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This is, without a doubt, the best book in the series.

Yes, this book is long. But at this point, you're clearly committed to reading a 14 book series- the length isn't relevant. You either like Jordan's style by now, or you don't. This is, to me, the point of no return- either you're committing to the rest by reading this, or you're not.

The story in this is incredibly good. It's got a slower, more measured pace than the other books. In the other books, the action was driven by the characters going places and doing things there. In this book, the action is driven by political scheming and interactions between characters. It's a big shift, but Jordan really pulls it off- it was a necessary shift to happen- book 5 wrapped up most of the major plotlines from the first 5 books, and now was the time to step back, reflect, and set up the plotlines for the next several books. And that's what you're expecting going in- book 5s ending is so explosive that you need room to breathe. And he gives you that. And keeps giving you that, until you realize that he actually wasn't giving you ANY room to breathe, and that you actually just thought he was because you weren't paying attention. He has lulled you, just like the characters, into a false sense of security- and it pays off enormously.

This book adds more to the world than book 5 did. It really expands on the differences between the courts in Cairhien and Caemlyn, and distinguishes them pretty well.

This is easily my favorite book of the entire series; I actively look forward to reading it every single time I read the books.

Fires of Heaven is GREAT on its own, but after book 4 it starts off feeling like a bit of a letdown. Perrin is entirely absent, and after his ridiculously good storyline in TSR it's really disappointing not to see him here. But after the rocky first third of the book, the story really takes off and the ending of the book is among my favorites in the series.

These middle three books have, in my opinion, some of the best character development in the series. The main cast continues to grow and change with each challenge they face. This is the book where Mat really starts to shine; for me, he becomes my favorite character here.

This book doesn't add as much to the lore as the previous book did, which is a shame considering how much time we get to spend with one of the Forsaken. I always thought that was a bit of a missed opportunity.

Overall this is a great read, but the best is yet to come...

The Shadow Rising is where most fans really fall in love with this series, for good reason.

Firstly, and this is a mild spoiler: you're not getting an ending identical to the last 3 books again. This ending is radically different, and significantly better.

Second, the character development in this book is absolutely amazing. Every single character develops in this book, and if you re-read The Dragon Reborn the development becomes VERY apparent. This is also where you start to really see the scope of what Jordan is writing; he develops the world enormously in this book, in ways you may not be expecting going in. The previous books made the world feel big; this one made it feel deep.

I think this book is among the best in the series for juggling the ensemble. There are 3 major plotlines in the book, all following different characters in different parts of the world. No one plotline is given too much attention, and all of them mirror each other in really interesting ways. None of the plotlines feels shoehorned in or inorganic; they all work really well together.

This is easily in the top 6 of the series, without a doubt.

This was actually my introduction to the series- and I personally recommend that new readers start here, too. My mother picked us up an audiobook for a road trip back in middle school and didn't realize it was the third book in the series.

This book is, I feel, the first time that Jordan's writing style for the rest of the series is really cemented in place. Books 1 and 2 have a different feel to me- I'm not really sure how best to describe it.

For example, in books 1 and 2 Mat only shows a mild interest in gambling, no more than anybody else- and in his first chapter in this book, his inner monologue talks like he is a seasoned gambling addict. Perrin had, in the previous book, accepted his Wolfbrother abilities- and in this one, he is suddenly back to rejecting them. I always have heard that Jordan wasn't sure he was getting more than 3 books until after book 2 released, so in book 3 he re-structured his characters and the story to set up more long-term arcs- and I think that's a good explanation for why this book feels so different. It feels both like the climax of books 1 and 2, and the opening to the rest of the series.

I LOVE the structure of this book and the characters he chose to focus on. And Jordan's storytelling abilities really shine in this book; it's engaging all the way through, and IMO is a rock-solid story. It's not the best in the series, but it's certainly the best of the first 3 books, and I consistently say that it's in the top half.

The Great Hunt improves enormously from The Eye of the World, but still has some issues.

Books 1 and 2 have always felt a little separated from the rest of the series to me. I have always said that there is a large tone shift in book 3, and that every character in book 3 feels different from the way they did in 1 and 2. Book 3's characterizations of all the main cast are the ones that he works with and builds on in the rest of the series, and I think for a few characters it's a bit jarring coming out of book 2 into their book 3 POVs (especially Mat).

But, the story in this book is VASTLY improved over book 1. There are still some pacing issues, but I think the story here is much more engaging and interesting than in book 1. There won't be any last-second "hey the whole quest needs to get derailed to take you where the plot needs to happen" contrivances in this one, all the plotlines flow much more organically. Jordan's real talent was in writing ensemble pieces, and this is the first ensemble piece of the series. Where EOTW really follows Rand and the other viewpoints are IMO incidental, this book is about ALL of the main characters.

There are still one or two inconsistencies here with the magic system from the other books, though. It's the last time that's true; after this book he had fully ironed out all the details of the magic system and didn't make any other changes. This book sets up plotlines that flow through the entire rest of the series as well, which book 1 didn't do quite as much in my opinion- this is a REALLY interesting book on a re-read.

I absolutely adore the Wheel of Time. It's by far my favorite series.

But, book one has some problems. Originally, I've always heard, Jordan wasn't sure if he would get to write more than 3 books with his publisher, so he structured the first 2 very differently from the others. He also hadn't fully fleshed out the world yet, so there are some inconsistencies with how magic works in this book compared to the other books. Jordan described EOTW as his homage to the Lord of the Rings, and it very much shows- if you've read LOTR, you'll see a LOT of similarities here. That is not true of the other books after this one.

The best part about this book is the story, but it has some pacing issues IMO. Jordan improved enormously as a writer in book 2, and by book 3 he had really cemented the world, his style, and the characters. The start may be a bit rocky, but it gets so much better!