The Wheel of Time — a review, but not a review
Prelude: This is a series I highly recommend reading, and the Amazon Prime TV show based on the books makes no justice to the series, as has been discussed in this reddit thread (I didn’t watch the show, but the reviews were enough to put me off).
The above shlokas from Gita were what first came to mind as I reminisce about this monster of a series, which I finished for the first time recently.
The late Robert Jordan (real name James Oliver Rigney Jr.) created a fantastic universe. It has rich lore, geography, factions and characters. There’s a significant amount of real world parallels in the series in its characters and philosophy. The overall scope of the series is massive, as it spans geographies, character arcs, factions and storylines. No wonder it took 14 books to complete.
The premise of the series is a simple good vs evil story. A primordial force of evil, referred to as “Dark One” was let loose upon the world, who corrupted people into doing his bidding. A hero rose up to lead the opposition to this evil, and the villain was “sealed away”, but at a cost. Some ages later, the evil is coming loose again, and a hero rises up to lead the battle against this evil. It’s the latter setting where the series takes place.
The story’s beginning is like the first book of Lord of The Rings, where a mysterious and powerful visitor to a small village escorts a motley group of our hero and his friends out into the open world to an adventure. And then, this group splits apart chasing its destiny in service of defeating the overarching evil, forming the bulk of the storyline.
The main character of the story, Rand al’Thor, is the “Dragon Reborn”, who is destined to fight the “Dark One”. While he is all powerful, he goes through a superbly woven character arc. He is reviled in the world, but at the same time seen as the only hope for it’s continued existence. He needs to accept the very fact that he is this complex messianic figure, battle demons from his previous birth (this forms a very fascinating and well written arc), unite a fragmented world, all the while questioning his motivations and mental setup in this entire endeavour. When I compare the rise of his predecessor Lews Therin Telamon, the previous “Dragon” and Rand’s rise, which happens when evil is taking deep root in the world, I can’t help but think of the slokas from Gita which were shown at the beginning of this post. This feels eerily similar to Vishnu’s Dashavatara, where he comes to the world whenever evil takes root. Rand al’Thor’s character arc has turned out to be my favourite one across fantasy.
The supporting cast gets very good arcs, notable mentions from me being Mat Cauthon, Nynaeve al’Meara, Egwene al’Vere and al’Lan Mandragoran. The numerous factions present in the story, like the Aiel, White Tower’s Aes Sedai, Black Tower’s Asha’man, the Children of The Light, Mat’s Band of the Red Hand, the Seanchan are given very good storylines, aiding to weave a rich tapestry. Some characters and factions were a bit underwhelming to me personally, as I didn’t enjoy reading their parts as much. Given the magnitude of what Robert Jordan achieved, we can gloss over some of these issues.
Next we come to the metaphysics of this universe. The very name of the series is inspired from concepts from Hinduism, where time flows in a cyclical fashion with events repeating in some frequency. The Wheel is said to spin continuously as time progresses, weaving “The Pattern”, which consists of the lives of people. This concept is greatly expounded upon in the series in an interesting fashion, which might be unique in the fantasy I’ve read.
The magic system is pretty straightforward like usual fantasy, with the exception being that males and females can access it differently, which leads to an entire plotline of it’s own. Added to the inherent magic are magical objects which add their own twists and intricacies.
For a fantasy buff, this series definitely adds a level of richness to the entire genre in the way Robert Jordan created a consistent system of metaphysics and magic. The series seems to take inspiration from Arabic naming systems and real world characters, for example someone akin to Ravana makes an appearance as a villain (Rahvin), and as per WoT fandom wiki, many other characters have real world parallels as well.
Now I come to the biggest twist in the writing of the series — Robert Jordan was no more after writing the 11th book, while in the process of writing what was supposed to be the final volume of the series. Fortunately, the responsibility was passed on to series superfan Brandon Sanderson, who did a remarkable job of tying up the loose ends and giving the series the fitting conclusion it so richly deserved. Sanderson split the prospective 12th and final volume into 3 books, since there was a lot much material to cover. The writing style’s difference is also very apparent, as Jordan took time to setup storylines, whereas Sanderson was in the pressure to wrap it all up in as few volumes as possible. This change of pace can feel jarring, but I got adjusted to it quickly. As an aside, I’m planning to delve into Sanderson’s works after my latest dive into the Malazan universe (I’ve read the main series of this amazing universe, reviewed here).
The initial books are mostly self contained, with climactic events taking place at the end of each book. Then the series becomes a grind (from around books 8–10), as Jordan’s writing drags on and individual storylines span books,. A re-read will better help me digest it, but my impression has been that this segment could have been better paced while cutting down on the drag and some unnecessarily stretched story and character arcs.
So is Wheel of Time everyone’s cup of tea? As I went through the absolute insanity that was the Malazan universe’s main entry, this series was easy to handle. 14 books can test anyone, as it requires a lot of effort to retain interest in, because the story just expands and expands before being tied together into a neat conclusion. Personally, I would rate Wheel of Time and Malazan Book of The Fallen as the best fantasy I’ve read so far, ahead of the likes of Lord of The Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire.
If you want a reading project of 2–3 years, then this series is the perfect fit for you. And it has immense re-read value. Happy reading!
