"Wheel of Time" series... any good?

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@Old Raven Yes, I'll take disagreements for £10 please and contradiction for £20... I seriously doubt I would get that involved to start throwing quotes around, I'd probably just send some Aiel around for a chat

@Klorox my advice would be go to a library borrow the first 3 books and decide for yourself.

 

i read the first of the prequel trilogy,then couldn't find the other 2.then i got the first book.i enjoyed both of them.i think they are very good.of course,i'm very early in the series.we'll see how i feel as i get further into it

 

I think the Wheel of Time is one of the sadest series I've ever tried to read (I've tried twice now, the first time I folded during book three, the second time I got somewhere in volume 5).

The series have a variety of problems IMO, but the biggest one is the total lack of believable characters; which is horribly accentuated by the utter lack of character development, and topped of by the intensely unsatisfying male/female relationships. The lack of emotional complexity and depth is simply staggering, for a 10+ book series.

Ah, and add to this a complete lack of plot and exitement, and you have a completely horrible piece of litterature.

 

Personally I like the series, although since book six (given the length of time between publications) I have found that it nigh impossible to remember the story-lines without re-reading the earlier ones.
Thus, I haven't read the most recent book and probably won't read the series again until it is completed.
However, I do agree that the personal interactions are crap, and my personal bugbear is Jordan bringing back deceased characters - he seems to be spinning the series out just to acheive the extra books. It could (and should) have been finished earlier.

Dragon3 - the other two prequels haven't been released (written?) yet.

 

Long story short, IMO...Jordan needs to take a few pointers from George RR Martin about what goes into a superb fantasy series...

 

My opinion.........

Robert Jordan is too erratic. We have all heard of the continuity errors that came about in the first 5 books. He takes too long between books as well. Two years between books is too long when the story-line is as complicated as this one is. I also find that after book 3, the series becomes pretty much hit and miss in quality, it seems every other book is readable. The only redeeming quality about Jordan is that he takes the time to make the villians three dimensional. Too many authors stick a villian in there simply to have the heroes do something.

My two bits.
Mike