(For those asking: "Is Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series worth the time to read?" this page if for you.) I have been eyeing it for years but..."There
is a certain café that my family loves. My parents have been going there since
before I was born and we still go there now, the effect being that my
sister and I truly grew up eating breakfast at this place. A place that
is a bookstore as well as café, and I remember well a conversation I had
with my Dad there in which he was trying to convince his very young son
who then did not like reading at all to let him read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien aloud to him.
That is one memory, but another is seeing a book titled The Dragon Reborn on the shelves year after year, its title and cover imprinting itself on my mind. A book that was the third volume of a series called The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.
"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time." So naturally I have been aware of The Wheel of Time for a most of my life, yet had long sworn not to read it for reasons of excessive length (even by my standards) and a glacial pace. That being the case, though, I would often browse through random volumes while in bookstores and in doing so noted Jordan's skill (for creating a world that rivals Middle-earth in scale and gaining such fame is no small thing). I viewed the series as a tragedy of Fantasy: an author who let his world swallow the story he was trying to tell at the story's expense given the glacial reputation. However, as my interest in The Wheel of Time grew I began to research it, looking at once for an excuse to read it as well as validation for my vow not to touch it. Paradoxical, I know, but such is the nature of the human mind at times. The six key rumors I found are as follows:
- That the first book, The Eye of the World, is a near-copy of Tolkien (as that was required to get published way back when).
- That Jordan really diverges and becomes his own writer story-wise in book #2, The Great Hunt.
- That the glacial pace does not start until book seven, A Crown of Swords, making the first half the series exemplary to the highest definition of the word.
- The the glacial pace was made far worse by the fact that each book took years for Jordan to write, making readers tear their hair out over getting slow book after slow book afters eons waiting.
- That, now that all the books of out, the rumored glacial pace is not half so bad because, rather than waiting years, readers can move straight from book to book.
- That the final three books written posthumously by Jordan's chosen successor, Brandon Sanderson, are masterful – with the last book, A Memory of Light, being one long heart-stopping climax.
Having read the entire series I can thankfully answer as to the accuracy of these rumors. To start, The Eye of the World is not a Tolkien-imitation once one gets past the first quarter of the book. Again, back in the day everyone wanted a second LOTR so some Tolkien-imitation was required if one wanted to get published – but Jordan's story swiftly becomes a unique one in the first book and blossoms in The Great Hunt. In short, Book #1 was excellent, but afterwards is where the tale takes off in truly startling directions. As to rumors 3-5, while I can easily see how the story felt glacial when it was first coming out, reading it straight through negates that because one has not had years to forget the characters' names and the many plot points both major and minor between one volume and another. A critical fact, as Jordan has the depth of vision to give key hints, visions of the future both large and infinitesimal, that do not come to full fruition until several books later. Indeed, the only book I would call truly slow is Book #10, Crossroads of Twilight, yet even that has several thunderous scenes and the ending had me hopping about. Also, Book 11, Knife of Dreams (and the last book completed in Jordan's lifetime), is easily one of the most eventful in the series and wraps up several major subplots no less neatly than a spider does a fly in a climax that I won't soon forget. As to the sixth and last rumor, I confirm it. Utterly. Completely. A Memory of Light is truly a thousand-page heart-stopping climax to the degree that it rendered me emotionally numb before the end, detailing true apocalypse where the very laws and fabric of reality rip amid the desperate efforts of humans to live free and with hope. Willing to die so that other may live, and charging death unflinchingly to do so. Beyond that I can confirm that Brandon Sanderson does a truly masterful job of things in those three final and posthumously written books. Which makes sense seeing as he became infatuated with Fantasy literature from reading The Wheel of Time as a young man, is now an accomplished Fantasy author in his own right, and had literal piles of notes and audio-recordings left by Jordan. Indeed, if I had not known that another hand was part of writing final three books I would never guessed it. As it stands, one can tell in that they are quicker insofar as writing style goes (a sentence less here, a word less there, compared to pure Robert Jordan), but the narrative voice and that of the characters is utterly the same.
The overall key fact is that everything matters. No matter how small the event or character may be, the odds are strong that it/they will in some manner be relevant to the future. The butterfly effect is real here, as characters you might forget, or believed to be localized to a subplot long finished, will likely turn up again far from where you last saw them. People may compare it to George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, arguing that GRRM's literary bloodbath is far more fast-paced, but this is an illusion. How many subplots in Ice and Fire truly matter? How many gripping intrigues developed by the High Lords playing their Game of Thrones actually ended up shaking Westeros and making a real difference to the story? The answer is very few, yet the story seems fast-paced due to GRRM's immense skill in the art of storytelling. He creates a near flawless illusion of speed that keeps the reader hooked. Which is no small feat considering that GRRM's grimdark tale has no natural endpoint. (Yes,
I am aware that the Others must needs be defeated, of the prophecy of
Azor Ahai and the prince/princess that was promised, and of course that
someone must finally sit the Iron Throne uncontested. But the Others
and the prophesy are marginalized by ruthless High Lords playing their
game of thrones, and who sits the Iron Throne one year may be dead along
with all their kin the next. Hardly natural endpoints for an epic Fantasy of such scale, in my mind.)
This is not the case with Robert Jordan. As Verin Sedai says in book #2, "The Pattern puts everything in its place precisely, and when we try to alter it, especially if ta'veren are involved, the weaving changes to put us back into the Pattern as we were meant to be." Meaning that, while Jordan's story may seem slower than GRRM's, every ounce of movement is real. Not an illusion, but a solid and true step forward and towards the clearly defined endpoint that is Tarmon Gai'don (the Last Battle), for the Wheel does not turn backwards anymore than time itself. Even the court intrigues, believe it or not – as before the Game of Thrones was played in Westeros the Game of Houses (also called "The Great Game," translated as "Daes Dae'mar" in the Old Tongue) was played in the Westlands – are every bit as devious as those GRRM spins (and, unlike Cyvasse, stones has a real-world counterpart with proven depth and complexity). As Moiraine Sedai once said, "Everything is a part of the Pattern." That being said, I cannot deny that The Wheel of a Time is hardly a fast-paced series and agree completely that the minutiæ should have been edited down – yet I think of it more as a matter of condensing rather than cutting. A stark difference from A Song of Ice and Fire, as one could completely cut out a host of sections, namely the pornographic/whore-related ones, without loosing anything of substance storywise. But to call the Jordan's series glacial is wrong. In sum, I confirm rumors one, two, four, five, and six, while deny three due to the lack of said glacial pace. Finally, I feel inclined the mention that the title "The Wheel of Time" is not Jordan tacitly acknowledging the series' length. Rather, it is a crucial and one of the most unique elements of the world he created: "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.”
"A woman, torn and beaten down, cast from her throne and made a puppet. A woman who had crawled when she had to.
It was about a man that love repeatedly forsook. A man who found relevance in a world that others would have let pass them by. A man who remembered stories and who took fool boys under his wing when the smarter move would have been to keep on walking.
It was about a woman with a secret, a hope for the future. A woman who had hunted the truth before others could.
It was about a man whose family was taken from him, but who stood tall in his sorrow and protected those he could.
It was about a woman who refused to believe that she could not help, could not heal those who had been harmed.
It was about a hero who insisted with every breath that he was anything but a hero.
It was about a woman who would not bend her back while she was beaten, and who shown with a light for all who watched."
It is about them all."
I call reading The Wheel of Time the great journey, not due to its length alone but, also, because it is a true heroes journey and the length makes it feel like one is truly taking the journey with them. Indeed, for the characters the whole bloody business took about two years and it took me about the same time to read the series. It truly feels like a great journey.
Beyond that, the various cultures are clear an distinct in there differences. Aiel humor alone is absolutely hysterical – though I often understood it better than the non-Aiel characters – to their rich ji'e'toh ("honor and obligation" in the Old Tongue) code on conduct. Then their is the incredible complex hierarchy of the Atha'an Miere which is displayed for those who know to read it by a frankly painful looking array of facial piercings. I can and will not say more due to lack of time and, most critically, unwillingness to spoil the joy of discovering these and so many more peoples for yourselves. I mention these simply to help underscore the fact that Robert Jordan created many and more cultures no less unique and diverse than those in our own real-world. Which, importantly, means many of his character's are not white-skinned.
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| The Dragon Banner |
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| The Coat of Arms of House Targaryen of Dragonstone |
"A man who trusts everyone is a fool and a man who trusts no one is a fool. We are all fools if we live long enough." - Lews Therin Telamon
"It seems to me that a queen who trusts no one is as foolish as a queen who trusts everyone." - Daenerys Targaryen
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| Lews Therin Kinslayer |
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| Aerys II Targaryen, also called the Mad King, and the father of Daenerys |
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| The Dragon Reborn |
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| The princess that was promised |
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| Winter's Heart |
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| Demons made of snow and ice and cold. The ancient enemy. The only enemy that matters. |
Furthermore, do not try telling me that GRRM is utterly unique is using the seasons as he does in relation to the Azor Ahai prophecy, for here is a section of the Karaethon Cycle that would sound perfectly appropriate coming from the lips of Melisandre or any Red Priest of R'hllor: "The Seals that hold back the night shall weaken, and in the heart of winter shall winter’s heart be born, amid the wailings of lamentation and the gnashing of teeth, for winter’s heart shall ride a black horse, and the name of it is Death." I am not saying that GRRM did a bad job, and indeed I have said in the past that he is an absolutely brilliant storyteller and at making winter and night a thing to fear; indeed, the Others are truly chilling enemies. "Winter is coming." "The night is dark and full of terrors." Yet reading The Wheel of Time showed me that A Song of Ice and Fire was and is not as unique as I first thought for by all appearances GRRM drew heavy inspiration from Robert Jordan. Nor am I the only person to notice this.
Moving away now from prophecies but continuing with the comparison, Remember that Dany and others worry about the madness in her blood and if/when she will succumb to it. Well, the same is true of Rand albeit that the madness comes from a different source which I cannot say for fear of spoilers. Finally, both struggle with the burdens of leadership and whom they can trust, which ties into the initially given quotes of Lews Therin Telamon, which Rand heeds, and Daenerys Targaryen.
Hence, given all of the above, I think the epithet American Tolkien is not inappropriate to award Robert Jordan. Indeed, when I first began The Eye of the World, I kept telling my family that "I feel like I am reading another Lord of the Rings!" I am sure people will note the partial irony here, as I was once one of George R.R. Martin's most avid fans, calling him – as many did and do – the American Tolkien; until I named him the Anti-Tolkien, naturally. Why one and not the other? A
good question, seeing as I listed a host of similarities between the
two; a list which came after me saying that Jordan's Game of Houses is
every bit as devious as GRRM's Game of Thrones. And before I answer that
question I will lay forth another likeness between the two series:
treachery. Anyone familiar with A Song of Ice and Fire is well
aware that trust is valuable thing and sadly often repaid with a knife
in the back or another form of treachery. As I have said, Westeros
offers little aside from "blood, porn, and amoral lessons that corrupt
the soul." The Wheel of Time is, blessedly, not like that and yet
whom to trust outside of the core protagonists is just as large an
issue...because one never knows who might be a Darkfriend. I will not
say much so as to avoid spoilers, but Darkfriends are are humans who
have been tempted with promises of immortality and power by the Dark
One, or by other Darkfriends, into serving the Shadow. There are
Darkfriends in all nations, people and communities, even those dedicated
to fighting the Dark One, such as the Borderlanders, Aes Sedai and
Whitecloaks. You never know who is secretly sworn to Shadow and their
plots checker the series, mostly manifesting in strings of murders and
betrayals of the most heinous kind. There were several characters whom I
trusted who turned out to be Darkfriends, and countless more whom I and
the core
protagonists were afraid to trust for fear that they might be. In
short, just as who to trust is subject of ripe speculation in GRRM's
work, the same holds true in Robert Jordan's.
Which brings one back to
the question of why name one the American Tolkien and not the other?
Because Jordan unerringly keeps to the Spirit of Tolkien even while playing Daes Dae'mar; even in the midst of Darkfriend plots where torture, betrayal and murder are planned. Where armies number in the tens then hundreds of thousands, the land wracked with war, crippling droughts and merciless winters, among other things. Because The Wheel of Time is not Grimdark Fantasy –
which is, of course, the antithesis of the moral centeredness that
defines the High Fantasy. As I have said, it is NOT a clone of The Lord of the Rings; indeed, it is far from it after the first book. But the bright souls of the two masterworks are kin.
Our hero, our hero claims a shepherd's heart
I tell you, I tell you, the Dragon Reborn comes
With a soul wielding the Power of ancient Aes Sedai
Twice and twice, he shall be marked,
Twice to live and twice to die
It's an end to the evil of the Creator's foe,
Beware, beware, the Dragon Reborn comes,
For the Shadow doth rise, and his legend yet grows,
You know, you know the Dragon Reborn comes.
With the soul of Lews Therin and the might of the sword,
When the Forsaken are loose and the seals are no more,
He will save the world, yet break peoples and land,
By the Wheel of Time, here he stands.
By the countless of evils our hero has slain,
The Shepherd of the Night shall know his bane.
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