Finished book 6, slowly but surely. At this rate I'm not going to have caught up by the time the new one is out! See book 1 for longer review. ( )

The reread before the release of book 12.1 continues. That the Gathering Storm being the first of an ending trilogy of books did not bother at the time they announced this fact. But now as I continue to read and see how Jordan has had to throw in so many elements to stretch things to these books, it has made me unappreciative of so many books.

There was a good pace in the early books and the format we come to expect, hero that is reluctant to take on such an onerous task, gains the skills to handle it, then takes in on, seemed to be followed quite well. Time frame wise we now run into issues.

Jordan wants to move his people all over his map that originally took half a year to transverse. There were his ideas to circumvent this, first the Ways, then portal stones, and now he can just open up holes and take entire people thousands of miles in a blink. But those long distances served another good balance, it caused the timeline to slow. All these subplots could develop because weeks and months were passing.

That allowed the climax that is approaching to have more depth, to have more elements. Now we have in Lord of Chaos, again a book that the previous few could have led us to a conclusion of the story, so many elements that the story needs to be revaluated and since it was not planned from the beginning, we have problems.

The illuminator Alludra and her not recognizing Thom whom they had met when her life was about to be snuffed out, is now explained in an elegant way. Someone, probably thousands of someones let Jordan know he had muffed it. Somewhere along the line, Jordan began to get full time assistants to help with the story. My understanding is there were 2 at one time, and his wife, and the editors at TOR.

Jordan began to make things so complex with so many characters (something like 1800 now) that keeping track of it must have been difficult, but it seems clear now that we have gotten to another book where he could have brought us to an end, and instead holds us off, with so much that it is clear book 7 won't finish it either. Jordan has fallen into a pit. He is going to be writing and then have an inspiration, well if I were this character in book three, and all these things I have been writing about were happening in the world, then this thing that I had never thought of before must also be happening.

Here is what is wrong with that. We see good keep maneuvering, and doing things to get their houses in order for the big battle. But evil isn't really concerned. Oh a few lieutenants of the head number one bad guy (The Dark One) are carefully fighting each other, and fighting our heroes every so often. But why is there not a Saruman making Uruk Hai armies to spring on the millions of human troops that are being united.

Why are not the Trolloc and Myrdrall warriors skirmishing more and more to be ready for the fight, instead of just a few little attacks, that never succeed here and there. Why not use the opportunities that come the way of the lieutenants to snuff out Rand's friends, as Rand has killed several of the Forsaken when he could. Rand must be at the last battle, but the others need not, if you were evil, you would feel that.

So Jordan has opened up the door too wide. There are too many things that he wants to tell in a short time as if every day is a crescendo to the climax. It of course is still great when read all in context. But you have to think that if he had sat down to dissect the plot of his entire arc, he would have known that the world he set up, would not be turning out the way he was writing it. ( )

The reread before the release of book 12.1 continues. That the Gathering Storm being the first of an ending trilogy of books did not bother at the time they announced this fact. But now as I continue to read and see how Jordan has had to throw in so many elements to stretch things to these books, it has made me unappreciative of so many books.

There was a good pace in the early books and the format we come to expect, hero that is reluctant to take on such an onerous task, gains the skills to handle it, then takes in on, seemed to be followed quite well. Time frame wise we now run into issues.

Jordan wants to move his people all over his map that originally took half a year to transverse. There were his ideas to circumvent this, first the Ways, then portal stones, and now he can just open up holes and take entire people thousands of miles in a blink. But those long distances served another good balance, it caused the timeline to slow. All these subplots could develop because weeks and months were passing.

That allowed the climax that is approaching to have more depth, to have more elements. Now we have in Lord of Chaos, again a book that the previous few could have led us to a conclusion of the story, so many elements that the story needs to be revaluated and since it was not planned from the beginning, we have problems.

The illuminator Alludra and her not recognizing Thom whom they had met when her life was about to be snuffed out, is now explained in an elegant way. Someone, probably thousands of someones let Jordan know he had muffed it. Somewhere along the line, Jordan began to get full time assistants to help with the story. My understanding is there were 2 at one time, and his wife, and the editors at TOR.

Jordan began to make things so complex with so many characters (something like 1800 now) that keeping track of it must have been difficult, but it seems clear now that we have gotten to another book where he could have brought us to an end, and instead holds us off, with so much that it is clear book 7 won't finish it either. Jordan has fallen into a pit. He is going to be writing and then have an inspiration, well if I were this character in book three, and all these things I have been writing about were happening in the world, then this thing that I had never thought of before must also be happening.

Here is what is wrong with that. We see good keep maneuvering, and doing things to get their houses in order for the big battle. But evil isn't really concerned. Oh a few lieutenants of the head number one bad guy (The Dark One) are carefully fighting each other, and fighting our heroes every so often. But why is there not a Saruman making Uruk Hai armies to spring on the millions of human troops that are being united.

Why are not the Trolloc and Myrdrall warriors skirmishing more and more to be ready for the fight, instead of just a few little attacks, that never succeed here and there. Why not use the opportunities that come the way of the lieutenants to snuff out Rand's friends, as Rand has killed several of the Forsaken when he could. Rand must be at the last battle, but the others need not, if you were evil, you would feel that.

So Jordan has opened up the door too wide. There are too many things that he wants to tell in a short time as if every day is a crescendo to the climax. It of course is still great when read all in context. But you have to think that if he had sat down to dissect the plot of his entire arc, he would have known that the world he set up, would not be turning out the way he was writing it. ( )

This isn't my favourite book in the series, but it is still one of the best Ive read so far. There were a few surprises in it and some interesting character developments. Jordan's ability to create battle scenes is stunning to say the least. He does a great job at making an epic and powerful battle, without disrupting the characters traits or plot lines. Some of the characters grow in this book, other continue to annoy you. (When/if you read the series, you'll understand. Some character's have this relative traits that really bug the hell out of you, and it happens in almost every chapter that character is in). One thing tis series has is strong women, and women who have a lot of influence and power. Men of course do to, but the women seem to be able to have a role reversal in many instances in the book. The series does slow down in this book, and I hear that it slows down even more in the books to come. But Robert Jordan does a fantastic job at creating this world, including some character's you can't get enough of. (Perrin is definitely one of my favourites!)

Review on my blog as well: http://juliebooks.blogspot.com/2008/0... ( )

Another mediocre entry in the Wheel of Time series. Standing out only for having a genuinely powerful ending, ( )

Book 6 in the Wheel of Time series. This is re-read, and I listened to it in audiobook form while at work.

Rand has temporarily taken control of Caemlyn and has sent Mat to retrieve Elayne from the rebel Aes Sedai camp Salidar. When Mat gets there he realizes that not only have Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve been raised to full Aes Sedai, but that Egwene has been raised to Amyrlin Seat!

Perrin returns to Rand with a band of Emonds Field men. And has to help rescue Rand after he lets himself be kidnapped and shielded by a group of Elaida's Aes Sedai.

Rand breaks loose from his shielding during a battle at Dumai's Wells and the rebel Aes Sedai that had helped Rand were forced to swear fealty to Rand.

Big stuff!! ( )

While I enjoyed this book, I wasn't quite as enamored of it as I was of the first five. Perhaps this is because I moved across the country while reading this book so I wasn't as concentrated on reading huge chunks at a time as I was with the previous books, but I think that it was really to do with the fact that this book is much slower than the previous ones. It reminded me a lot of "Pride and Prejudice" in that there was a lot of setup, talking, and politics, but not much action to back it up, and it somewhat made me think that Jordan was just filling his books with rubbish so he could make the series ever-longer and ever-more-profitable. However, the ending to the book was quite up to the par of the previous novels and very nearly made up for the slowness of the middle section.

One thing that really irked me throughout the book is how unlikable many of the main characters have become. I think Perrin is one of the few that doesn't drive me up the wall with his choices and ridiculous judgments of everyone else he is involved with. Elayne and Nynaeve alternate between being sympathetic and insufferable, Mat is pig-headed and thinks he is perfect and everyone else is in the wrong, Min changes from being a likeable tomboy into a little girl that fawns over the boy she likes with absolutely no shame, and Faile nearly destroys her marriage to Perrin over a perceived affair that she will never even bloody well talk about. I understand the changes in Egwene and Rand, given their stature in the story, but Rand is hardly sympathetic when he is ordering Shaido to be blown up while he internally argues with a madman; Egwene, on the other hand, is at least a little less irritating than in the previous book, since she finally shows her human and slightly vulnerable side. I just wish that Jordan could find his way to Tarmon Gai'don without making me hate every main character in the process; surely there were enough good traits in them in the first few books that could be brought out instead. ( )

The 6th book in Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series, Lord of Chaos is the last book before this series begins to decline (although it is seemingly redeemed in Book 11). This book has one of the greatest battle scenes I've ever read in the Battle of Dumai's Wells. I've sat and read that part out loud to myself several times and each time it sends chills down my spine. This book is worth reading solely for the delivery of the line: "Kneel...or you will be knelt." ( )

This is the 6th book in the Wheel of Time series, Lord of Chaos, and several months have passed since the end of 5th book, The Fires of Heaven and it is now nearing winter or what should be winter but the land is going through an unnatural heat wave (in which many characters suspect is the Dark One's doing). Almost 2 years have passed since The Eye of the World.

The Lord of Chaos can be slow-going, there isn't much action (not until the very end), but there is a lot going on with the various characters. Rand gets the most page time in this book, as well as Egwene, with portions told from Nynaeve & Elayne's viewpoint, as well as more page time devoted to some of the Forsaken. Mat and Perrin are given some chapters devoted to them, but not much.

At the end of The Fires of Heaven, Rand has conquered two nations, Nynaeve has captured one of the Forsaken, Moghedien and both Nynaeve & Elayne have found the gathering place of the rebel Aes Sedai, and Moiraine perished with one of the Forsaken Lanfear (or did she?).

In Lord of Chaos, Rand divides his time between the 2 nations he conquered and dealing with the politics that come with it, Nynaeve & Elayne make strides in the One Power and discover an object that could alleviate the weather problems facing the world and head off to Ebou Dar to find it, Egwene is summoned to Salidar, where the rebel Aes Sedai are gathered, and Mat now is commander and general of a unit of soldiers called the Band of the Red Hand.

Throughout the previous book, Rand had glimpses of a past life and memories of a man more than 3,000 years dead, a man that was called Lews Therin, the Dragon. In Lord of Chaos, this manifests as a "voice" inside Rand's head and he struggles with his approaching insanity that comes with wielding saidin, the tainted half of the True Source. Of course, Rand believes this voice is a separate person from himself, but well there are all sorts of theories out there on Rand's sanity. IMO, it is a symptom of touching and wielding tainted saidin.

I feel Lord of Chaos is a turning point for Rand in how he will view all female Aes Sedai from now and into the later books. Rand has never been very trusting of Aes Sedai, but after an event that occurs in this book toward the end, any inkling of trust he may have had has disappeared. In fact, I think he has more hatred and contempt for the Aes Sedai in this book than he has had in previous books. To counter the female channelers, he forms a school devoted to gathering and training male channelers. A false Dragon named Mazrim Taim is given the task of over-seeing the school, and Rand distrusts him immensely (there are also theories on Taim as well, but that is a discussion for later books).

Egwene continues to become more Aes Sedai and I think this character also reaches an important turning point here. She becomes something "more" in this book, and you get a glimpse of Egwene in transition, but you can be sure in the later books she becomes more confident of herself and her position. Besides Rand, Mat, and Perrin I think she is the next most significant character in the series.

Even more so than the previous book, you get more page time devoted to some of the other Forsaken we haven't seen as much, such as Sammael and Graendal. You also learn that 2 Forsaken previously thought dead have been given new life by the Dark One, and no one knows they are alive, not even the other Forsaken as they have been given new bodies. I found it very interesting to read the schemes and intrigues each Forsaken used against the other. Although they all are loosely allied, in that they are all against Rand, they continue to plot against each other because there will be only one that will stand below the Dark One when he breaks free from his prison. And all the remaining Forsaken want the job.

Anyways, from reading the various viewpoints of the Forsaken, it was obvious they were getting conflicting orders from the Dark One on what their orders were in the world in combatting Rand and his allies, and you as the reader are privy to it all. The Dark One enjoys pitting his underlings against the other, and so it made sense in a way they'd squabble, but yet were still able to fulfill their orders. You see more of the work of the Dark One's hand in affairs of the world in creating the chaos (title of the book, Lord of Chaos, some believe the title refers to Rand, others to the chaos the Dark One creates) that is supposed to keep the forces of Light divided so as not to present a unified front of strength to oppose him in the Last Battle. Basically, he's trying to make it as difficult as possible for Rand to gather the people of the world together. So he gets his agents, the Forsaken and other strategically placed Darkfriends to counter Rand.

Like I said before, this book has a lot of events occurring and can be slow-moving, and I have only mentioned a small portion of the whole of this book.LOL. I still enjoyed this book despite the slow pace. If you've reached this far, you still have a long way to go. The next book after this one is A Crown of Swords. ( )

My Bookspotcentral review ( )

This was the slowest of the ones I've read so far. Rand jumps between cities, plotting a sneak attack on Sammael, while balancing the various political interests and building up his own army. ( )

It wasn't as interesting action-wise as hte last five; mostly politics; slightly confusing ( )

See The Eye of the World.

Lord of Chaos is the 6th book in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I Enjoyed this book as I've enjoyed all of them.

This book mostly followed Rand as he bounced back and forth between Cahrien and Camlyn. Both sides of the tower are courting Rand to join thier camp. Matt's participation in the book is fairly small this time around. Perin finally meets Faile's parents. Taim never seems to know how close to death he rides with Al'Thor. Egwane Al'Vere shows everyone what's shes got and has a few tricks up her sleeve to show around. Elayne and Nyneave want and need to quest after a special Ter'angreal to fix the weather.

The knots are still being tied in this epic tapestry but the final picture has a long way to go. ( )

This series is one you either lover or hate:

I rank this series as one of the best I have ever read. This is the 6th book in the series by Robert Jordan. It is the tale of Rand Al'Thor, farmer turned hero, and his band of friends as they are out to unite the world for the final battle Tarmon Gai'don against the Dark Lord or perhaps Rand Al'Thor himself. That is up for speculation.

In this episode Rand is working to tighten his control on the nations under his rule while the Aes Sedai form a master plot against him and each other in the tower. Rand is threatened by Forsaken, Nynaeve is separated from Lan, Aviendha is often separated from Rand (as is Elayne), and Faile shows up late in the book.

The story jumps between the views of each of the main characters in the story and several startling twists are reveled in this installment of the story, so be sure to read the first 5 books in order to understand all that is going on.

Many of the characters mature greatly in this novel and you see a deepening of the ties, but it does have alot of repetition from the first four books. I think this is mainly to help you keep the characters apart and it has several plot lines which as you jump between them it is easy to get confused and get frustrated because it feels as if the story is going no where but hold in for the last 100 pages.. that is where it always gets good.

This book gets a 7/10...just because it is a bit long on the filler :)

Still a great series check it out.

The Dark Lord guy stirs the pot a bit.

Rand also gets fed up with the sexist sorceresses and says, hey, you blokes can do magic too if you can, and establishes his own band of magic wielders with Mazrim Taim to lead them.

The females get upset at this threat to their power, and come after Rand.

Yet another power base, that of the army of religious fanatics also comes more into play.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/04... ( )

book 6 Starts out great and ends great! the middle was too slow, and too divided as we try and keep track of everyone, it's about 6 strong stories now... ( )

The ending in this book left me speechless! ( )

So intriguing a series that I'm still reading after 8 books.

In the grotesquely long Wheel of Time series, there are books that stand out from the rest. This, in my opinion, was one of them. ( )