Wheel of Time in Retrospect

[Grandis]

Second, I was beginning to realize that Jordan was one of those writers who couldn't kill off his top-level protagonists.

Have to agree on that one. RJ could have really stood to take a few lessons from GRRM there. Maybe not go quite as far as he has, though. You start to care about a character and then they die.

[Treemaster]

Favorite: The Eye of the World. Great writing, and the entire book has the big shit is going down feeling that I love about the Wheel of Time. I love the chapters with Rand and Matt on the run, and from Camelyn on it's basically impossible to put the book down. And, on rereading it, it's amazing how much stuff later in the series is anticipated and foreshadowed. There is perhaps a bit too much of a "nod" to Lord of the Rings, but otherwise it's just about flawless.

 

Lease Favorite: Knife of Dreams. I suppose I'm in the minority, but I felt like this was the worst written of all the books. Sure, stuff started moving again, but I just didn't find any parts of it all that compelling. I actually LIKED the Perrin/Shaido Aiel plotline up until this point, but it just didn't catch my interest in this one.

 

If I had hte power to somehow making Jordan and company redo the series, I would: (1) hire a much stronger/stricter editor; (2) cut out the seconadry plotlines that are neither interesting nor necessary -- e.g., Elayne, Siuan, etc.

[TheBeerPatriot]

The Great Hunt is my favorite book of the series. There are several great moments-Rand being told he's the Dragon Reborn, Dark Prophecy, Lan & Moiraine's encounter with the Draghkar, Liandrin's betrayal of the 4 women, Portal Stones, Ingtar's redemption, Mat blowing the horn and Rand's showdown with Ishamael. I could go on and on here, but this book best displays the potential inherent in the Wheel of Time universe.

 

Crossroads is easily the worst of the series. While I appreciate Egwene and Mat's scenes a bit more in this book, the Perrin/Faile/Shaido plot and Elayne's scenes are booooooooooooring.

 

I'd say that Fires of Heaven is my second favorite. In addition to the Lanfear/Moiraine showdown and repercussions, I'd say this book also provides the best Forsaken fight thus far, Rand vs. Rahvin. We see a lot more glimpses of the Shadow in this book, and Mat starts to come into his own as a general. I also love the Rand-Aviendha interaction in the Far Snows. Great scene.

 

In order, favorite to least:

The Great Hunt

The Fires of Heaven

Eye of the World

Gathering Storm

Towers of Midnight

The Dragon Reborn

The Shadow Rising

Knife of Dreams

Lord of Chaos

Winter's Heart

A Crown of Swords

The Path of Daggers

Crossroads of Twilight

[moratcorlm]

cut out the seconadry plotlines that are neither interesting nor necessary -- e.g., Elayne, Siuan, etc.

Like or dislike as you wish, but Elayne, Egwene, Perrin, Mat, and Nynaeve aren't secondary characters like Siuan is.

[Treemaster]

cut out the seconadry plotlines that are neither interesting nor necessary -- e.g., Elayne, Siuan, etc.

Like or dislike as you wish, but Elayne, Egwene, Perrin, Mat, and Nynaeve aren't secondary characters like Siuan is.

 

Why are you putting words in my mouth? I don't think Egwene or Nynaeve are secondary characters, and certainly not Mat and Perrin. Nynaeve may be my favorite character in the whole series. I do think Elayne is a secondary character, but we can agree to disagree on that one.

[Nygma7]

I think one of the top things I love about WoT is how... unfocused... the protagonists are on the Bad Guy. "The Dark One" is so clichéd in fantasy, but he's almost an afterthought for most of the series.

 

I think my favorites are based on this. The first three books, while good, were all about Ba'alzamon and ended with Rand "killing" the Dark One. It wasn't until Shadow Rising that we know/Rand acknowleges he is the Dragon Reborn, and from there it's all about how everyone - Dark One, Forsaken, Aes Sedai, Aiel, Seanchan, Sea Folk, nations - deal with the Dragon. TSR, TFoH, and LoC are the best block, and I think LoC wins out for best for the great confrontations and the fact that it's the first book that doesn't end with Rand defeating a Forsaken.

 

KoD is right up there with them, mainly for the awesome Mat and Tuon chapters. CoT narrowly avoids bottom place for the same reason.

 

PoD is the only book that completely skips one of the main characters. It's also the one where Rand seems to begin his slide, listening to people like Weiramon over Bashere in his pride and ending with killing one of his Asha'man. I don't remember any great moments from it like the Cleansing and it ends... huh, I can't remember how it ends. Which is among the reasons it wins least favorite for me.

[Lupy]

I loved Winter's Heart. Rand in ebou Dar was cool, padan fain was in it, LAN was a badass, and then the cleansing to top it off. My least favorite is Crossroads of Twilight, for reasons already stated.

WH

TSR

TGS

ToM

TGH

TEoTW

TPoD. I know a lot of people dislike this one, but Rand vs Seanchan was fun.

LoC

TFoH

TDR

KoD

ACoS

CoT

[Morsker]

I went with TFoH. It has Moghedien my favorite villain, lots of T'A'R, balefire, Moiraine's sacrifice, and no Perrin! TSR has to be second-place to me; the Aeil are violent and easily offended and I couldn't make myself care about them. Plus TSR has Perrin.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

EOtW is my favorite, because it was my first, and i fell in love with it as soon as i started reading it.

 

TGS is my least favorite, because it reminds me.

[Thaed]

The Fires of Heaven is probably my all time favorite...

 

Just love the chapter "the Threads Burn"

 

Least favorite was probably crossroads of twilight. Havent read it in a while but remember it took me forever to get through it,....just thought it was kinda dull comparatively

[androgyn]

The Eye of the World is definitely my favorite. I love the prologue about Lewis Therin and the whole book is just so amazing! When you start to read it you just have to go on, it's impossible to leave it unreaded. Also I like the characters, who are so young and innoucent. There's no mess with Faile, Aes Sedai, Aiel etc.

 

My least favorite is The Path of Daggers, and if I could, that would also includes half of the ACoS. It was just the lowest point of all charancters! In Nynaeve's thoughs was only Lan, Rand was making himself more and more harder, Elayne was so anoying and then the wars. Maybe it's just me, but the wars are the most boring thing in the whole series. Only ones witch I have liked were against Shaido in Cairhien and the first meeting with the Seanchan..

[RembrandtQ.Einstein]

Lord of Chaos and Knife of Dreams would probably rate highly in my list.