Kevin's Watch

The chapter with Rand experienceing the past through his ancestors eyes occurs, I believe, in The Shadow Rising. It is one of the best chapters anywhere that I have read. However, in the later books there are very few stand out moments. Jordan is just writing to write. I heard that he plans to write at least 13 books - he's working on #10 right now. He suckered me into buying the hardcover last time - things had to start moving right? I was wrong. The plot is going nowhere.

The slow advance of the plot is what has turned me off of this series, too. Some of his writing, such as the Battle of Dumai Wells (spelling?), can be quite good. But it seems to me that at about the point where the girls got lost with the circus is about the place where the overall advancement of the plot also got lost...I can't even remember what book that happened in now!

Must be The Fires of Heaven, because last night I just left them with the boar-horses while the story skipped back to Jangai Pass.

I guess I can understand what you're saying about the pace - it does seem to slow down a bit, extending a single task over two or three books, but I guess I'm one of the few who gets too involved in the story to notice the things that annoy others - That is why I couldn't put LotR down the first time, but had to push myself to read through a chapter on the next few readings.

Murrin, it is probably my lack of patience as much as any lacking in the author himself.

Well, I've been too busy reading to come back here in the last couple of weeks, but I just finished Winter's Heart and I haven't purchased Crossroads of Twilight yet, so I havea little time before I become engrossed in the story again.
I am enjoying all of these books, but a few parts involving the women (and most of those are with Mat's POV) are just a little frustrating...

...I just found out that the paperback edition of Crossroads of Twilight won't be out until November, even though the hardback has been available since January...

This is really going to get to me, since I've been reading constantly whenever I had free time for the last couple of weeks, and now I haven't got anything to read and I don't want to start anything new while I'm in the middle of this - This is actually the first book series I've read that wasn't already complete before I started the first book...

Hmmm....Waiting for the paperback of CoT??? I'd say it's a perfect time to pick up "A Game of Thrones" by GRR Martin. What say you?

i must do this myself .. i really must

Bah, I'd recommend checking the book out from the library before buying it.

This is a horrible series. I have a really hard time getting past the bad prose.

Which series? Wheel of time? You are probably correct, although it has been so long since I read them that I do not remember that the prose was very bad.

Severian (great nick)! Hey, welcome.

Thanks. It probably gives away what I think is one of the greatest science fiction series ever, New Sun.

Bad prose? I've heard a lot of complaints about this series, but that hasn't been one until now...

Murrin wrote:Bad prose? I've heard a lot of complaints about this series, but that hasn't been one until now...

Well, don't take my word for it. Here are just a few reviews from around the Net. . .

"Although there is really no lack of incident to fill out the plot, Jordan has a way of straining tension and momentum out of his writing so that even action-filled sequences read like something out of a cookbook. This is what finally slew the last dregs of my interest, even after I had attempted to look past the bad prose, shrill characters, and shoddy world logic."

"Robert Jordan is to fantasy as John Grisham is to thrillers."

"IS ROBERT JORDAN A PSEUDONYM?

Yes, as mentioned in RASFW, Robert Jordan is a pseudonym for David
Eddings. When questioned, Mr. Eddings said he wanted to explore
the conflict between good and bad writing without alienating any
readers." [NOTE: Not to be taken literally, but you get the point.]

"I’m sorry, but I can see no reason for this sudden decline in Nynaeve’s personality and intelligence except for bad writing on Robert Jordan’s part."

"The Eye of the World is a horribly uninteresting book, though not for a lack of words. Anything resembling a plot point occurs very rarely and when it does, it's doesn't evoke any emotion other than surprise."

"Dialogue is weak. The characters seem always to be blushing or stammering or putting their feet in their mouths or pining for hot meals or rolling their eyes and saying 'Men!' in exasperated voices. Jordan often tries to narrate big slabs of history in casual conversations, is if by doing so he will make them interesting."

"Unfortunately, Jordan’s no writer; not even close. The best word to describe his writing is “trite”. Everything about the book, aside from the world-building, is trite beyond words; this is juvenile, unimaginative, amateurish writing. In over 30 years of pretty much continuous reading, this is unquestionably the worst-written novel I’ve ever seen published."

How about the skirt-smoothing? I heard that from one reader that if you started to notice it it really got annoying after a short while.

And now I have inflicted in on all of you!

I just tend to zone out whenever he starts talking about women's dresses (quite often, especially in the later books).

(and Book of the New Sun is a very close 2nd to the Chronicles for me)

I do a quick skim through the women's chapters. So little has happened with them for so long, I figure I'm not missing much.

How did this goofball Jordan ever get published? I can't believe I wasted 7 hours of my life reading through his first book! I want my time back! (I wonder if I can sue. . .)

The 87 odd page prologue of winter's heart sums up the tediousness of the series for me.