Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time

Specifically, The Eye of the World

I just finished my fourth (it might be fifth) reading of this book, and I have to say that I am now more impressed with it than I had been in previous reads. I thought it was pretty great before, so that's no small praise.

There are, of course, the things the book was acclaimed for: a rich world full of deep characters moved by exciting events. The pacing in this one is very brisk, unlike some of the later installments (which I still like, but after about Book 6 they lack the same punch). Jordan really seems to do a good job with his female characters, for a male writer. He comes at it from both sides on likely gender issues in a society with that level of technology. The Tolkien elements are there, but fresh and sometimes hard to identify as such because he managed to stick to the formula but be unique.

What impressed me the most, though, was how thoroughly planned Jordan's Third Age world is. In book one he foreshadows events and themes from books 2-11 (and things we haven't even seen yet), and the manner shows that he didn't just retroactively decide to use things, in most cases. To any WoT readers who stumble upon this blog (an unlikely ocurrence, I suppose) I strongly recommend reading the series once, reading This FAQ, and then starting again with Book 1. I know this seems like a lot, and it won't make sense to do it this way if the series is complete by the time you finish, but I feel that it is the best way to get everything out of the experience.

What follows has what some might consider spoilers, so if you don't like those stop reading. Besides, this won't make any sense to you if you haven't read the books yet anyway.

Did you stop reading yet?

Are you sure?

One more warning!

I lied, here's another:

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

OK, so below is a list of things I hadn't caught before that are part of the impressive, if sometimes smart-alecky, foreshadowing that goes on.

Mat, before leaving Emond's Field: "battles interest me!"

The chapter where Padan Fain shows up has a Dragon's Fang as its icon. This should tell you something is up with him from the start.

In Rand's first dream, I believe we get a glimpse of "The Song," but Rand forgets. This leads me to believe Rand will find the song, along with the circumstantial evidence that he is the prophesied one for the regular folk, the Aiel, the Seanchan, the Sea Folk, so why not the Tinkers? Sure some of the other people are reborn heroes, but Rand is the only one we know has Age of Legends memories bouncing around in his skull, even if he is insane.

With the information that the dude claiming to be Ba'alzamon in Rand, Mat, and Perrin's dreams is actually Ishamael, it becomes pretty obvious that he was loose during the whole third age, and responsible for the Trolloc Wars and for the bad parts of Artur Hawkwing. Sounds like that "doom yet to come" is the Return, and is supposed to tip the scales in the Last Battle.

I am just, in general, impressed with how many of the little quirks of the way the WoT world works that show up before you know what they are. Unless you have one heck of a memory, you won't remember them all for what they are later without a second reading. For example, all the little ta'veren pulls that show up, tel'aran'rhiod and its connection to the "wolf dream," not just Min's visions but her attitude, what Bayle Domon has floating along in that boat of his (not to mention all the things in the world he described, we still haven't seen that island with a humming web over it), and how the myths of Randland are the realities of our world and vice versa, demonstrated from the very beginning.

Also interesting that he begins to establish, all the way back here, the relationships between Aiel, Tinkers, and Ogier...and the Seanchan to Artur Hawkwing, and the way male/female channelers can work together assuming they both exist.

It's also interesting that the other boys joke about Mat being Aemon reborn when he starts shouting in the old tongue...it seems that Mat is someone else from Manetheren reborn, rather than the king himself, but it is also a healthy little bit of foreshadowing.

END OF SPOILERS

I guess the most impressive thing is that he weaves over 150 named characters, and the number of unnamed folks with something to say or do probably brings the total over 200, into the tapestry of eight major characters, all while describing so much of a vast world, without ever really seeming overwhelming. Unlike LOTR, which just has a list of Kings and Dwarves and lord knows what all else, each character is identifiable and you can tell which ones are significant and which ones you can relegate to unimportance. I mean, 150 names! but there still is little trouble keeping them straight, and when any show up later in the series it's easy to pick them out. This gets harder in later volumes, because you end up with hundreds and hundreds of names, spread out over 15 or so nations, Aes Sedai (split into two major camps), the Kin, Sea Folk, Aiel clans, Whitecloaks, Asha'man, good guys/bad guys/indeterminant guys, etc.

OK, I realize that at this point I am rambling solely out of boredom, and my efforts would better be directed elsewhere.