Your Favourite Books in the Series

[Barid Bel Medar]

Now that everything is complete, what was the stand-out book for you? 

 

Vote in the poll for your favourite book and combine a list ranking the books in order of preference. 

 

This thread is only for voting and ranking. Let's keep it to just that. A vote and list, so people can see what others think. 

 

As it's completely subjective - I ask you not to debate others' opinions in this thread, take it to another. This is a thread where everyone can state their opinion "for the record" and see how it compares to others. 

[CanUFeelTheLove?]

Which book takes place in the waste? The Shadow Rising or Fires of Heaven?

[Barid Bel Medar]

Both. 

 

tSR is Rand entering the Waste and gaining the trust of the Aiel, FoH is Rand leaving after the Shaido into Cairhien etc. after capturing Asmodean

[CanUFeelTheLove?]

Thank you, BBM, and arghhhhhhhhh... it gets mixed up in my memory what happened exactly when... it's one of those two, though. Well, both. But, if I had to pick, one of those two.

[Suttree]

Ok so this has changed off and on over the years but it accurately represents my current feelings on the series.

 

1. TSR

2. tFoH

3. KoD

4. LoC

5. TDR

6. TGH

7. tPoD

8. CoS

9. WH

10. tEotW

11. tGS

12. CoT

13. AMoL

14. ToM

 

Thanks for setting this up Barid!

[Arran]

Definitely The Shadow Rising for me! It just screams epic all the way through.

 

Also, you might wanna change "you're" to "your", Barid :)

[CanUFeelTheLove?]

Although, slightly off topic, I think my favorite scene is Rand in Far Madding, using Aiel Martial Arts to kill Ashaman. Oh, RJ, for that scene alone any and all mistakes made by either you or BS are null and void in my book. Rest In Peace, man.

[capuga]

Although, slightly off topic, I think my favorite scene is Rand in Far Madding, using Aiel Martial Arts to kill Ashaman. 

Love that scene so much it's been my signature for years now.

[unlabled]

Lord of Chaos, if simply for the most memorable scene for me (Dumai's Wells):

 

"Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt."

[esvath]

Lord of Chaos, if simply for the most memorable scene for me (Dumai's Wells):

 

"Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt."

100% agree with this.

[hime]

I had to vote for memory of light, not only was it cool, the waiting made it extra special for me, here is my list:

1. AMOL

2.KOD

3.TGS

4.TSR

5.TDR

6.TFoH

7.ToM
8.TGH

9.TEoTW

10.COS

11.WH

12.TEoTW

13.COT

14.POD

 

I don't know why, but I feel like my ranking is so different than others, mostly because I'm one of the few readers who didn't like the first two books and then magically started loving the series. Yay for persistence !

 

BTW, I only read the series once so it's very possible my ranking would change in the second read.

[Suttree]

 

 

Although, slightly off topic, I think my favorite scene is Rand in Far Madding, using Aiel Martial Arts to kill Ashaman.

Love that scene so much it's been my signature for years now.

+1

[Arran]

All this talk of amazing scenes that I barely remember makes me want to do a full re-read, but a friend of mine has my copy of tEotW and she hasn't finished reading it yet -_-

 

I think Lord of Chaos would be a close second to tSR on my list, probably because a lot of interesting things happened like the inception of the Black Tower, Nynaeve Healing stilling/gentling and Rand's capture by the White Tower.

[Pilz]

1.  tFOH  - definite favorite

2.  tSR - definite #2

3.  LOC - close with TDR

4.  TDR - see above

5.  tEOtW - the first 6 are the top 6

6.  TGH - see above

7.  aMOL - may drop after things settle and I re-read the whole thing

8.  TGS - see above

9.  TOM - see above

10.  KOD - seems to get back on pace

11.  tPOD

12.  COS - probably not this bad, but a let down after LOC

13.  WH - poor quality audiobook made the second time worse

14.  COT

[Rhienne]

1. The Fires of Heaven: I love Mat's first real use of his battle memories; Moiraine wrestling Lanfear through the doorway; Rand (assisted by Nynaeve) chasing Rahvin; Nynaeve besting Moghedian.  So much happens in this book, and it was in this point in the series that I really felt the tension was building - it seemed like so many nations and organisation were one step away from chaos.

 

2. Lord of Chaos: The start of the Black Tower; a pivotal point in Egwene's character development as she's named Amyrlin; and of course Dumai's Wells and the sequence of events leading up to it.  Rand's captivity and battle with madness made for some powerful reading.

 

3. The Great Hunt: I really love the feeling of expansion in this book.  Our group of heroes begins to branch out and develop as individuals.  Plus we have the introduction of the Seanchan.  Egwene's brief spell as damane made me hate the Seanchan more than I have ever hated a fictional group before.

 

4. The Shadow Rising: Nice to have everyone together at the Stone of Tear and a few reunions.  I loved Perrin's battle for the Two Rivers (but detested Faile), liked the sections in the Waste and the Black Ajah/male a'dam hunting in Tanchico.

 

5. A Crown of Swords: Good political development for Rand and his battle with Sammael was a great climax.  While most of them are insufferable, the addition of the Kin and the Windfinders make for some interesting plotlines in Altara.  Good tension between the Aes Sedai groups, although Egwene requiring oaths of fealty cemented my dislike for her.

 

6. The Gathering Storm: My 6 and 7 entries probably don't deserve to be up this high, and certainly don't merit it on writing quality or character development.  However, I was so desperate for another WoT book and so glad that things were actually happening after CoT that they rank higher than they probably will once I've done a full re-read.  It does have some great scenes - Rand's epiphany on Dragonmount was very moving, Verin's betrayal of the Black Ajah, and the epic battle with the Seanchan.

 

7. A Memory of Light: Similar to tGS, I think it will move down the rankings on a full re-read but I'm struggling to remember exactly what happened in which book!  I was glad to get a conclusion, although it has left me unsatisfied.  Again, there were some great action scenes (something the series needed more of) despite being at the expense of character development and interaction.  Lan's POVs weren't quite how I pictured him, but he had some powerful scenes - the last charge and rescue by Gateway, defeat of Demandred.  Egwene's death was very moving and reminded me how much I used to like her character.  Elayne was better than she had been.  Disappointed by the lack of Moiraine and Nynaeve.

 

8. The Eye of the World: Really enjoyed it, but lacks the depth of some of the other books.  I think while it was well written, there wasn't anything particularly original about the series at this very early stage.

 

9. The Dragon Reborn: Again, another book I enjoyed but didn't have as many stand-out scenes or plotlines as the books higher up on the series (for me, anyway!).

 

10. Winter's Heart:  The cleansing of saidin was great.  Everything else dragged.  Even though I didn't dislike Faile too much by this point this section just dragged and dragged and dragged.  Elayne's political sections were just sooooo tedious as well.

 

11. Towers of Midnight: I think at this point I was getting a bit sick of darkRand and still found Elayne's sections very hard going.  Moiraine's rescue was good and Hopper's death was tragic.  The forging of Perrin's power wrought hammer was a great scene but not enough to save this book for me.  I am also probably the only person that found Aviendha's return to the Waste boring.

 

12. Knife of Dreams: Started to move the series back in the right direction but just felt like it was tying up loose ends rather than moving the series towards the Last Battle.

 

13. New Spring: A good book in its own right and really interesting to read about how Lan and Moiraine met, and more about how the White Tower worked.  Just lacked depth and is difficult to compare to the larger books of the main series.

 

14. The Path of Daggers: Seafolk bickering, women bickering, the start of the awful Faile rescue sequence, Aes Sedai manipulating each other, no Mat :(

 

15. Crossroads of Twilight: Nothing happens, nothing happens, nothing happens, more Faile 'drama', Tuon stuff (hate reading her character), goats milk, nothing happens, hot baths, nothing happens, politics.

[Vambram]

Let me start my personal ranking of the Wheel of Time series by saying that the only book in WOT which I did not like was Crossroads of Twilight.  I would give it only a 2 out of 5 star rating.

 

For me, the Wheel of Time is the very best and greatest series of fictional novels ever written.

 

 

 

1. Lord of Chaos        5 stars

 

2. Shadow Rising       5 stars

 

3. Fires of Heaven      5 stars

 

4.   The Dragon Reborn  5 stars

 

5.   A Memory of Light    5 stars

 

6.   Eye of the World       5 stars

 

7.   The Great Hunt        5  stars

 

8.   The Dragon Reborn   5 stars

 

9.    The Gathering Storm   5 stars

 

10. Towers of Midnight      4 stars

 

11.  Winters Heart             4 stars

 

12. Crown of Swords        4 stars

 

13.  Path of Daggers           3 stars

 

14.  Crossroads of Twilight   2  stars

[analyticalkeys]

A few of you guys put the same book in the list twice, lol. 

 

My personal list is (and I'm pulling this from memory.. haven't read the full series in a while):

 

1. The Dragon Reborn

2. Lord of Chaos

3. Eye of the World

4. The Shadow Rising

5. The Great Hunt

6. The Fires of Heaven

7. Knife of Dreams

8. Towers of Midnight

9. The Gathering Storm

10. Crown of Swords

11. A Memory of Light

12. Winter's Heart

13. Path of Daggers

14. Crossroads of Twilight

 

Books 7-10 were really weak in my opinion. They could've easily been condensed into one book with all the repetiton and lack of plot movement. I'd be really surprised if anyone votes for the tenth book (seriously)... I already see that it's at the bottom of most people's lists. If you removed it from the series completely.. I don't think much anything would change.

[Lord D]

It's a tough choice for me, but tEotW has to be my favourite because it got me hooked on the series; I first read that book aged 14, and can still remember the horror of the Trollocs, Fades, Ways and the Blight.  In fact, this is the only book with a major part set in the horribly corrupted Blight, which really appeals to me.  I wish some of the other books had returned to the Blight.

 

Like others here, I enjoyed the first 6 books, and loved the Battle of Dumai's Wells at the end of LoC.  Other than the cleansing of saidin in WH, the next 4 books were not memorable.  The series got back on track in KoD, and I think BS did a good job of finishing it, and I enjoyed the great battle scenes in aMoL.

[furyjkl]

I've read through the series exactly once. Here is my list of favorite to least favorite, with some quick notes with what comes to mind for each book.

 

1. The Great Hunt-Selene; the visions at the portals; all the blademaster stuff; and of course the EPIC ending at Falme...I was in awe for the last couple hundred of pages or so of this book. I knew I was reading something special when I read EOTW, but this book made me fall head over heels for WOT. 

 

2. Lord of Chaos-Rand Al'Thor = BAMF in this book. The Ash'aman at Duhmai's Well were badass as well.

 

3. The Fires of Heaven-Rand and the Aiel conquering; Asmodeon; and of course, one of my favorite scenes in the series, when Rand chases down Avienda in the snow and the sexual tension between them explodes. I also really like Nynaeve and Elayne's story arc in this book, especially when they traveled with that circus group.   

 

4. The Eye of the World-the book that started it all. What stands out in my mind most are the vivid dream sequences sent by Ishamael...so cool 

 

5. The Shadow Rising-the Aiel...need I say more

 

6. The Dragon Reborn-the book in which I started to like Mat, who I had previously hated but eventually became my favorite character. I'm actually having trouble remembering why I liked this book so much...now that I think about it maybe it should be further down on my list...I just remember flying through it and I'm pretty sure I read it more quickly than I read any of the other WOT books, so it gets points for that.

 

7. Towers of Midnight-Moraine's rescue was awesome. I love Mat and Thom. I recall even Perrin's story arc being cool in this book

 

8. The Gathering Storm-Sanderson's WOT debut. Rand's development in this book was fantastic. I LOVED the interaction between him and Nynaeve, when he explains to her why he has become so hard

 

9. Knife of Dreams-a fresh breath after the slow pace of the previous few books 

 

10. The Path of Daggers-kind of slow, but I still liked it. I enjoyed the interaction between Rand and his Ash'aman guards, and his confrontation of the Seanchan with Calandor, with the whole "Lord of the morning" speech

 

11. A Crown of Swords-the first of what I consider to be the 4 slower books of the series. I don't feel like the slowness made me enjoy this one any less though. I'm having trouble remembering what happened in this one. I think this is the one in which Mat had his relationship with Tylin...? That was entertaining 

 

12. A Memory of Light-wasn't a big fan of the way most of the book flowed. The constant switching between nonstop action scenes didn't feel right for a WOT book, although maybe it was the best that could be done given Sanderson's task of pulling everything together. I almost want to put this book one lower, but I'm trying to convince myself I like it. If you want to read my critique of the series' conclusion it's on this page: http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/78001-quality-discussion-thread/page-81 

 

13. Winter's Heart-The cleansing of Saidin scene was cool, with the assault of the enemy channelers. I also found the part in the city without channeling interesting...I'm actually not sure why this book is so low on my list, as when I think about it there was definitely some intriguing stuff going on. In my memory I just don't remember enjoying it quite as much as the other books

 

14. Crossroads of Twilight-politics, politics...and more politics

 

[furyjkl]

looks like my last two got cut off:

 

 

13. Winter's Heart-The cleansing of Saidin scene was cool, with the assault of the enemy channelers. I also found the part in the city without channeling interesting...I'm actually not sure why this book is so low on my list, as when I think about it there was definitely some intriguing stuff going on. In my memory I just don't remember enjoying it quite as much as the other books

 

14. Crossroads of Twilight-politics, politics...and more politics

[capuga]

1. The Shadow Rising

2. The Fires of Heaven

3. The Lord of Chaos

4. The Dragon Reborn

5. The Great Hunt

6. Winter Heart

7. Crown of Swords

8. Knife of Dreams

9. Towers of Midnight

10. Crossroads of Twilight

11. The Eye of the World

12. A Memory of Light

13. The Gathering Storm

14. A Path of Daggers

[jack of shadows]

1.lord of chaos,the best book in the series,and it's rand's.the battle of dumai's wells and it's legendary

aftermath:"i forget nothing,aes sedai.i said six could come,but i count nine.i said you would be on an

equal footing with the tower emissaries,and for bringing nine,you will be.they are on their knees,aes sedai.

kneel!!!"

 

2.the fires of heaven.almost as good as lord of chaos,the"dynamic duo" is totally absent(what a bliss).

moiraine and lanfear incident.rahvin is caught in a crossfire between rand and nynaeve.

 

3.the shadow rising."the times for games and subterfuge is past,lews therin,long past".my name is lanfear.

rand sees the aiel's history in a series of flashbacks.rand and asmodean fight in rhuidean.

 

4.the great hunt.lanfear first entrance.rand conversation with hawkwing and the other heroes.

the battle of falme.min's strange encounter with lanfear.

 

5.the eye of the world.fast paced and gripping,but not particularly original,too much j.r.r. tolkien

in this book.emond's field eight is born.

 

6.the dragon reborn.robert jordan found his voice in this book.the dreadful "dynamic duo" is born.

rand takes callandor,the dragon is finally reborn.the aiel are the people of the dragon.

 

7.a crown of swords.the last good book in the series.slow paced but still a good read,rand attacks

illian and defeats sammael.moridin is born and unfortunately so is cadsuane.

later i will post a list of the not so good,the bad and the ugly books in the series.

[BFG]

My opinion changes quite regularly and I'm still not sure what I think of aMoL, but this is true for now...

 

1. tSR - this is always near the top, I think it's the book with the best combination of character, plot, structure and some stand-out sequences (Rhuidean and the pillars), it marks a high point for Perrin and Faile (the last time I like her until Towers).
2. LoC - Dumai's Wells,
3. FoH - Moiraines sacrifice
4. tGH - the reactions to Rand, Falme (all of it, not just the Horn)
5. tDR - the start of Rand going nuts
6. tEotW - the one that started it all
7. tGS - Difficult to place, the book on its own is good (hence why it's here), but it lays the foundation for the structural weakness in ToM.  But I loved Rand and Egs story in this, Verins death...
8. PoD - the Damona Campaign
9. aMoL - this isn't off the books own merits, as I find the character contradictions and some of the plotwork hard to swallow, but it's the end of the series.  I really liked the last few chapters and the epilogue.
10. KoD - it finally gets the characters pointed in the right direction and I loved the Mat/Tuon interaction
11. WH - up here because of the cleansing
12. aCoS - a Cup of Sleep, but this feels slow compared to LoC.
13. ToM - although it contains some of my favourite sequences (Avi's trip to Rhuidean, Nyn's testing) I was underwhelmed by the overall thing.
14. CoT - something happened?

[jack of shadows]

part 2:

8.knife of dreams.on its surface,this book started to move the series back in the right direction,

but it's just robert jordan cleaning up his act,removing some of the garbage he created in previous

books.fans hailed it as a triumph return to form,well it's not.

 

9.the gathering storm.the original plan was to write one book when (probably) two thirds into the

project it was decided to split  a memory of light into three books.

brandon sanderson took the best parts from the material already written and created the gathering storm,and to

some extent it's a good book.

this is egwene crowning moment(and i hate egwene),darth rand is fun to read and the dragonmount

epiphany is mesmerizing.

unfortunately like bfg said,it laid the foundation for the structural weakness in tom.

not one word on how brandon sanderson ruined mat.

 

10.winter's heart.this is a bad book.its only redeeming factors are the cleansing and the start of nynaeve-rand  

friendship.i did not see that coming.(one of the better story arcs in later books).

later i will write about the uglies.

[jack of shadows]

part 3.

11.the path of daggers.boring.mat went awol.boring.conclusion of the bowl of the winds story arc.

boring.women bickering all the time.boring.

 

12.towers of midnight.this is a weird book.rand's scenes are wonderful(apples first,reunion with min

and tam,bandar eban,maradon)and so are aviendha's trip to rhuidean and nynaeve's test in the

white tower(bye bye braid).rest of the book is...well,terrible.

 

13.a memory of light.to put it mildly,i am not very happy with this book.

sometime next week i will post a no holds barred  review in amazon.

 

14.crossroads of twilight.rhienne,thank you from the bottom of my heart for this one hahahaha.

nothing happens,nothing happens,nothing happens,the "dynamic duo" at their very best,goats

milk,nothing happens ad nauseam.

what a stinker.