David asked this question about
A Crown of Swords (The Wheel of Time, #7):
Is this series as bad as it seems?
Jeannie
Yes and no. You can't take it seriously like LotR or GoT. My top piece of advice, go in with LOW expectations, then you'll enjoy it! If you aren't enj…moreYes and no. You can't take it seriously like LotR or GoT. My top piece of advice, go in with LOW expectations, then you'll enjoy it! If you aren't enjoying it by Book 3 I say set it aside in favour of Erikson or Sanderson.
Here are things that will irritate you:
> lack of originality - especially in Book 1, it's easy to see how he took Frodo's journey and adapted to his world and his characters
> world-building was more important to Jordan than the narrative, which is always a red flag when reading fantasy.
> flat characters - who only develop some depth around book 4/5, and then only the male characters. When the develop as well, they develop implausibly, you've got three village boys who suddenly become king of the world, and army generals. You have two village girls who become top members of their magical order without any training because, well, they're just awesome that way. And a princess who doesn't give a rat's fart for her crown or country, but claims to.
> awful female characters - Jordan either hated women, adored them and never got any, or simply had zero understanding for women. All his female characters are the same as one another - arrogant, useless, petty and even physically abusive towards men, though he portrays this as completely acceptable and humorous.
> ENDLESS comparisons between men and women - you really need to prepare yourself for this one, there are going to be about 3 on every page of every book and there will be times when you just want to scream, "get over it!" It's jarring because all the characters think in these terms and so it's extremely clear that Jordan is speaking through his characters and portraying his own personality instead of letting his characters be unique individuals.
> Extensive description given to clothing and fondling clothing, to the point where a good 50-100 pages could have been cut out without losing anything really.
> Slow pace and extremely predictable plot. In fact, see it this way: In most fantasy there's the big, bad, dark lord. In Jordan, the big bad dark lord has 13 or so big, bad helpers. Each book is about destroying the next one of these, so basically it's a repeat plot in every book with a different play-out.
> No real sense of danger - no one ever dies except the baddies, so you don't ever really worry about your characters... the books really lack suspense for this reason.
> An obvious disdain for anything non-hetero - Jordan's entire magic system is built on the physical differences between men and women, which of course means the absolute non-existence of gay characters.
> A million and one extra pointless, useless characters. When reading, don't try to keep track of these people, think of it like hyper-realism in art. You really don't need to see the veins on every leaf on every tree that makes up the background of the painting. Jordan became obsessed with making his world seem real and forgot that too much detail actually detracts from works of art.
BUUUUUT,
> Jordan stages scenes really well, I find it easy to imagine the settings and action.
> Jordan is great with battle tactics, I really enjoy that stuff.
> Jordan is also really good at writing fight scenes, which is an art.
> The endings are always quite exciting and can be unpredictable (when they don't involve killing the big bad helpers)
> And he's also pretty good at portraying world politics
So, I'm still reading... At this point, I'm invested in seeing it through. Jordan is also so big in fantasy that if you want to be able to have a conversation with people about fantasy, you should know some things about WoT and Jordan.(less)
Here are things that will irritate you:
> lack of originality - especially in Book 1, it's easy to see how he took Frodo's journey and adapted to his world and his characters
> world-building was more important to Jordan than the narrative, which is always a red flag when reading fantasy.
> flat characters - who only develop some depth around book 4/5, and then only the male characters. When the develop as well, they develop implausibly, you've got three village boys who suddenly become king of the world, and army generals. You have two village girls who become top members of their magical order without any training because, well, they're just awesome that way. And a princess who doesn't give a rat's fart for her crown or country, but claims to.
> awful female characters - Jordan either hated women, adored them and never got any, or simply had zero understanding for women. All his female characters are the same as one another - arrogant, useless, petty and even physically abusive towards men, though he portrays this as completely acceptable and humorous.
> ENDLESS comparisons between men and women - you really need to prepare yourself for this one, there are going to be about 3 on every page of every book and there will be times when you just want to scream, "get over it!" It's jarring because all the characters think in these terms and so it's extremely clear that Jordan is speaking through his characters and portraying his own personality instead of letting his characters be unique individuals.
> Extensive description given to clothing and fondling clothing, to the point where a good 50-100 pages could have been cut out without losing anything really.
> Slow pace and extremely predictable plot. In fact, see it this way: In most fantasy there's the big, bad, dark lord. In Jordan, the big bad dark lord has 13 or so big, bad helpers. Each book is about destroying the next one of these, so basically it's a repeat plot in every book with a different play-out.
> No real sense of danger - no one ever dies except the baddies, so you don't ever really worry about your characters... the books really lack suspense for this reason.
> An obvious disdain for anything non-hetero - Jordan's entire magic system is built on the physical differences between men and women, which of course means the absolute non-existence of gay characters.
> A million and one extra pointless, useless characters. When reading, don't try to keep track of these people, think of it like hyper-realism in art. You really don't need to see the veins on every leaf on every tree that makes up the background of the painting. Jordan became obsessed with making his world seem real and forgot that too much detail actually detracts from works of art.
BUUUUUT,
> Jordan stages scenes really well, I find it easy to imagine the settings and action.
> Jordan is great with battle tactics, I really enjoy that stuff.
> Jordan is also really good at writing fight scenes, which is an art.
> The endings are always quite exciting and can be unpredictable (when they don't involve killing the big bad helpers)
> And he's also pretty good at portraying world politics
So, I'm still reading... At this point, I'm invested in seeing it through. Jordan is also so big in fantasy that if you want to be able to have a conversation with people about fantasy, you should know some things about WoT and Jordan.(less)
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One thing I would add to the positives is how Jordan had an an ...more
Oct 20, 2020 01:13PM · flag
Jan 08, 2021 06:53PM · flag