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Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, Book 9)
Just because some of us are disenchanted with these books is no reason to insult folks.WOT was a fabulous story, WAS, IMHO it as become bogged down by it's negative sterotype behavior of the characters.I was re-reading all the books before I got to book 9 so it isn't from a lack of memory that I say this as some reviewers would assume.I've read a lot of multiple book series and the one thing that always turns me off from a book is when the main charaters become so unsympathetic that I want the bad guys to win. That is where this series is headed at this point. I only hope RJ pulls it out of that rut by book 10 or I may never read his stuff again!That is my humble opinion. If you still like it, I am happy for you, but don't tell me I have no right to disagree with you.
Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, Book 9)
I have been a fan of the WOT series for abour 3 years now, and when i first started reading them i was just amazed by the depth of the books and the sheer volume. Unfortunatley the most recent books in the series "Path of Daggers" and "Winter's Heart" have been let downs.In the previous books, each book covered a good amount of time, and had a predictable rotation between the three main characters. In "Winter's Heart" the book seems to cover less than a month, and it has so many characters and events being refered to that i found myself wishing i had all the other books so that i could cross reference names, locations and events. This book degenerates from boring to worse, after a lame introduction it goes on for 500 pages of "who cares?" material. Twords the end, there finnaly is a conflict revealed, and action happens, but it is very empty compared to the previous book's action points. By the end of the book i was rather exhausted, and allthough there are some interessting events being foreshadowed for the next book, i really dont know if i want to bother buying it, after such a boring book as this.
Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, Book 9)
Talk about a wordy waste of paper. RJ has contracted Stephen King Syndrome - make 3 pages of babble where 1 paragraph of literature would do. Seriously, the plot slows down even more than before. There is more plot movement in any 2 chapters of the first 3 books than in this entire volume. RJ must be paid by the word and Tor is trying to make this series go on forever. Don't get me wrong, I like the story, but it could have been done in 4 books, and done well. But Jordan/Tor have decided to milk this out and make it a lifetime project. Don't waste your money buying this book now - wait for the next book and buy THIS book at the used book store for 99 cents. If you don't die of old age waiting first.
Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, Book 9)
I have got to agree with the zillion reviewers who find themselves confused over the many, many charactors, minor plot lines, politics and so forth of the WOT. The overall concept is good, the basics are solid and interesting enough to keep a reader coming back, but there is plenty of over-kill in this series.One reviewer wondered why people complain about too many charactors and why can't these folks use the internet to find out who is who? Well, simply put, they CAN. The real question is, why SHOULD they? Yes, there are very good web sites out there listing who is who in WOT. But geez, do I want to run to my computer every time an unremembered name comes up? Especially since this happens often -- and I read the series back to back twice! Get real. Checking out charactors on the internet in order to be able to go on reading the book(s) is stupid. It breaks up the story and, other than satisfying curiousity, serves no purpose. The complaint people have is not that they can't find out who is who, but that they need to do it in the first place.I think, as do many others, that Jordan has let this series get away from him and now he is rambling on in a holding pattern. This book did advance the plot somewhat but there still seems to be a long way to go. How many more books will there be? And how long do we wait for them? I like reading a nice, thick book but at least let there be some movement to the series! Let's ease up on the rhetoric, the constant bits about smoothing skirts, pulling braids, etc. Let's get past the blue fingernails and all the myriad fashions and get to the Final Battle! Hopefully before Rand gets to be an old, old man -- along with three wives and a million kids!
Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, Book 9)
My heart sank when it arrived - the paralyzingly dull Perrin on the cover did not bode well. Jordan's least successful (but obviously most impressive to him) invention, Daes Daemar, doesn't get balefired out of plotline like it deserves. Egwene is practically non-existent. But...... this book ACTUALLY ADVANCES THE PLOT. Rand does something, rather than react. Mat's back. Nynaeve's no longer a witless ninny. The Chosen actually show up and deliver more than massages to the Amyrlin(s).Perrin & Faile are on too many pages, but all in all, a very welcome improvement over PoD. Yeah, I'm glad I shelled out for it.
Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, Book 9)
Look at it as one story, not individual books.I understand that many people are upset because the story seems to stretch further and further with each book without much overall progress .I am assuming that most readers who are 'tired' of this series are simply tired of waiting for progress to occur , and when a new book comes out every two years, there are so many plot line s to address that not much progress seems take place. Winter's Heart does something good about that.Each of Books 1 and 2 can work as a perfect stand alone story. But starting with Book three you simply need the previous and the later books to make sense of the 'madness'.I read all 9 books within the last two months. Books 1 through 5 resolved a great deal of the plot lines initiated in the beginning of the each book. But with book 6 (Lord of Chaos), the pattern of leaving a story hanging in mid air started, although book 6 by itself was only 2nd best to The Great Hunt in the whole series.Books 7 and 8 did not progress the story much, but having read them within days of reading the previous books, it is very clear that they are very important to the series, even though they did not cover many areas readers wanted covered.Book 9, Winter's Heart, finally ties most of the plot lines together, and resolves some major conflicts in the series, as well as introduce others. Consolidation is what it does best.Mat meets his Daughter of the Nine Moons and settles some unfinished business. Other characters come to him that three or four plot lines have now been consolidated into one, with Mat heading it.Perrin is up to the same thing. Even though he did not depart from the camp in the book, Jordan managed to consolidate some 5 or 6 plot lines into one by uniting the plot lines of the Prophet, Morgase, Falcon and Hawk, the Shaido, and the White Cloaks.Rand not only manages to settle down his harem's business but also fulfills some of the prophecies of the earlier books and strikes his most stunning victory in the series. Not even the fallen Stone or Callandor or Rhuidean come close to what he did in Book 9.There are many other sub plots that were either resolved or consolidated. Winter's Heart does an excellent job at consolidating plot lines. It is clear where every character stands, we have far fewer plot lines going on now, and some major problems out of the way.It is clear now, as book 9 ends, that we have fewer plot lines to follow, and most characters know about things they should have known about along time ago. Which is something I always hated about the characters, everyone is keeping secrets that would make everyone's life easier have they revealed some of it.I did a research project about the seires for a class when book 7 came out, I expected the series to total 12 books. But having read all of them now, it is likely that we might end up with 15 books.So, here we go. Excellent Book. Kudos for progress. Kudos for plot line consolidation. I give this book 5 out of 5.