Is this series worth the read?

[Kenny]

I believe this is what I call "a first stone" situation. Ronnie, I'm glad at a time of great need you had something that allowed you to escape your circumstances for a time and I believe Robert Jordan would not grudge you that. I'm glad things are going better for you now. Happy reading.

[Natalia]

Hi Ronnie
Well I for one am very glad you got to read them for free! God knows I regretted paying for about 5 of those books (in advance!) and would have gladly given you all my copies for free. It restores my emotional balance if nothing else.
:)
I have been extremely careful since then about spending money on epic fantasy and found free digital versions myself for the rest of WoT.
....except for those by Sanderson. I feel good about supporting him as he carries on the story with good momentum

[Thomas]

I am reading the middle books now. Just started The Path of Daggers. It's slow, no doubt about that. But the story is good, and I will finish. Not at least because Brandon Sanderson is my favorite fantasy author. I want to see how he continues and ends the series.

[Ronnie]

Natz wrote: "Hi Ronnie
Well I for one am very glad you got to read them for free! God knows I regretted paying for about 5 of those books (in advance!) and would have gladly given you all my copies for free. It..."

Oh yes, Sanderson. In my opinion TOTALLY out classed Jordan. The books were written from Jordan's notes for how the last three books should go, but the actual pros is Sanderson's alone and he does such a BETTER job of doing the writing. I was so impressed that I started reading his original books.

[Thomas]

Great to hear! Makes me stick to the task. Really looking forward to The Gathering Storm. A few more books to read until then, though. :-)

[Susan]

I have recently started reading this series and I'm on Book four. I'm really enjoying it and I have read many reviews after hearing the middle books were a lot slower. Your review however as made me decide to carry on. It is an excellent review and I don't think anyone could sum it up as well as you have. Thank you. Gumps wrote: "I think many of the people above stated it well, but I have to throw my own two cents in (and I will try to summarize, which is not like me at all).

Pros
- Epic World Building: Many races, many co..."

[Paul Martin]

In my opinion, the only good thing with WoT is the world building. It's immense, detailed and believable. So if that's your thing, go ahead. Other than that, there's not much to it. I found myself loathing all the female characters, and I didn't really care about any of the males either.

The plot sometimes almost slows down to a halt, and the last book was a HUGE disappointment to me.

Am I glad I read them? Yes. Would I do it again? No way.

[Krista]

This series starts as a bang and is quite addicting. But it's also very lengthy and after about 6 books in, each book starts to seem the same. There's also the whole polygamy thing. Rand (I think that was his name), one of the MC's strings two girls along and eventually ends up marrying them both.

[Susan]

Thanks for the spoiler Krista!

[Thomas]

If you are stupid enough to to add spoilers, you should stop posting, Krista!

[Susan]

Krista wrote: "This series starts as a bang and is quite addicting. But it's also very lengthy and after about 6 books in, each book starts to seem the same. There's also the whole polygamy thing. Rand (I think t..."

Thanks for the spoiler!!

[BJ]

Don't worry, folks. What she said isn't even accurate. It is only a spoiler if it is true.

[Ronnie]

Ditto, Bj.

[Ian]

This was my first fantasy series that i read and was fantastic. Sometimes the story is hard to follow because it jumps from character to character alot but if you have patience its worth it.

[Susan]

Thanks guys :)

[sailor _stuck_at_sea]

On some level I feel that Jordan should have written a setting for a fantasy RPG instead of a novel. That way he could have indulged in all the world building he wanted for the sake of world building. Because to me that's how most of the setting comes across. He ads so many little details that I supposed to ad verisimilitude but usually they only pop up once and are then never seen or heard of again. For instance when Elayne and Dourface McSuperHealer are traveling we learn that the Andor gold crown has a higher gold contend than other coinage. A nice bit of info if I was planning an RP campaign, but it serves no function in the book other than to pad a page or two in an already boring segment. It would have made sense if later it turned out to be a plot point of some sort or at the very least if we knew approximately how much a crown was really worth, but neither is the case. The few times moneys worth comes up all seem contradictory as well, which doesn't help either.
And the books are full of these little off hand remarks that leads nowhere and only serve to lengthen an already overly long series.

[Ronnie]

Christian, I totally agree. Turns out that there is a MUD that is based on the books and the world and character types inhabited therein, except the main characters of the book, like Rand, for instance. You don't find them, but you can select to be any of the character types found in the books. I didn't really care for the MUD because it lacks many of the features and extreme scope found in, say, Lusternia, where I play. Anyway the book world and character types are all in the MUD. You can find it by doing a Google search for The Wheel Of Time MUD. Just for your information ....

[sailor _stuck_at_sea]

Nah, I've never been into MUDs, I'm a tabletop person when it comes to RPGs.
That said I don't think Wheel of Time would be a particularly good setting for an RPG. The nature of the central story means that there isn't much scope for other stories. Rand is the only one who can defeat the Big Bad, but that story has already been told so there's not much fun in that. Any other story would have to play second fiddle to it which isn't exactly a great starting point for a game.
That's not a knock on the books though, after all it wasn't written as an RPG setting.

[Benjamin]

just finished book one it wasn't bad but it was far from great does the series pick up and get better or does it just drone on and on and do the women ever get less bitchy and do the men ever get smart they all seem kinda of dumb to me

[Veronica ⭐️]

I read the first four books and couldn't put them down then about half way through book five got really bored with the whole thing and gave up. Hoping to one day,when I have a lot more time on my hands, start from the begining again and finish them all this time.

[Paul Martin]

Benjamin wrote: "just finished book one it wasn't bad but it was far from great does the series pick up and get better or does it just drone on and on and do the women ever get less bitchy and do the men ever get s..."

It keeps going the same way for about 10 books or so.

Seriously, it does.

[sailor _stuck_at_sea]

Benjamin wrote: "just finished book one it wasn't bad but it was far from great does the series pick up and get better or does it just drone on and on and do the women ever get less bitchy and do the men ever get s..."

The first book is the peak of Jordan's writing. It's a long slow decline from there until Sanderson takes over.

[Davor]

The first book is the peak of Jordan's writing. It's a long slow decline from there until Sanderson takes over. "

Blood and bloody ashes, it hurts to say it but Christian is completely correct. I spent so much time in that world that I almost feel like a dark friend when I admit to faults in the series. One thing that I can say is Jordan can tie ropes to your emotions. It is cheesy at times but like watching the A-team when you were a kid(or a similar show of your generation), you know there was something better out there but you did not care. Your heart cheered for the good guys, no matter the ridiculous scenarios they were placed in. The series reminds me or the Christopher Reeves superman. Looking back you can see so many faults but at the time..... it was magic. Not sure how the series will endure in these times. I think that the we have simply moved on.

There was some signs of change in books 9 and 10 but Sanderson definitely rescued things and I am now interested in reading his work.

[Howard]

No. Its not . . .

[Robert]

I'm on book 9 right now and honestly, the series has been pretty slow since book 5, but book 9 has been god awful.

I heard it really lulls right now for another 2 books or so, and yeah.. I am feeling it.

Jordan just picks the characters no one cares about and jams their stories down our throats, while ignoring the people we want to read about.

The first 3 books were really good.. and its been all down hill since there. I really like fantasy so I continue on, but because of this series I have read way less this year than I usually do. It's disheartening when you are having such a bad time reading a book series you already spent 8 big books on, knowing that it's not supposed to get better for another 1-2 books. haha. oh well.

P.s
Game of Thrones first 3 books were amazing, the 4th and 5th were pretty bleh.

[Lindsey]

I was one of those who hated this series. The man clearly never interacted with women because a) all the female characters are the same and b) they are all hugely unrealistic.

the plot line isn't bad, but you have to ignore a lot of misogyny to follow it through the series.

I would recommend books 1-5 and 7 of The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind over this series.

[Faz]

I read every book over the past 2 years and enjoyed most of them. Although slow at times, the first 4-5 books were very good and the endings for each definitely made the books worth reading. There were times where I couldn't, absoultely could NOT, stop reading and I found myself staying up late into the night to finish the last 100 pages. Somewhere at books 7 or 8 the story stopped and it became torture to read. I forget which one, but one of them was so bad, I had to skim through most of it.

But I have to say, like most others on this post, that Sanderson saved the series and it ended magnificently. I mean, Memory of Light was probably one of the best, most fast paced and nail-biting books I've ever read. It was VERY good.

If you have the patience and the time, the WOT series is worth the read.

[Nat]

I'm sure the original poster has made a decision by now, but I'd like to toss my hat in the ring as a vote for the series. I was one of the people who started reading the series with the publication of book 1. It was a horrendous wait, waiting for subsequent books, and I eventually stopped, having made the decision to wait until the series was finished.

The series is fantastic. Believe it or not, I've yet to read the final installment, and I look forward to it. Book 1 alone is well worth the price of entry. There are some books toward the middle that really dragged for me. I felt as if I needed a scorecard to keep track of all the minor nobles that Jordan insisted on mentioning once in book 3 then again in book 7 as if we'd remember who it was.

But I focused on the "throughline", so to speak. I recognized minor characters for what they were, and didn't let it get in the way of my enjoying the main story if I happened to forget one or two of them.

Anyway, I recommend the series. As an avid Fantasy reader for the last 30 years, this is a "must read" in my opinion.

[Ian]

This is my favourite series of all time. You really have to be patient with this series and keep going with it because it is a long commitment but well worth it. I find it is better to read them one after the other. There are some slow points in the series, and i found that in some of the books jordan tried to keep track of to many characters for my taste. The main characters are excellent and everybody who reads this series will have different oppinions on each one, and also will have favourite characters and characters that you really dont like. I would recommend this series to anybody, whether new to reading fantasy or have been reading fantasy for years it is an excellent series.