The Great Hunt remains one of my favorite books. Rand as a very young, but very courageous leader. The desperate chase through dangerous territory. It just clicked for me. But since about book four,
The Wheel of Time has gotten progressively worse for me, to the point where I bought one of the latest ones (can't remember which) and couldn't get past the first few chapters. There were some Aes'Sedai that I didn't care about with names that all sound the same, hunting Black Ajah in Elaida's White Tower. I didn't care about them, and yet chapter after chapter I was getting their story, instead of Rand or Matt or Perrin or Lan etc.
That's the thing for me. At first the plot seemed tight. I don't mind long descriptive passages...I am an avid Tad Williams fan, after all
...but I can't stand meandering pointlessness. And the longer the series continues, the more random, pointless plots seem to arise. Like that whole deal with the
Bowl of Winds or whatever it was called. Suddenly it's really hot and only the magic bowl can stop the terrible heat. Ugh. It struck me as so blatantly unconnected a plot, something
constructed in order to give Elayne, Egwene, and Nynaeve something to do, rather than something that evolved organically from what had gone before.
And why is it that every woman of power has to be a b**** at the same time? Every last one of them. I'd like to see just one woman with power and authority
not believe that she knows better than Rand how to save the world. Just one would be enough. The only one in the entire series was Moiraine (after her change of heart), and of course she disappears shortly after her change. Even worse, women who
were sensible somehow
become arrogant b--'s the moment they
gain power. Egwene used to be a great character. Then she suddenly gets promoted (another silly and convenient plot point, but that's another issue,) and instantly she thinks she knows better than Rand how he should behave. It's like that Great Ring has some kind of arrogance poison in it, to which no woman is immune.
And after ten books of a plot that's moving at a glacially slow pace...you're going to give me an eleventh that takes place
at the same time as the tenth?! It was hard enough getting the plot to move forward when the books were sequential. Now that he's gone parallel God only knows how many books he'll be able to crank out without resolving anything.
*sigh* Sorry about the ranting. I think I'm so angry with the series because I saw so much potential in those first books. So much great writing and magificent plotting and dialogue. It's been years since I read the books, but I can still recall some of the scenes and dialogue that I remember gave me goosebumps at the time. Artur Hawkwing sitting his charger, "his great sword Justice shone like a mirror in his fist." Rand's battle with the High Lord on the hilltop. "Let us see what it takes to earn the Heron on this side of the ocean."
So much goodness. But alas, at least for me, that potential's been wasted. There's as much garbage as greatness in
The Wheel of Time now, and it upsets me every time I think about it.
In any case, if the latest volume actually goes through some editing, then I have some hopes it will be stronger than Crossroads of Twilight was.
