Book titles

[Veracohr]

I picked up AMOL today, and mused for a bit (not for the first time) on how awesome the title is. I think there's a certain talent in coming up with an excellent name for a book, song, movie, anything artistic. A way of taking just a few words, or even a single word, and making it poetic in its context. Of course, a lot of that has to do with just me, what I think about any given title won't necessarily translate to someone else.

 

So for no particular reason at all, here's my impression of the WOT titles:

 

The Eye of the World - 5/10. Not too bad, doesn't evoke anything particular.

The Great Hunt - 2/10. Too trite, too obvious.

The Dragon Reborn - 7.5/10. Balanced between a 'good' title and a 'great' title: taken out of context (or for non-WOT fans) it's kind of "too fantasy" sounding, but in context it's powerfully simple. 'Nuff said.

The Shadow Rising - 9/10. I like how it's plain in its description of its part of the story, but has a deceptively sinister undertone.

The Fires of Heaven - 2/10. I'm always embarrassed when I'm reading this one in public and someone asks me what I'm reading. I'm not sure why, I'm not sure what sort of book the title seems like to me, it just seems too grandiose. Good book, bad title.

Lord of Chaos - 4/10. Too overtly evil, but gets a little credit for the context.

A Crown of Swords - 3/10. Too much of a rip-off of a well-known term. See also "Crossroads of Twilight".

The Path of Daggers - 2/10. Despite being repeatedly quoted in the books in relation to Seanchan politics, I don't recall much in the actual book to lend credit to the title.

Winter's Heart - 1/10. I guess it's just the word 'heart', but it sounds too much like a romance novel.

Crossroads of Twilight - 1/10. I have no idea what this title refers to. Was there some mention of evil things at crossroads at twilight, or is it just a tenuous reference to the old legend of being able to sell your soul to the devil at a crossroads at midnight? Either way, every time I see the usual Dragonmount abbreviation of this book (COT), I immediately think "crown of thorns", due in part to the word 'crown' appearing in book 7's title.

Knife of Dreams - 1/10. Is this a reference to the Shadar Logoth dagger? What does it have to do with dreams? And does it even appear in this book? It's been a while, maybe I forgot something.

The Gathering Storm - 9/10. I love both how it refers to Nynaeve's 'weather' sense, and the underlying sense of foreboding it gives.

Towers of Midnight - 8/10. I don't really remember what if anything the term means in context of the story, but it just has a nicely ominous sound.

A Memory of Light - 10/10. I could fill up an entire post with why I love this title so much. It resonates with me very much, reminds me of one of my songs and what it means to me, and grabs hold of my mostly-dormant spiritual side to remind me not to forget. I don't even think I can consider the title in an objective manner, it sort of precludes that.

[Arran]

You have to remember that books 5 through 11 are all taken from various prophecies or ancient quotes. Surely you've seen them on the pages before the prologue?

 

Also, Towers of Midnight is explained in the glossary :)

[Lavaliar]

I think they're all strong, intriguing titles. AMOL is my favorite. Crossroads At Twilight is very evocative, as well. Way better than the GOT titles, imo.

[Hagazussa]

I like most of the book titles, and most importantly they have something important to say about the content of each book, I would rather have a boring title that reflect a given book's content than a fancy one that is just pretty words with no real meaning.

 

The Eye of the World: I like this title allot, it reflect the content of the book well and while it is a very generic fantasy title, in many ways the first book is a generic fantasy story, it is a good generic fantasy but generally it is the typical story of nobody farm boys who get whisked away by Gandalf with boobs to fight some ancient evil. The title just plain fit the book.

 

The Great Hunt: This is the title I like the least, it do fit the book well but it do not really stir any emotions for me.

 

The Dragon Reborn: I think this is a great title, yes sure it is very fantasy but Wheel of Time IS a fantasy series. The third book is where Rand finally accepts himself as the Dragon so the book title is spot on.

 

The Shadow Rising: I love this title, the fist three books in the series have been very much about the main characters and setting things up, this title show that now things are getting real and things are getting dangerous, it is a title that makes me want to read the book.

 

The Fires of Heaven: This title is a little generic to me and it is perhaps the title I think fit the least well with the content of the book, but all in all the title do the job and it do sound epic so it is not a bad title in my opinion, it is just to generic to be a good one.

 

Lord of Chaos: This is my favorite title, it fit well with the book, it hold allot of symbolic meaning and it just makes me want to open the books since it is a very enigmatic title.

 

A Crown of Swords: I can see how this title is a bit generic, I do not know how many fantasy series who have at least one book in the series which is named crown something, but it do work and it is relevant for the content of the book and as a personal note the title always makes me happy as it reminds me of my favorite single volume fantasy book The barbed Coil by J.V Jones.

 

The Path of Daggers: The title do not do much for me, it fit the content of the book good and it do work, but it is not one of the titles that pop for me.

 

Winter's Heart: I think this is a great title, I do agree that it sound like a romance novel and if I knew nothing about WoT and just saw the title I might think it was, but that do not make the title itself bad, it is a title that makes me curious about the book and that is always good.

 

Crossroads of Twilight: I do not hate any of the WoT books but Crossroads of Twilight is not one of my favorites, it is important and there is good scenes in it but there is also allot of filler here, however the title I think is great, and it do fit for at this point the story is definitely at a crossroads since the last book ended with the cleansing of saidin which is a huge, world altering event which affect the entire world an tilts everything.

 

Knife of Dreams: Well here again we have a very generic fantasy title, but I think it works, it is an interesting title and while it is not one of my favorites I do like it.

 

The Gathering Storm: I am not so sure about this one, it do fit, but it is just to generic, I have seen so many books with similar titles, and the title can mean about anything, it is not bad but it is just so extremely generic in my mind, so this is not one of my favorites and I rate it just slightly above the tile The Great Hunt.

 

Towers of Midnight: I really love this title, it is exiting, it fit the content of the book well and it is mysterious, I think this is one of the best.

 

A Memory of Light: This is a great title from the world view of a WoT fan, I mean it definitely fit well and it evokes emotions and wonder concerning the end of the series and the great story in it. If someone is not a WoT fan however this title to me sound more like a vampire book about some old vampire who sit brooding about not being able to go out during the day. I read allot of vampire books and if I had not read the WoT series so I know what the title means, this is what my mind would go to if I just read the title of some book list.