Customer Reviews

Lord of Chaos: Book Six of 'The Wheel of Time'

5 star:		(133)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Okay, before all you hard-core Jordan fans beat me blind for daring to give it less than a four star review, or for all those who are disgusted with the series thus far, let me explain. No, I am no blinded by my love for the series; no, I am not angry at having to trudge through a thousand pages all these books. I don't care. I love this series, and I am dreading the day that the final book comes out, and am rooting along with everybody else for Jordan to decide that he actually will write fifteen books instead of twelve (and maybe even more.) I love longer books, and I love detail. Also, I want to point out that Jordan isn't on the same plane of detail as Tolkien was. Tolkien described scenery; Jordan describes actions. That's a bonus on my clock, because I like actions more than scenery. This book was amazing, and shame on the people who said that nothing happened.

So why am I giving it three stars? Because Jordan should have either made this book five hundred pages or two thousand, and I'm beginning to see a pattern here. In the beginning of the series, Jordan took painstaking time to write battle scenes and war scenes. And they were breathtaking, even for me, who prefers characters over war any time. He knew what he was talking about, since he was actually schooled on warfare. Starting with the Fires of Heaven, he's focusing too much attention on the women, who aren't doing anything. Their chapters would better off be blended into one large mother-chapter. If Jordan included half the stuff that goes on in Lord of Chaos, then it would be two thousand pages, and I would prefer ten thousand pages if it included those missing events.

Jordan writes the afternoon-tea well, I'll give him that. I'm not saying they suck. But when that's the majority of what we're getting, it starts to become a problem for me. Random arguments between husband-and-wife, petty insults between women, are just not Jordan's forte; or not nearly as well as he does battle, as he proved to me when he wrote the last chapter. Those events let you see more of the character's personalities, of course, because of how they react to the situation. But the situation itself is what makes it all useless, irrelevant filler. They could have been nice laughs if they were tossed in here and there, but Jordan is starting to give details on things that he shouldn't be going into so much detail on, and summarizing things that deserve a long and decent chapter.

Less time is being devoted to the Last Battle, and more time is being given to the personal issues that are dragged on far too long (Faile's argument with Perrin goes on for chapters on end). Jordan takes a particular interest in describing the problems the characters are having with love, but as he does with all other personal situations, the situation itself is ridiculous. Where did Lan and Nynaeve's love come from? I still haven't figured that out. What happened with Egwene was the final straw for me; no time is spent to the actual falling in love; it's always love at first sight. Jordan has lost about ninety percent of the urgency that was shown in the first three books. The characters are dawdling, loitering, and mingling with other characters. They aren't doing anything. And when they are, in order to complete it, they need to do more dawdling, loitering, and mingling (the siege at Tar Valon, the Bowl of the Winds...)

I would recommend this book, because all in all it's a good read. It's just not the best of Jordan's capabilities, skirting the important issues, and tracing the unimportant. I don't know whether Harriet is editing too much out, or if Jordan is just neglecting to write more, but either way, he's chopping off far too much things that are happening in his books, and I'm hoping that maybe he's going to start collecting those fallen pieces and continue on his streak of breathtaking battle scenes.

Book Six of Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series, Lord Of Chaos is a two cassette, 2.75 hour, digitally mastered, abridged audiobook that continues the story of Rand al'Thor and his struggle to unite the nations for the Last Battle when the Dark One will break free into the world to spring the snares laid by the immortal forsaken to the detriment of an unwary humankind. Robert Jordan is an accomplished and original author whose popularity increases with every title he writes. Highly recommended, this flawless audiobook production is enhanced with the narrative talent of Mark Rolston.

Lord of chaos is the book that truly defined the wheel of time series. It does not just follow Rand, Mat, Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, and the others, it truly opens your eyes to the darkness surrounding them all. It shows what the Dark One can do as the Lord of the Grave with resurrecting the forsaken. I read this book in five days. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is the BEST ONE YET!!

The sixth book of Robert Jordan is good but somewhat repetative. The plot developes a little more, but not like it did in the first 4 books where their was more action. The book is ok to read and I will read all the rest of the Wheel of Time series.

There are tons of reviews out there that will tell you that this is a horrible book, slow, verbose, and dull, and just as many that will tell you this book is the best they've ever read, etc. The truth lies somewhere in between. If you like Robert Jordan's previous works (which, seeing as you're considering reading the sixth, you probably do) then you are going to love this book. The conclusion of this book (which the cover - horribly drawn as it is - alludes to) is arguably the best of all those in the Wheel of Time series. It's dramatic, frought with tension, and rather chilling. Personally, I feel that the 600+ pages that get you there aren't that bad either; they are also some of the best Jordan has written. If you don't like his style or his story, though, you won't like it and I don't recommend it. It's as simple as that. But for any Jordan fan - well, what are you waiting for?

I started reading "the Wheel of Time" books a long time ago; I think about 8 years ago. I stopped reading after the seventh, and recently started up again as I saw the release of the 9th book. I've read through all of them again, and now I see why I stopped.

This book is almost, considering the last book and the constant references to the ancient prophecies of the Dragon, almost completely pointless. It has no purpose, nothing happens, nothing is really resolved. I can see Jordan sweating, trying to squeeze out another book in this already bloated series for the money.

The last conflict in the story is pretty cool, but it takes about 400 pages of prolix, incredibly irritating "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" lolly-gagging to get there.

If you want a better series, read Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. Characters actually die! Things ACTUALLY HAPPEN! Best yet, he's promised us that the series is only going to be 6 books long, max.

Overall, Lord of Chaos is an incredible book. There is a ton of plot action and some new completely unexpected twists. Too bad the females are so BITCHY. Nynaeve needs to "disappear". Faile, Egwene, and Elayne need to as well. You would think that they would like the guys...Anyway, great book!

For those of you who think that this book is the most wonderful thing on the face of the planet, I can't help but wonder how boring your lives are. To be perfectly honest I stopped reading the book about halfway through it, and whether or not I'll ever have the ambition to finish the rest of it is doubtful. Every single one of his books feels the same when you read it. The first 100-250 or so pages are the dullest, most pointless things in the world. The amount of detail he puts in to his stories is even harder to get through than Tolkien, but unlike that master story teller Jordan fails to hold his audience's interest for very long because he spends so much time talking about stupid, pointless things. His story is very reminiscent of another series (or at least the early books are) by Terry Goodkind called "The Sword of Truth," but the difference between the pair is that Goodkind's books are the type that you never want to put down and unlike Jordan's characters Goodkind's act their age, but of course that brings up another flaw in the books--the timeline. You look at the appendix or whatever it is in the back of the book and it seems amazing how much he focuses in on the timeline, but if you actually keep track of how much time passes between the first and the sixth then a slight problem arises: how is it that his characters went from being young teens to suddenly being in their twenties when only a few years, if that, have actually gone by? And is there even one somewhat kind woman in this entire series? I think that Jordan must have a problem with the ladies since every single one is a devious scumbag that doesn't care about anything but what they want, or else an idiotic little fool. Basically, the point is that the book just doesn't make sense, that he's juggling with too many characters, and the plot is so terribly predictable that it's sickening. Do yourself a favor and don't read any of these books; they're a waste of time and are so full of detail that by the time you finish one part you won't even remember what was happening to the other characters when you get back to them.

This was the last book I read in this series four years ago. I didn't even finish it, and I will tell you why. The moment I stopped reading was when Egwene was made head of the Aes Sedai. This just passed any point of ridiculasnes that had occured in the other books (I was humoring Robert Jordan until that point). There was no reason that the Aes Sedai would choose Egwene. She has little experience and is obviously unfit for such a duty. Why would Robert Jordan decide that this would make sense?
Because he is a creator of schlop and is a hack, so therefore the plotline must be schlop and reflect his hackiness. I also honestly could have cared less if any of the characters died. In fact, I hoped they would, because by that point, I hated them all. I also had heard that Rand was going to hook up with Min and Elayne and have a three way relationship later on that both girls were perfectly all right with. Robert Jordan must be living vicariously through Rand or something. What a piece of crap.

Plot summaries are available elsewhere. What seems notable to me about this book and series is that each volume is like an episode in an old-time serial: it is truly one long story, not a string of sequels. I am continually amazed at Jordan's inventiveness, as well as his ability to juggle so many different characters (more are added with each book).

However, he is woefully inadequate as a creator of character. They have a few stock reactions which cover every situation. If you've made it this far in the series, you're probably sick-unto-death of everyone, absolutely everyone, muttering under their breath. Women all "sniff" to show disapproval. They endlessly smooth their skirts. They blush at the slightest suggestion or thought of sex. Nynaeve yanks on her braid until you want to scream, "just cut the damned thing off, already!" Men and women misinterpret each others' motives over and over again. Women think, "Men always . . ." and men think, "Women always . . . " Rand, Mat and Perrin each think the other two are smooth ladies' men. The universal epithet is "wool-headed." Emotions are seldom subtle or moderate; usually as broad as in a cartoon or children's story. Every woman treats every man as if he were a little boy in need of a spanking; men find all women unfathomably mysterious. (How Jordan slipped up and allowed Perrin and Faile to find each other and get married is a REAL mystery!)

How Jordan manages to make the lives and adventures of these cardboard cutouts so interesting deserves a spot on "Unsolved Mysteries." Yet, somehow he does.