I recognize that I have neglected to post this series as the books were read over the past few months; however, I contend that this is not a series as much as it is a single story that simply took volumes of books to tell. I am not a fan of this genre, so I challenged myself to read The Wheel of Time series, epic fantasy novels written by Robert Jordan. The various books were published from 1990 to 2013, prolonged by the author’s death in 2007; given detailed notes for the final book that the author was in the midst of writing, fellow fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson completed the story that was so voluminous that it was told in three separate volumes. The series is noted for its length (check out the page count!), its well-developed magic system, the extremely large numbers of subplots, the intricate detail of its imaginary, and the extremely large number of characters (different accounts state between 1800 to 2800 named characters in the series!).
The publisher sums up the nearly four and a half million words as follows:
Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time is a story that takes place both in our past and our future. In his fantasy world, the Dark One, the embodiment of pure evil, is breaking free from his prison. The overall plot is about a man who learns that he is the reincarnation of the world’s messiah and is once again destined to save the world from the Dark One—but possibly destroy it in the process. This saga is not only his story, but the story of an entire world’s struggle to deal with war and change, destruction and hope.
At its core, The Wheel of Time is about the struggle between good and evil, and the way that that battle exists not only on a grand scale, but in the hearts of the ordinary people fighting it. The story has many traditional European-style fantasy elements and themes combined with some strong Eastern themes such as reincarnation and the cyclic nature of time weaved in to make it more unique. Add to that a richly populated fantasy world, with creatures, many original races (human and otherwise), expansive lore, epic battles, unrelenting magic, and deeply memorable characters, and it’s hard to imagine an epic tale that can come even close. The Wheel of Time has all the makings of the next big fantasy TV series…which is coming to the small screen in 2020. I am glad I read it but will admit that the phenomenal detail distracted on more than one occasion, which I attribute to reading the entire series at once. If I had read each book as it was released, I don’t think that level of detail would have been so tedious. If you love long, epic fantasy series in which you get heavily invested in the characters and their world, read this series! The Wheel of Time is very detailed and draws you in—if you enjoy the first book, you will have to keep reading. If you don’t enjoy long books in which there are a lot of detailed imagery or the characters are not constantly battling, don’t read this series; with so many books and so many characters, you may get lost or bored along the way.
“The Wheel of Time turns, and ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legends fade to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. […] There are neither beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.”
Posted by: Regina C. (submitted to Jen 12/28/19)
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