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Book Log
Book #2: Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan
I've finished it and have moved on to book 10, Crossroads of Twilight.
I was thinking about what I'd say in my review and I feel a little guilty to realize that I have a lot more to say if I disliked the book than if I liked it. I'd be pretty useless at writing a review of something I love, like HP or Hitchhiker's Guide. I'd just end up saying what my favorite parts were and stuff. I do have a couple of negative things to say about Wheel of Time in general (part of the difficulty with reviewing this one is the books in the series all sort of blend together and I remember the order of events but forget where one book ended and another began).
The things I like about the books are 1) the characters and 2) the richly detailed world in which the story takes place. The thing I don't like is the style gets a little repetitive. Like always starting chapter 1 with "The Wheel Weaves and the Ages come to pass... and stories become legends and legends becomes myth and even myths are forgotten when the age that bore them comes again... in one age, called the Third Age by some, an Age long past, an Age yet to come, a wind blew up in [wherever]." I didn't even look at the book, that's from memory and I'm sure it's pretty accurate. The only reason I don't have that memorized better is I've long since started skimming over it in each book. That's not the only little annoyance, style-wise. I like the third-person limited omniscient narrator and how in different chapters (or chapter sections, some of the chapters are quite long) we get to see from inside different characters' heads. What I don't like is the repetition of:
(Nynaeve) "men always gossip," (Mat) "women are the worst gossips,"
(Perrin) "I wish I knew how to talk to women, like Rand and Mat do," (Rand) "I wish I knew how to talk to women, like Mat and Perrin do,"
(Elayne) "I wish I were brave, like Aviendha," (Aviendha) "I'm a coward, not like Elayne, she's so brave."
OK, dramatic irony, we get it already!
The last thing I'm going to complain about is how so often someone thinks "If I didn't know better, I'd say [character who is totally sulking] was sulking!" and along the same lines, "on anyone other than an Aes Sedai/Captain-General/Queen/whatever, that expression would look like a pout." Just say "s/he looked like s/he was pouting." Just for once!
I really do like the characters and setting, and the overall plot. This is the first time I've ever managed to read through the series quickly enough to keep in mind all the different plot threads, though, and I've made a few attempts. I can't hope to keep track of the hundreds of secondary characters. I could if I made a database but I don't want to read sitting in front of the computer the whole time. Seriously, a chapter will begin like "Rishkajari Damoseine trotted up the hill on a bay gelding, looking worried," and I'm going "Who is that? An Aes Sedai? Is she Black Ajah? Is it even a woman? What hill, where are we?" and I just have to read further to figure out what the hell is going on. And the pronunciation of the name is totally not phonetic and you have to look it up in the friggin glossary. Or it'll be like "None of them knew what Rand was planning. With luck, none would know before it was too late for them to act," and I'm like "I DON'T KNOW EITHER! JUST TELL ME!" Sometimes in cases like that, I wonder whether there was a clue earlier on - or even a plain statement of what he was doing - and I am supposed to know what he's planning but I've forgotten because we've been with Egwene for the last 200 pages. The fact that the little bastard knows how to Travel doesn't help either. "Wait, wasn't he in Cairhien last time? [I flip back several hundred pages back and he was]" and then it turns out he Traveled to Tear or some crap. Arrgh! It didn't help that one of the three central characters was left with a cliffhanger and the end of book 7 and then DIDN'T APPEAR AT ALL in book 8. I've heard other fans complain about the slow pace too and that Robert Jordan has given the excuse that things have to be slow right now and they'll pick up speed soon. Like the quiet before the storm or something. Ooookay.
Still, I like the books overall. I just have to resign myself to maybe not getting the most out of them. I doubt anybody without a photographic memory could.
Also, could they just tell us who killed Asmodean? Instead of gloating over how it should be obvious, when clearly it isn't because the fans have no idea? That'd be super.
OK, I guess it turns out I had enough negative things to say to write a review ;)
ETA: whoops, I forgot to give the book a grade. B. (I'm not going to do + and - for any of these, just letters).
I've finished it and have moved on to book 10, Crossroads of Twilight.
I was thinking about what I'd say in my review and I feel a little guilty to realize that I have a lot more to say if I disliked the book than if I liked it. I'd be pretty useless at writing a review of something I love, like HP or Hitchhiker's Guide. I'd just end up saying what my favorite parts were and stuff. I do have a couple of negative things to say about Wheel of Time in general (part of the difficulty with reviewing this one is the books in the series all sort of blend together and I remember the order of events but forget where one book ended and another began).
The things I like about the books are 1) the characters and 2) the richly detailed world in which the story takes place. The thing I don't like is the style gets a little repetitive. Like always starting chapter 1 with "The Wheel Weaves and the Ages come to pass... and stories become legends and legends becomes myth and even myths are forgotten when the age that bore them comes again... in one age, called the Third Age by some, an Age long past, an Age yet to come, a wind blew up in [wherever]." I didn't even look at the book, that's from memory and I'm sure it's pretty accurate. The only reason I don't have that memorized better is I've long since started skimming over it in each book. That's not the only little annoyance, style-wise. I like the third-person limited omniscient narrator and how in different chapters (or chapter sections, some of the chapters are quite long) we get to see from inside different characters' heads. What I don't like is the repetition of:
(Nynaeve) "men always gossip," (Mat) "women are the worst gossips,"
(Perrin) "I wish I knew how to talk to women, like Rand and Mat do," (Rand) "I wish I knew how to talk to women, like Mat and Perrin do,"
(Elayne) "I wish I were brave, like Aviendha," (Aviendha) "I'm a coward, not like Elayne, she's so brave."
OK, dramatic irony, we get it already!
The last thing I'm going to complain about is how so often someone thinks "If I didn't know better, I'd say [character who is totally sulking] was sulking!" and along the same lines, "on anyone other than an Aes Sedai/Captain-General/Queen/whatever, that expression would look like a pout." Just say "s/he looked like s/he was pouting." Just for once!
I really do like the characters and setting, and the overall plot. This is the first time I've ever managed to read through the series quickly enough to keep in mind all the different plot threads, though, and I've made a few attempts. I can't hope to keep track of the hundreds of secondary characters. I could if I made a database but I don't want to read sitting in front of the computer the whole time. Seriously, a chapter will begin like "Rishkajari Damoseine trotted up the hill on a bay gelding, looking worried," and I'm going "Who is that? An Aes Sedai? Is she Black Ajah? Is it even a woman? What hill, where are we?" and I just have to read further to figure out what the hell is going on. And the pronunciation of the name is totally not phonetic and you have to look it up in the friggin glossary. Or it'll be like "None of them knew what Rand was planning. With luck, none would know before it was too late for them to act," and I'm like "I DON'T KNOW EITHER! JUST TELL ME!" Sometimes in cases like that, I wonder whether there was a clue earlier on - or even a plain statement of what he was doing - and I am supposed to know what he's planning but I've forgotten because we've been with Egwene for the last 200 pages. The fact that the little bastard knows how to Travel doesn't help either. "Wait, wasn't he in Cairhien last time? [I flip back several hundred pages back and he was]" and then it turns out he Traveled to Tear or some crap. Arrgh! It didn't help that one of the three central characters was left with a cliffhanger and the end of book 7 and then DIDN'T APPEAR AT ALL in book 8. I've heard other fans complain about the slow pace too and that Robert Jordan has given the excuse that things have to be slow right now and they'll pick up speed soon. Like the quiet before the storm or something. Ooookay.
Still, I like the books overall. I just have to resign myself to maybe not getting the most out of them. I doubt anybody without a photographic memory could.
Also, could they just tell us who killed Asmodean? Instead of gloating over how it should be obvious, when clearly it isn't because the fans have no idea? That'd be super.
OK, I guess it turns out I had enough negative things to say to write a review ;)
ETA: whoops, I forgot to give the book a grade. B. (I'm not going to do + and - for any of these, just letters).