[Dave]

Quote from Agraba:"Now, with Lord of Chaos, most of the things you mentioned are plot advancements that don't exactly put you on the edge and get into the moment, but scratch your chin and say "I wonder what will come of this"."

You know, I dislike being told what I feel about things. I expressed my opinion as my opinion in my post above. I didn't put words in your mouth, don't do it to me, thanks. The scene of Nynaeve healing Logain did put me on the edge of my seat when I first read it - I thought it was very well done. Most of the scenes with the Forsaken, which as I've said I really enjoy, also had me really interested in trying to figure out what was going on. I like that; it's why Erikson is by far my favourite author - I like trying to puzzle things out.

Quote from Agraba: "The only upside to this is that something as unexpected as Rand getting captured happened, and the fact that he's taken out of trouble a hundred pages later just disappoints you a bit."

No, it disappoints you, not me. I loved that whole scene, and thought it was an excellent way to finish an excellent novel.

Quote from Agraba:"I liked the Eye of the World. Rand is the Dragon Reborn; I actually didn't see that coming. And why the hell would anybody? If you ask me, I think that everyone who says they saw it coming really didn't, and are just saying that they did. The whole Eye of the World convinces us that the Dragon Reborn is completely evil, and his arrival will be the doomsday of Earth. Hell, most of the people we meet think that the Dragon will be the Dark One's ultimate servant. So how are we supposed to see that Rand will be the Dragon Reborn?"

I knew from reading the prologue of TEOTW that the central charcter was going to be the Dragon Reborn. I mean, you only have to read so many fantasy or sci-fi novels where the central character ends up being the fulfillment of all sorts of prophecies before realising that if there's prophecy involved, the central character's gonna fulfill it. Don't assume because it wasn't obvious to you that no-one could possibly have seen it coming - and don't imply I'm a liar either. I was about 21 when I started reading TWOT and had been reading fantasy since I was 8. There was very little in TEOTW that I hadn't come across before so far as plot goes. Most people I know who've read it thought the novel pretty ho-hum and that it was as obvious as anything that Rand was going to be the DR. Nothing unusual about that, I'm afraid. OK, you didn't see it, fine, maybe you've not read too much fantasy involving prophecies. I won't say any more because it wouldn't be polite.

[Brys]

You didn't see Rand becoming the Dragon Reborn? I noticed it pretty much as soon as Rand was introduced. I started reading WoT when I was 14 or 15, and I'd only been reading fantasy properly for a couple of years, but it still seemed very cliched to me. It was a classic case of farmboy meets mentor, fulfils the prophecy and defeats the evil dark lord. Tolkien used it, and as the Eye of the World was in so many ways just a rip off of Tolkien, it hardly surprised me. Now, what would have surprised me would be if Rand had been killed at the Eye of the World, after all the build up, and then it turned out that Mat was actually the Dragon Reborn. But with Rand it seemed to me to be so obvious, and Jordan was dropping some not so subtle hints right the way through. The fact that there was a prophecy about a dragon reborn suggests that you're going to meet one in the series, almost certainly in the first book, and as Rand was the main character, and there were few other real alternatives, it seemed as if Jordan was saying from the beginning "Rand is the Dragon Reborn". He has had a few surprising moments (Rand being captured), but not many, and not on a level with most of the best fantasy authors.

The prologue suggested to me that the Dragon was a tool used unfairly and the Dragon Reborn would use his power to correct all the sins of the Dragon and to avenge what had been done by the Dark Lord. The only risk was of him being corrupted by Saidin, which it seems now, because of Jordan's poor plot choices, isn't going to happen.

[Abyss]

Just finished KoD. Liked it. Restored my faith in the series after the messes that were the last three books or so. Paid amazon.ca 40%-off cover and was satisfied.

Mat rocks in this novel. We finally get to see all his elements, scoundrel, warrior, general, romantic (so to speak) at work. Tuon was suprisingly well written as a complementary character to him.

Perrin is ok. His working with the Seanchan is more interesting than the actual outcome. His efforts at leadership are interesting to watch. Also fun is the way the Two Rivers bowmen have become a military force in their own right.

Egwene is actually very interesting. This is the first time she truly gets to shine on her own even as a captive. Her efforts against Elaida are actually fun to read. Not brilliant, but fun.

Elayne is ok. I thought Brigitte stole the show in her plotline, really, but it was satisfactory.

Rand was... there. There were interesting elements to his fairly brief storylines, such as Logain's participation and Loial's brief but fun scenes. All in all tho', he was in the book too briefly and didn't really bring anything new. Lews Therin is in his head and crazy.. We know. He hates getting women killed... We get it. He's completely oblivious to having a personal harem.... ok, whatever.

All in all, i enjoyed the book, it restored my utterly trampled faith after PoD, WH (not saved by its ending at all) and CoT (retchworthy).


- Abyss, wow, Noal was Jain, didn't see that coming at all... yes, i'm being sarcastic.

[fan_83]

KOD was good... but my favourite part of the book was logain and the wavemistress...

you will have time to weep, but weep on the march to tarmon gai'don..

or seomsuch..that was great

[Arkmam]

I have half a mind to re-read this series now that I'm half way into KoD.

[Abyss]

Just to add that i thought that rediculously brief sequence with Lan and Nyneave was just brilliant.

- Abyss, rides for L'unch.

[Blind]

I found that Nyneave's scene with the Malkieri merchant was easily the best in KoD. Mat's chapters were fun to read, as always... Egwene, who was until then on my death-list, starts being interesting. The surprise was Galad's brief appearance - never cared about him before, but there he was cool.

I liked that for once a Forsaken does some large-scale damage, even if it's off-screen.

[QuickTidal]

I tried to read "The Eye of the World" and I hated it so much that I put it down halfway through. Don't like the characters, nor the storytelling....Jordan is a kids writer as far as I am concerned. LOL (Gee QuickTidal, tell us what you really think...LOL).

Then the funny thing is that when I tried to read Sean Russels, The Swans War (The One Kingdom), he was bloody CRIBBING Jordan....and so I hated that one too.....you know what though, I guess that means alot of people really do like the WOT (my roomate included, cause he has them all Hardcover, cept for the first few are in TP), especially when others are copying him.

[Roland]

Quote

2. He introduced too many characters that I didn't care about, and then gave them too much time on the page. Who the hell remembers all those Aes Sedai (especially when all of their names are practically the same!!!), and the last time we heard from that particular Aes Sedai was half a dozen books ago.

I'm fairly certain he has an Aies Sedai Random Generator on his hard disk. I mean, come ON, those bitches are 100% randomly generated.

[QuickTidal]

[QUOTE=Sonnyboy]! You know, it's possible to build up someone's expectations subtly, then twist them sharply, instead of loudly shouting "HIM GO THAT-A-WAY!" while crossing your fingers.

QUOTE]

Okay, seriously, this had me nearly soiling my boxers with raucous laughter...LMAO!!

[QuickTidal]

MoonStar said:

I absolutly cannot stand Robert Jordan! I tried so hard to get through the first WoT book... Ick...

LOL, we should have a club!

Like FRATWOT (Fantasy Readers Against The Wheel Of Time)

[Illuyankas]

I thought this was funny, and relevant...

[Brys]

I've seen better parodies of Jordan, but they were ok.

[Illuyankas]

Post them, so I may peruse and giggle. Please? I have a broken finger...

[Imperial Historian]

Just read KoD.

I have to say I enjoyed it, more than GRRM's latest book, something of a return to form in my opinion, a lot better than the travesties of his last few books anyway. If you liked any of his books, I think it's worth getting it out of the library and reading, if not buying.

Storyline wise the plot is advanced considerably, and many storythreads seem to be coming to a close or have closed, the action is a lot more fast paced and most of the storylines are enjoyable (the elayne storyline being the exception but there wasn't too much of that one).

So if you liked books 1-6 I'd advise you to read it.

[Werthead]

Christ on a bike. In world where the Church of Scientology is storing L. Ron Hubbard's complete works in a bomb-proof bunker, where copies remain unburnt of David Eddings' omnibus edition of The Tamuli and where (sorry Moonstar) Terry Goodkind is allowed to perpetrate crimes against literature, Robert Jordan's offences are very mild indeed. I understand it drives people up the wall that he sells 13 million copies of his series whilst a far more talented writer like Erikson has yet to scrape half a million, but y'know, deal with it. Think of all of those who read Da Vinci Code and will never ever read another book ever again unless half of humanity reads it first.

WoT is averagely written for the most part, the gender relation aspect is hamfistedly done and many of the main characters are cliched, but on the other hand the worldbuilding is good, the magic system is reasonably logical and the classic good vs. evil struggle is quite well done. Believe me, try reading all ten volumes of LR Hubbard's Mission Earth or browse through Terry Goodkind's moronic self-promotion and then tell me that Jordan is THAT bad after all.

But nevertheless Crossroads of Twilight and Path of Daggers are offences unto the human race and should be torched and replaced by one-page synopses inserted into the other books.