Rating: 
Summary: Jordan's Wheel Keeps Turning
Review: After surviving the disappointment of "The Dragon Reborn", the Wheel of Time series has definitely regained its lost momentum and the series continues to get better with each book.This book has been my favorite of the series so far. Jordan builds on the momentum he captured in book four ("The Shadow Rising"), and the storyline and character development continue in TFOH. As for the main characters, each is facing new and exciting challenges in this book. Rand is still dealing with the realization that he is The Dragon Reborn. He has rallied the Aiel clan chiefs in a massive battle against the rebel Aiel chief Couladin, who claims that he is the true Dragon Reborn. Couladin and his followers, the Shaido, meet the fury of Rand and the rest of the Aiel in a decisive and climactic battle. Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve continue their pursuit of the Black Ajah. Word has reached them that Siuan Sanche has been overthrown and stilled by Eladia. The three have also learned that a group of Aes Sedai has decided to try to overthrow Eladia and reclaim the White Tower. Mat, Lan, and Moiraine continue to travel with Rand. Mat distinguishes himself in the battle with the Shaido by beheading Couladin. Moiraine has decided to become more yielding to Rand, but this turns into disaster at the end of the book. This book is the best of the series so far in my opinion. The storyline and character development is very good, and the plot keeps the reader interested throughout the book. The last 200 pages of the book are some of Jordan's best work. The ending of the book is a true cliffhanger and will leave the reader wondering what will happen next. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Hopefully, it will be as good as this one.
Rating: 
Summary: The road goes ever on (and on and on and on...)
Review: As this is not a new book, there are many reviews published here on Amazon. The great majority of the reviews are correct in making the same point: this story is much too long.
The Fires of Heaven is the fifth book of this series. There are currently ten in the series, plus a prequel -- and the story isn't done yet. There must be close to 9000 pages of "Wheel of Time" books published -- and the story isn't done yet. There must be 50 or 100 separate characters running around the stories (often with similar names, to confuse the reader) -- and the story isn't done yet. There are dozens of different plot lines floating around and confusing each other -- and the story isn't done yet. To make a comparison, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings ran 1350 pages without the appendices, and that is considered a long story. The length of this story is far beyond ridiculous.
I also agree with many of the reviewers that Jordan's female characters -- not only the more famous named characters, but innumerable Aes Sedai, "Wise Ones," "Maidens of the Spear," and so forth -- act like teen-agers afflicted with permanent PMS. It gets far beyond tiring to read the thousandth description of how stupid they think men are, etc., etc., ad nauseam. The series could have really been improved if a couple of these offensive little twits could have gone bad. Then there would have been real reason for their incessant squabbling and bickering, and maybe they could have wasted each other and we would be done with them. But the bickering and whining continue, with no end in sight. If the story were of reasonable length, maybe this approach to female characters would be endurable; but after several thousand pages of this, it gets far more than tiring.
Jordan also over-uses the plot device of having characters appear to die, or actually die, and then somehow come back. Tolkien used this device once (with Gandalf). Jordan uses it with several characters in this volume alone. This is bad writing for two reasons: first, it reduces the finality and horror of death, and thus cheapens it; and second, it confuses the reader mightily -- is this character really gone, or not? One of the major characters of the story up to this point dies in this volume. But does she? So many other characters have come back; maybe she will, too. So what's the big deal about dying?
Perhaps most importantly, Jordan makes the great fantasy error of making magic too powerful. In a previous volume the hero, Rand, got his hands on a magic sword that could blow up entire cities. After this, Jordan must have realized that putting such power in the hands of his hero would ruin the story -- makes things too easy -- so the hero took this superweapon, stuck it in the floor, and left it. While that idiotic behavior is rationalized in the story, the least bit of common sense says that he would keep this weapon, use it to slaughter all the bad guys, and bring the story to a quick end. But that would keep Jordan from selling another zillion books, so the weapon gets left behind and is not used in this volume. Even so, the hero's magical power is so great that he apparently can just zap uncounted bad guys into nothingness. If so, just why he spends this volume building a military coalition to fight wars is beyond any reason. This is important because even as a stand-alone book, apart from the endless series of which it is a part, this book has a plot that does not make much sense.
When Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings, he wrote the entire work, and then re-wrote and edited it completely, so that the entire story held together. Jordan instead started with a single book -- The Eye of the World -- which was written so that it could clearly have stood alone. But because the first book sold well, Jordan seemingly dedicated his life to grinding out more and more Wheel of Time books. Since they kept selling, he kept grinding, with more and more characters, more and more plot twists, more and more endless verbiage. This book is a too-long part of an endlessly-long series. It is readable for those that like fantasy, but as literature, it scarcely rises above garbage. I give it two stars because I have actually read worse, and one star is the lowest score you can give. So I suppose it rates more than one star; but it is not a good book.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing story.
Review: I am rereading the series for the umpteenth time, in anticipation of reading "The Path of Daggers." I just finished TFOH. It seems each book in the series is better than its predecessor. Unlike Knight Michaels, who writes nearby, I found a lot of character growth in the book. And, I don't see what he means by his comment about "...murdering characters...." In TFOH, we see a lot of Rand. He emerges as a complex person. He seems somehow to fully understand that almost everybody wants to kill him or to use him for their own purposes, whether or not it helps the cause. He's the only one who has a holistic view about the nature of the conflict. He hardens himself like iron, using and commanding whole nations against his own nature. And yet, three pretty girls can put him through agonies of uncertainty and self-doubting. Prior to this book, we knew little about Elayne. Sure, she's a spoiled brat. She's also delightfully spunky and adventurous, and she too is learning how to deal with smart, energetic people like Thom Merrilin in a way that will help her become a ruler. Nynaeve has a ton of conflicts gnawing at her - her relationship with Lan, her feelings about Aes Sedai and Moiraine, being challenged by Egwene, etc. The stable, quiet world in which she lived for 25 years has been replaced by a maelstrom of currents, and she's having a hard time coping. But, she's tough as nails and fierce as a tigress, and she's a heavyweight with the One Power. The scenes with her and Moghedien in the Royal Palace are absolutely riveting. Mat continues his march to becoming my own favorite character. He would take the easy way out in every situation, but The Wheel won't let him. He is a reluctant hero at best. We see his powers growing in stages, and at each stage he surprises with his capability. Rand sees it too, and tests it and exploits it as he can. The scenes in the battle with the Shaido are gripping. As far as the general relations between men and women - hey, that's pretty much on target. That's why that other book about Mars and Venus was an all-time best seller. Let me introduce you to my half-dozen sisters-in-law sometime. They make Aes Sedai look like Brownies. They even sniff at stupid men just as do Jordan's women; and we men employ that same look that Thom and Juilin use when being put upon by Nynaeve or any others. Anyway, by the time this book is ended, all sorts of momentous and exciting things have happened. It's a delightful and essential building block in this epic series. Finally, keep in mind two things. First, only about two years have passed since Rand and gang, who except for Nynaeve were all teenagers, were routed out of the Two Rivers at the start of the series. The character changes they show seem reasonable to me. Second, those who suppose that Jordan is dragging this out to extort more money out of us: think a minute. Think about placing yourself behind a typewriter 8 to 12 hours a day, day in and day out, for YEARS on end. Think about devoting your life to pleasing all sorts of unappreciative people - for however long it takes to finish the stories. I'll be happy to pay $25 or whatever pittance he asks each year or two for as long as it takes to resolve this great story.
Rating: 
Summary: Where I ran out of steam
Review: I bought the first book "The Eye of the World " with a bookstore gift voucher, knowing nothing about the series except that it had a prominent place in the fantasy section and looked like a popular series. Turned out to be a good decision, as "The Eye of the World" and the next two Wheel of Time books I purchased with the rest of the voucher were all top-notch fantasy, set in a world equal the best of them. However things started to go wrong around book four (using my own money now), after Rand got to Rhuidean the whole dynamic was off, I could tell something wasn't right. I got through the book anyways, despite the magic having gone and reading the Wheel of Time becoming more of a chore than a pleasure.
By book five when a good deal of the book concerned the adventures of non-essential characters running away from another even more non-essential character, "The Fires of Heaven" went for longer and longer periods without being read. By the time I checked on here and found out that old Perrin Aybara wasn't even in it, and rest of the series had less and less to do with the core characters, I had completely lost momentum. "The Fires of Heaven" has been taking up bookshelf space ever since. I think the first 3 books belong in any fantasy readers collection, and it's probably best to read the first 4 and stop there.
Rating:
Summary: Where I ran out of steam
Review: I bought the first book "The Eye of the World " with a bookstore gift voucher, knowing nothing about the series except that it had a prominent place in the fantasy section and looked like a popular series. Turned out to be a good decision, as "The Eye of the World" and the next two Wheel of Time books I purchased with the rest of the voucher were all top-notch fantasy, set in a world equal the best of them. However things started to go wrong around book four (using my own money now), after Rand got to Rhuidean the whole dynamic was off, I could tell something wasn't right. I got through the book anyways, despite the magic having gone and reading the Wheel of Time becoming more of a chore than a pleasure.
By book five when a good deal of the book concerned the adventures of non-essential characters running away from another even more non-essential character, "The Fires of Heaven" went for longer and longer periods without being read. By the time I checked on here and found out that old Perrin Aybara wasn't even in it, and rest of the series had less and less to do with the core characters, I had completely lost momentum. "The Fires of Heaven" has been taking up bookshelf space ever since. I think the first 3 books belong in any fantasy readers collection, and it's probably best to read the first 4 and stop there.
Rating:
Summary: Droning on...
Review: I just started the series last week, and I'm on number five. I've really enjoyed these books, but I have some problems. Everyone else has commented on the amount of description, so I can skip that. Starting in book 3 or so, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Egwene merge into the same character. Without the context you couldn't tell which character you are reading about. They act exactly the same. It's very frustrating. Was I the only one who noticed that Nynaeve's obsession with pulling her braid came in the middle of book 2, and not book 1? All the "habits" of characters have evolved along the way. However, my biggest problem would be this obsession with "Women's Circle" or the constant berating of men. I'm a girl, and we aren't always that derogatory of men. I'm getting to the point where I dread the girls perspective because we have to listen to 3 pages berating men, and then the plot continues. However, if we listen to Rand we get his little temper tantrums and lessons on Aeil customs. But if we switch to Mat we hear about how much he hates being ta'veren. These are my biggest problem. And traveling. Can't they just arrive somewhere and stick with it? I do really enjoy the series, and hopefully he'll be able to smooth out some of these problems.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible adventure.
Review: I loved/enjoyed every moment of it. Story so vividly told as the other previous books. Twists in plots so clever! Character development was extremely pleasant for me, enough to feel loss when some particular minor (or main for this volume) character(s) were killed off the Wheel. A treasure.
Rating:
Summary: Read it once, will read it again
Review: Last time I read this book, it was a while ago, but at the moment, I am nearly half way re-reading, I've nearly finish 4, and about to reenter five. With what i remember, it was fantastic as it all is. More introductio to the Aiel culture, so on...the thing is i can not remember many details, but don't worry, will read it and update!!!
Rating: 
Summary: The Fires of Heaven
Review: Rand Al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn, He Who Comes with Dawn and possibly the Coramoor of the Sea Folk. He is destined to fight the Dark One in the Last Battle and then Break the World again. In this book The Fires of Heaven, you are with Rand a lot of the time and you see some of his characteristic development. You also read about Aes Sedai who wield the One Power, Darkfriends who serve the Dark One and Forsaken who in the Age of Legends were thirteen of the most powerful Aes Sedai who serve the Dark One and also have some Darkfriends under their command.
This book is a good fantasy novel about a young man with enormous responsibility on his shoulders and he must decide what to do with this power and responsibility that he possesses. He leads battles that get men killed, fights with his friends, orders people around and tries not to get captured in the nets of meddlesome Aes Sedai. This book is not just about Rand it also is about Mat Cauthon who is trying hard to forget what he is and has become, Egwene who is learning to become a Dreamer, Nynaeve and Elayne who are trying to find the hidden Blue Aes Sedai and many other characters who deal with their own problems.
This book is very detailed and descriptive and a very good adventure and fantasy story. I thought it was a very good book even if was a little drawn out in some parts. I think it strayed a little too much from the center of story and included none of Perrin which I was very disappointed about, but overall it was a well written and fun adventure/fantasy story. The characters were very realistic and believable and retain a lot of the characteristics people today, for instance Jordan writes about women never letting a man do what he wants and always convincing him to do what she wants, and how men can never stop women when they set their mind on something. I think it was very funny to read about all the social struggles the characters in the book go through, it was very realistic and entertaining. The theme of this book was courage, Moiraine Sedai showed innumerable amounts of courage when she faced Lanfear knowing that she was going to die, but she did it because she had to, to save the world, if she hadn't the Last Battle wouldn't have happened because Rand would have died. Nynaeve also showed courage when she went into Tel'aran'rhoid even after Moghedien almost killed her in it, if she hadn't conjured up the courage to do this then Rand Al'Thor probably would have been killed by Rahvin. Rand Al'Thor also showed courage by bearing his burdens and did what he had to do eventually and went and faced Rahvin.
I thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of this book even though at times it could be very slow, overall the book was very good if not quite as good as it's predecessors. I would recommend this series and book to anybody who likes a good fantasy novel and has a bit of time to read.
Rating:
Summary: War, Magic, and Turning Points
Review: The Wheel of Time is probably the best-known and most widely read fantasy series other than The Lord of the Rings.
When book one (The Eye of The World) was published in 1988 or 1989, it created a sensation -- a tremendous first volume that had the usual good-evil battle and tons of action but also was filled with magic, history, politics, sociology, cultural background and realistic characters. When I re-read the first five books, I was amazed at the details of history and politics that Jordan provided in his world. Jordan also has numerous protagonists, not just one or two primary ones like many other fantasy writers. Moreover, the series features strong men and, through their magical abilities and powerful personalities, stronger women. Jordan has been rightly lauded for the prominent and powerful roles he created for the female characters. The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven followed and created a tremendous series such that The New York Times noted that Jordan had come to dominate the genre that Tolkien made famous. The Fires of Heaven is the most action-packed book of the series, with few dull moments and an explosive ending. The various protagonists continue their development, especially Mat (as a war commander) and Egwene. Rand continues to be pulled in many directions, but needs some help from his allies to survive. Nonetheless, this book is NOT a preview of things to come -- The Fires of Heaven's plot twists near the end (especially the most important one that would be a HUGE spoiler) are barely examined in books 6-9. Unfortunately, starting with Lord of Chaos (book 6), Jordan's creation became unwieldy. Instead of concentrating on following the themes and story-threads of books 1-5 (which combined are more than 3500 pages, hardcover), he created new storylines, bogged down the narrative and halted the pace of the epic. Book 8 in particular is an unmitigated disaster -- 650 pages (hardcover) with almost no progress to the story. Book 9 began to jump-start the narrative once again. The series is at 10 books (the tenth will be published in January 2003) and growing (13 total possible -- it's a common numerical theme in the books), thus the last volume will be published in 2006, at the earliest. Other than the final chapters of Lord of Chaos (book 6), this is the last of the good WoT books published to date. The Fires of Heaven is the blood-and-guts installment -- it has the highest body count, much war, scheming, conquest, hunting the evildoers, a couple of surprises and a fiery finish (hence the name). By the time you read this volume, you will most likely be addicted to the series as a whole; but if you hadn't made it this far, be forewarned that the pace, storyline, action and development slow down considerably in books 6-8.
|
