan describes him in the book. And don’t get me started on the eyebrows. 

This is the best Ogier art I’ve been able to find. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an art credit.

I mean no disrespect to Darrell K. Sweet. I do like his art but the cover to The Great Hunt isn’t representative of the story being told in the book and that’s automatically a bad thing, but it is a bad thing when you’re clearly trying to give an accurate depiction of the story and characters of the novel! I’m certain I would really like this cover had I never read the book but having read the book, the cover doesn’t work for me anymore.  I will give credit where it’s due, he paints the hell out of that scenery. Look at the rocks, at those trees. They’re pretty gorgeous, you have to admit. The Trollocs’ armour also looks pretty great. I can’t get over Loial, though. That’s difficult to digest.

The Blog Fantastic 005 - The Eye of the World review

The Eye of the World, I loved you, I hated you.  I liked that you were an expansive and interesting fantasy world. An entire world I could let myself sink into and let it all wash over me. But you were too long and unfocused. You had no idea how to take advantage of your world with its interesting mythology and long, long history. Unlike New Spring, you weren’t just about two characters but for all the characters you had, you didn’t develop any of them. They had no depth. Rand, our main protagonist, would have been more aptly named Bland. Moiraine, such a cool character in the prequel book, has about one cool moment per one hundred pages.

I was worried before I started to read you. I was worried you would be too big of a book (you’re over 800 pages if you include the glossary). It wasn’t very encouraging to know that you’re the first book in a series of fourteen equally big, and sometimes bigger, books and that’s not including New Spring. Your size, ambition, and epic scope demanded I gave you all of my attention for weeks. If I’m ever to read the entire series, I’m certain it’ll take me years. That’s a big commitment for a reader and what if I'm not ready for it and what if you’re not worth it?

I decided to give in. I’ve already read New Spring. I opened my arms and invited your story to wash over me like the constantly rolling waves of the ocean. That’s the kind of fantasy you are. The depth of your writer’s imagination is impressive but unfortunately his prose isn't. Like the Wheel of Time, phrases, characters’ observations, motifs, foreshadowing, all of these things kept coming back. I feel like I’ve read the book dozens of times. The writing prevented me from being overwhelmed by the world of The Eye of the World because Jordan took it too slowly. I don’t even know what your world is called! You made a conscious effort to ease me into the story, so much so that your first 150 pages are near identical to the first part of The Lord of the Rings. Like the waves of the ocean, you kept pushing me back to shore and asking that I try to swim out again and again.

Despite being endlessly frustrating for your repetitiveness and your unnecessary length, I liked various things about you. Moiraine and Lan were extremely cool. There were wolves, a talking tree man, magic and even more magic, Trollocs, Myrdraals, villages being attacked, chases through the woods, ancient rivers with powerful  currents, ships, gypsy-like tribes, an evil lord, old Forsaken wielders of magic, cursed ruins, an evil dagger, and more. But you made it all boring by dragging it out! I wanted to like you, I wanted to discover that you’re the best fantasy book I’ve read in years and that I was wrong to have pushed you aside for so many years while I watched my father get excited every time a new volume was being released.

Is this simply not meant to be? You’re such a long book there must be something for everybody to enjoy. I found plenty to like about you but for every one thing I liked, there was at least one other thing I disliked. More importantly you were dry, you were boring and you didn’t fulfill the promise others made on your behalf by recommending you over and over. The overwhelming praise was a lie.

There is some good news though. I’m willing to give you another chance. It’s harsh to judge such a large series on just two books. I hope Jordan can trim some of the storytelling fat. I hope the tiny bit of momentum you built in the first 50-something chapters doesn’t fade away at the beginning of the second novel because that’s about one of the only things keeping me interested in you and your series. I already started to read and I’m going to continue to do so until I run off of momentum. Here’s hoping The Great Hunt, the second book, won’t bore me to death and Bland and his traveling companions start to do something. Before I go, I want to say thank you for the Ogier. Loial was far cooler than I expected and I can’t wait to see him do something badass. Thanks also for Moiraine who I could use more of and Lan who’s as interesting as he is stoic. You had some good qualities, The Eye of the World, but not enough to truly satisfy. Thanks for the long and unnecessary detours to what could have been a riveting and mind-blowing introductory chapter into what is, surprisingly, considered one of the best fantasy series of all times. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. I’ll be posting a more typical review of The Great Hunt in the weeks to come.

The Blog Fantastic 002: New Spring: the Novel

New Spring, the Novel by Robert Jordan

Published by Tor Books

New Spring: the Novel tells the story of highborn Moiraine Damodred who is studying magic in one of the largest cities in the known world. There she is learning to ways of the Aes Sedai while also dealing with prophecies, politics and power. Outside the walls of Tar Valon there is a war going on. Many people are rushing to the city in order to escape the ravages of the war, all the while oblivious to the powerful struggles taking place inside the White Tower.  

I was a bit hesitant to start reading The Wheel of Time with New Spring because although it’s a prequel, Jordan wrote it more than a decade after the first novel was published and, from what I’m told, the series becomes very complex (or maybe simply complicated) as it progressed. I was worried that New Spring would be difficult to understand for new readers. I decided to start with it for two reasons. The first reason is that I’ve read it before not quite ten years ago. I don’t remember a whole lot other than liking Moiraine, the fact that she’s in school, some warrior guy with bells in his hair and a few minor little details that stuck into my head. I’ve forgotten a lot and in my defense, I got a bachelor since the last time I read this and all the reading I did for school has pushed out most of New Spring out of my brain. The second reason is that I decided to simply trust Jordan. By the time he got around to writing the prequel novel he had demonstrated that he’s an accomplished writer. If he was happy sending out New Spring into the world as a prequel to his expansive fantasy series, then I should be happy reading it as my introduction to the series. Then again, maybe that’s not the case and Jordan is being quite restless in the afterword knowing that my introduction to The Wheel of Time is being made by way of his prequel and not the first novel proper: The Eye of the World. The fact remains, I started with New Spring and I’m looking forward to truly beginning reading The Wheel of Time. I have to admit though, that I hope I’m up to the task. These books are huge!

The most interesting thing about Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series is the world building aspect. He puts so much detail in every facet of the book that it’s nearly overwhelming. The flip side of that, like most fantasy books where world building is as important as plot and character, is that if the reader takes the time to understand the world, the story and characters become increasingly more interesting. The problem I have with fantasy series that make the world building aspect so important to the series is that there can be such a thing as too much detail. There are things about the world I don’t need to know and are better left unsaid. Often times some elements would better serve the story if they were only hinted at as opposed to written out in explanatory pages filled with seemingly never ending descriptions. It’s a fine line to walk and few have done it successfully.

It’s clear to me that Jordan doesn’t shared Ursula K. Le Guin’s economy of writing and where she would have written one page, Jordan would have written two or three. I’m not implying Jordan isn’t as good of a writer as Le Guin, it’s simply a difference in style and they both have their own rewards.

In Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea, she also creates a rich and interesting world. The difference with Jordan’s world is that while Le Guin created it using sparse detail, Jordan relishes in the intricacies of his world. The more detail the better! I would not always agree with that statement but Jordan has a way of making all the details feel natural and, in many cases, logical. There is a lot of detail, yes, but it’s easy to remember. As the story progresses, Jordan adds layer upon layer, dolling it out in small and regular doses and it makes it quite easy to learn about Moiraine’s world. Essentially, what I’m trying to say is that Jordan doesn’t bore the reader nor does he bog down the story with all the detail. He lets it flow naturally and his story is richer because of it. Le Guin used a very similar technique in her novel. She provides detail and embellishment to her fictional world when the story requires or permits it. It’s not detail for detail’s sake. I’m certain that when I read the next Earthsea novel there will be new elements added to the world of Earthsea. I expect the same for Jordan’s Wheel of Time.

The advantage of Jordan’s style is that I can lose myself in the book for an extended period of time. Of course, that’s only an advantage to the reader if they like the book. In order to do that Jordan must write an engaging story and have interesting and diverse characters. Unfortunately, while New Spring had lots of detail, the story as a whole felt slight. I admit that at more than one occasion the only thing that kept me reading was Jordan’s characterization of Moiraine and Siuan. The book also became more interesting one Jordan resume writing chapters in Lan’s point of view (after the initial first chapter).

Magic in The Wheel of Time:

The One Power is source of all magic. Women, only a select few, are the only ones who can channel the One Power and wield magic. They do so by controlling all five elements, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Spirit, and weaving them together to form a seemingly infinite number of spells. Spells are called weaves since the elements are channelled in the form of threads and must be woven together in various combinations and in different order.

Women who have mastered the use of the One Power are called Aes Sedai. Young women who can channel are brought to the White Tower in the city of Tar Valon where they will train for several years in the hopes of graduating and attaining the shawl of the Aes Sedai. Aes Sedai are divided up into several Ajahs. These Ajahs seem to group together women who have similar personality traits and each Ajah is known for excelling at certain tasks.

In order to wield their magic, Aes Sedai have to left the One Power flow into them. It’s a technique which they must do in order to be able to perform their magic. They summon saidar, the female form of the One Power, and once filled with its power they can weave the various elemental threads. It’s a very interesting type of magic and Jordan maintains a certain element of mystery as to the exact details of all its inner workings. Quite strange when you consider the level of detail found in all other aspects of the book. This feeling of being filled with saidar, the female half of the One Power is dangerous. It gives the user a feeling of pure bliss but by harnessing too much saidar, the user can be severely harmed, maybe even fatally so.

One of the prominent elements of Aes Sedai is their ability to join themselves, mind and spirit, to one or several men called Warders. Aes Sedai can have more than one Warder (sisters of the Green Ajah are known for having many Warders) but Warders can only bind with one Aes Sedai. This ability of the Aes Sedai reinforces one of Jordan’s themes regarding a primarily (and forcefully) female led society. The White Tower, the Aes Sedai school, is a not only the center of magic but also a political stronghold. Magic, or power, leads to force and the usage of force in the defence of particular interests. The Aes Sedai can make a Warder submit to them and link them (permanently?) to themselves. I shouldn’t get ahead of myself though. Jordan does establish that the link between a sister and her Warder isn’t one sided. They’re a team and work together. In fact, now that I really think about it the theme might be more the duality of humanity, one part male and one part female, which together becomes an imposing force. The white flame of Tar Valon is half of what appears to be a Yin Yang. Perhaps males are the other half? Not only that, but there is a prophecy of a man who will be able to wield the One Power effectively and his fate will play a deciding role in the fate of the world at the Last Battle. There’s definitively something interesting here that will undoubtedly play a large role in the series. It’s clear to me now that balance in an important theme to The Wheel of Time.

 

Destiny in New Spring: the Novel:

There is a strong element of Destiny in The Wheel of Time. The Will turns and weaves the lives of all individuals. Sometimes, when looking at individual people and their actions, it’s difficult to see or understand why certain things are being done, it’s hard to see the wisdom. Sometimes, a thread’s importance to the whole will only be revealed much later and perhaps never be revealed at all. The way Jordan phrases while speaking of the politics of the White Tower: “The Tower was no less implacable in its weaving than the Wheel of Time itself. In both cases the threads were human lives, and the pattern they made more important than any individual thread.” It’s quite eloquent and its message carries quite a bit of foreboding for the characters and the series as a whole.

There also seems to be a tiny bit of hope in that description of the ways of the universe. The Aes Sedai are able to channel the elemental threads of the One Power to weave magic that affects the things around them. To what extent I’m not sure. There magic does seem to be limited to controlling the elements to create objects or to affect existing objects, which is not to be underestimated. With the gift of being able to weave together nearly endless combinations of elemental magic, the Aes Sedai are unquestioningly tapped into a source of immense power—if only they have the knowledge and the skill necessary to do this power. There seems to be hope however since the Wheel of Time is not alone in weaving the destiny of all. Aes Sedai are, in all their limitations (whatever they may be) also able to weave certain threads.

My favourite Wheel of Time Characters:

I’m told The Wheel of Time has many, many characters. Just for fun, I’ll pick some favourites from each book I read and talk about why I like them. In New Spring, Moiraine Damodred was the obvious choice. She’s my favourite character in the whole book and rightfully so, it’s all about her. That’s a bit unusual for me though as I have a tendency not to like the main character in books, comics and TV series. Moiraine is quite loveable though and she’s also pretty awesome. I’m actually quite surprised that a male author could write such a strong female lead. I have to keep in mind that by the time New Spring was written Jordan had already finished writing and published the nine or ten volumes of The Wheel of Time. I’m quite certain there are many, many other characters in the series by that point. The fact remains, Moiraine has a prequel novel that focuses on her and none of the other characters do.

The book didn’t focus entirely on Moiraine, but a significant and sustained part of the story was about her. There is slightly more than half the book that concentrates on Moiraine's training in the White Tower. The second half concentrates on Moiraine interacting with other character, primarily Lan, and discovering an evil plot. The book itself doesn't have much of a plot until this second part. Jordan keeps our interest by developing the world of the Aes Sedai and the politics and customs of the White Tower. He kept my attention by writing a strong character with Moiraine as well as writing a believable and interesting relationship with Siuan. The book becomes more interesting in the second part once they start interacting with others. The book also becomes more difficult for new readers of the series because Jordan seems to grow tired explaining and clarifying well established elements of his series to make New Spring a good starting point for new readers. This makes the exhaustive world building a negative element to my enjoyment of the book. It's difficult or even uninteresting, to follow the politics and machinations of noble families and cities of which I know next to nothing. It’s unfortunate that Jordan doesn’t take the time to make the parts of the story taking place outside of Tar Valon as easy to understand for new readers as he did for the story that took place in the White Tower.

Still, Jordan provides and satisfying introduction to his Wheel of Time series as well as a fitting conclusion for the novel. I admit that he makes me want to read the rest of the series and that’s about all you should ask of a prequel. I’ll continue my read of The Wheel of Time with the actual first novel in the series: The Eye of the World.