"The Wheel of Time" surprised me. Maybe discovering an unfamiliar high fantasy series as an adult stirred the nostalgia of reading "Harry Potter" from childhood. Or perhaps Amazon canceling its adaptation shocked me, even though season three has only just exposed the brilliant story arcs from the chaos of the prior seasons.

Whatever the reason, I find myself starting the fifth book in the series. I'm much further than I ever thought I would get in this saga spanning fourteen novels. After studying English Literature & Composition at university, novels triggered deep anxiety in me for nearly ten years after graduating. Only recently have I been able to read anything that qualifies as "literature".

So far, the books are good, but I enjoy fantasy writing. Robert Jordan is very verbose at times and reinforces his ideas and concepts to readers in this complicated world. I've seen the same concepts reintroduced ten times. I appreciate it, especially given this was written in the 90s, pre-internet.

Book One

It's a long road with extensive world-building and unusual pacing. The ending was meh. The time on the road seems exorbitant. However, the geography is a silently introduced character in the series. This portion builds that understanding for later novels. Many fantasy novels ignore this aspect, but this dimension pays off later on.

Book Two

Does a ton of world-building still, but the plot is actually moving here. The ending was okay, but the action really fell flat to me.

Book Three

I enjoyed this book the least. Rand was basically out of there until the last second with a flat climactic ending. The White Tower is still barely explored, even after all this time. Moraine and Nynaeve both need a chill pill.

Book Four

This was my favorite. The Aiel very much feel like a Fremen reference. However, the characters are all doing things and acting instead of being acted upon. While I know the Forsaken/Chosen are still being set up, it is nice to have good villains for a change. Padan Fain is just weird.

I'm excited to see what book five is going to bring. I'm hoping Rand actually learns to channel now.

Books vs Amazon Series

I understand the backlash a lot better against the series now. Season one is basically unwatchable, and there is so much they could have done with it. I can't help thinking it could have been a series of flashbacks to seed the idea of "The Wheel" to viewers.

So many important plot elements were thrown away or rushed. I still don't understand Perrin's wife, who was basically killed off-screen.

The Amazon series did serve as my introduction to the books. I have to be thankful for that.