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Books : Science Fiction & Fantasy : Authors, A-Z : J
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The Eye of the World and its sequels in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series show the extent to which one can go with a traditional fantasy framework, with added gusto. Stock elements are abound: a reluctant hero--in fact five humble village folk--plucked from wholesome obscurity to fight dark powers; an eternal evil enemy who can be defeated but not destroyed, until the end of the world, which is fast approaching; a mysterious sisterhood with vast powers and who love to manipulate thrones and kingdoms from the shadows (think of the Bene Gesserit of the Dune series); a ferocious battle-hardened warrior race (echoes of the Fremen of Dune, or the Haruchai of the Thomas Covenant novels).Jordan didn't become a bestselling author merely by mixing up traditional ingredients; a master storyteller, he ingeniously gives unusual twists to these conventional fantasy elements. He also excels in the descriptive and narrative skills needed to create a detailed and coherent imaginary world. The many lands he portrays are vast in scope and contain amazingly varied countries and peoples, while retaining the inner coherence needed to make them satisfying places for a fantasy fan to roam around in. However, Jordan's writing never attains the subtlety or sophistication of, say, George RR Martin and there are some annoying stylistic tics: he seems unable to introduce a female character without commenting on her neckline and thereafter has them forever smoothing their dresses.
To his publisher's credit, Jordan's books are fortunate among fantasy novels in not having covers that look like an explosion of a teenager's bedroom. The absence of such lurid artwork is, perhaps, part of their appeal. --David Pickering
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Robert Jordan's bestselling Wheel of Time epic is one of the most popular fantasy series of all time for a reason. Jordan's world is rich and complex, and he's assembled an endearing and involving core of characters while mapping out an ambitious and engaging story arc.But with the previous book Crown of Swords and now with Path of Daggers, the series is in a bit of a holding pattern. Path continues the halting gait of the current plot line: Rand is still on the brink of losing it, all the while juggling the political machinations around him and again taking to the field against the Seanchan. The rest of the Two Rivers kids and company don't seem to be moving much faster. Egwene continues to slowly consolidate her hold as the "true" Amyrlin (finally getting closer to Tar Valon and the inevitable confrontation with Elaida), and Nynaeve and Elayne keep on wandering toward the Lion Throne--again on the run from the Seanchan. Mat Cauthon is barely mentioned and fellow ta'veren Perrin keeps busy with politics in Ghealdan. The ending does provide promise, though, that Book Nine might match the pace and passion of the previous books.
If you're already hooked,you could sooner overcome a Weave of Compulsion than avoid picking up a copy of Path of Daggers. But if you're new to the series, start at the beginning with the engrossing and much better paced Eye of the World. --Paul Hughes
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With Crossroads of Twilight, Jordan's gargantuan fantasy sequence The Wheel of Time reaches its tenth huge volume and hits some of the consequences of its own sheer scale. Jordan is running so many story lines--the struggle with the covert agents of evil, the creation of a male magic that is not polluted, the war with magic-using dragon-riders from across the sea, the adventures of a travelling circus--that he has to spend almost all of this book just keeping us in touch with the movements of his characters and how they are getting on.This is a book with a fair amount of incident, but nothing you could really call a climax. One of Jordan's strengths has always been his ability to send things off at interesting and imaginative tangents, revealing that his is a stranger world than we have begun to know--there is not enough of that here, and rather too much in the way of confrontations and kidnappings and dilemmas of conscience that recapitulate things he has done before. His decent, lumbering "grey" style means that there are no moments when the writing thrills us either--this is a book for those who have committed to Jordan's sequence for the long haul rather than one for new readers to sample. --Roz Kaveney
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Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" sequence is one of the more ambitious current fantasy epics; its ninth volume Winter's Heart advances a conclusion by fundamentally changing the rules of its war between overwhelming evil and deeply crippled good. Rand Al-Thor, in some sense a doomed hero born again, continues to travel the world seeking allies--as before, he finds himself caught up disastrously in the local politics of small city states and has to sort them out at some cost to himself. His fellow villagers--now the paladins of his crusade--deal with their own local problems; the agents of evil are abroad everywhere and have started to take this coterie of magically gifted youths seriously as a threat to their power and the return of their Dark master. The well-intentioned but over-reaching Aes Sedai nuns have started at last to deal with the infiltrators in their midst, and the invading Seanchan start to pursue goals beyond their strange cultural games of dominance and submission. And now Rand finally does something drastic--he attempts to cleanse male magic of the taint of madness that has crippled his world. Jordan's many fans will be enthralled by this latest volume. --Roz Kaveney
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This opens the "Sword of Shadows" trilogy from J.V. Jones, whose debut novel was The Baker's Boy (1995). A Cavern of Black Ice is set in a land divided between small warring clans of hunters and more sophisticated southern cities whose lords covet the clan territories.Young clansman Raif has a touch of "old blood" magic that guides his arrows to the heart. Bad times come when a hunting party that includes his father and clan chief is wiped out by supernaturally aided attack: Raif's open suspicion of the brutal new leader eventually drives him into exile. Meanwhile Iss, overlord of Spire Vanis city, keeps a chained sorcerer whose powers he channels by revolting means and has unexplained but horrifying plans for his "foster daughter" Ash--herself an unwilling focus of dreaded forces.
Raif and Ash find themselves fleeing together through wintry, hostile clanlands, pursued by Iss's vilest henchmen, seeking the dubious goal of the Cavern of Black Ice. What lifts this far above routine quest fantasy is Jones' deft characterisation, relentless intensity and unsparing depiction of pain and slow-healing injury. She has a flair for memorably horrid images. Here a sorcerer gloats over one of his nastier tricks: "A man could not fight when his corneas were snapped from his eyes like badges from a chest."
This hefty volume has over 800 pages but the narrative grips hard once it's gained momentum, and the pages turn increasingly fast. Book two, A Fortress of Grey Ice is coming soon. --David Langford
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Best-selling fantasy series tend to spin off nonfiction books about their otherworld settings, such as The Atlas of Tolkien's Middle-Earth and The Discworld Companion. Robert Jordan's immense "Wheel of Time" sequence began with The Eye of the World (1990) and still continues, with eight fat novels published and more to come. This lavish companion volume first appeared in 1997 and has been repackaged at a bargain price--though not updated to cover the events of Jordan's 1998 instalment, The Path of Daggers. It goes into great detail about the saga's vast historical back-story, the interlocking systems of magic, the many countries, races, institutions, power-wielders and monsters, and much more. There are over seventy full-colour illustrations and maps. Fans of the series will appreciate this as an attractive coffee-table volume which, like Tolkien's detailed appendices in The Lord of the Rings, casts light on mysteries and trivia that didn't fit into the narrative. Newcomers may be less enchanted as Jordan's considerable talent is for storytelling and cumulative narrative power: this background material is ambitious in scope but not wildly original, featuring familiar fantasy landmarks like a Pit of Doom (and, for variety, Mountains of Doom). A must for Jordan addicts; others should try the novels first and see what the excitement's all about. --David Langford
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