“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. In one Age, called the third age by some, an Age yet to come, an age long pass, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.”
I decided to give a spoiler free breakdown the Wheel of Time series. It is my favorite High Fantasy…well actually favorite book series of any genre. “The main series consists of fourteen books and a prequel. The books are written from different points of view (POVs). The series has 147 unique POVs and 1,379 total POVs, including the prequel, New Spring” source Statistical analysis | A Wheel of Time Wiki | Fandom. The author is Robert Jordan though his real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr. who unfortunately died well before his time. In fact, he did not even get to finish his series. He left the outline of the ending that author Brandon Sanderson used to finish the last three books. To me the series is imperfectly perfect.
What new readers need to understand before they get into book 1 “The Eye of the World” are the similarities to Tolkien because Jordan was forced to use that template in order to get published. He does have his own spin on things, but his vision doesn’t really take off until book 2 “The Great Hunt”. This is where we divert from a Tolkien format into the unique style of Robert Jordan. Even though Book 1 gives you kind of a fellowship vibe, with a female Gandalf, and an Aragorn type as well; Jordan manages to make them unique especially as the series moves forward. If you think the whole series is going to be a rip-off of the Lord of the Rings; you will be mistaken.
There are mixed reviews on the characters throughout the series. With so many PoVs there is a chance you will not like a character and their chapters. Feelings around characters are all over the place. Pick out any character and I can probably give a summary of why some people hate them and why some love them. With such a lengthy series the characters can change slowly and will aggravate you at times. The nuances may also become lost due to the slow character creation as the story moves forward. I had a character I loved for the first 6 books then bored me for most of the series and vice versa. With so much going on and so many players it’s impossible to avoid this. There are also things about female characters I think Jordan gets wrong and could have been done better as well. Male writers seem to have a tougher time writing women than women do men in my opinion. Even with this in mind my top two favorite characters in the series are powerful women.
The magic system is one I love. I will explain the basics here, but not get too far into it. It’s based on women embracing one side of the True Source called Saidar and men the other side called Saidin. They are channeling the power through them so the term for these individuals are Channelers. Now without Jordan around these days it is hard to say how he would imagine the system working with trans individuals. To me it would make things really more complex and interesting. I broach this topic because it comes up often & not really dealt with in the series. Quite an interesting premise to build magic on gender lines, when those lines are more complex in reality. Moving forward; people who channel can make weaves out of five elements Earth, Spirit, Water, Air, and Fire. Working these weaves has different effects and channelers usually have specialties among the elements. One must also learn different weaves; a person just doesn’t automatically have all magic ability at their fingertips. Both sides of the True Source have different experiences while trying to access them and if one tries to power themselves above their abilities, they can burn out the ability to channel altogether. If you do choose to read the series, there is also an issue with Saidin that has a big impact on this world and how it works.
The lore and world building are fascinating. Literally time works as a wheel, so this takes place in the 3rd age which is essentially a past and future for other ages at the same time. It is an interesting take on creating a world that does not exist in a linear timeframe. This is the same for people. They are never truly gone and can come back into the world anew. Jordan has many influences from cultures around our world for building his world. There are many easter eggs about this idea throughout the series especially in terms of our knowledge and the characters, keep that in mind. Some details are in there for fun and so the reader gets a bigger picture idea of the history and build of the planet this takes place on.
What one has to remember is that the Wheel of Time has been around for around 3 decades now. There is a TV show coming out soon on Amazon Prime. The fanbase is quite passionate and love to meet new readers. However, being that the series has been out for quite some time you must be aware of spoilers. If you wish to talk to other fans and you haven’t finished yet, make sure to let them know this is your first time reading. I say this because the series has huge reread potential because of all the things you miss your first time through. There are tons of foreshadowing and hidden details that will fly right over your head unless you read it again. If you love series with huge reread potential this is definitely at the top of the list.
Some other warnings are the dark themes in this series. There is sexual assault to be aware of, Jordan doesn’t make it explicit and detailed, but it is there for characters to deal with. There is magic that can essentially brainwash people into doing what you want, and unsavory people will use it for what you would imagine they would. One nation uses slavery to build their power. You will get into the head of free people made slaves. There are people who work for the dark one and they do dark things. Good people are dealing with consequences of that and their own mental health issues on top of it. There is much to deal with in a large series dealing with good, evil, and everything in between.
I guess this is where we come back to the series is a huge undertaking. I myself read it nonstop. I couldn’t get enough. Others needed to take breaks because there is a lot of detailed writing to deal with. Jordan loves to detail things such as describing a woman smoothing her skirt to show an emotion. Its ok to take breaks and get back to it. I also recommend not reading the prequel “New Spring” until after book 5 at the earliest, some say read it after book 11, or even after the series in general to revisit the world. There will also be some differences in book 12-14 that were written by Brandon Sanderson. Some say its more noticeable than others. I cannot say how it will affect your experience. It didn’t bother me.
If you decide to read the series that is awesome and feel free to engage me or others on Twitter if you wish. If you choose not to read the series then keep an eye out for the Amazon adaptation coming out or maybe it is already out by the time you read this. Either way I hope this was helpful.