Book 5), The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time

I ordered all the books in this series, then decided to resell them to local bookstore, as the dust-jackets are so garish, they stand out on my bookshelves like a sore thumb; I've read all but the last book and have been disappointed in the inconsistency or quality of the story line, though I have enjoyed this series very much for the most part; the books are large and heavy and it's impossible to get book one (at an affordable price), so I could not complete the set without resorting to the Kindle volume

This is yet another stellar edition to the Wheel of Time series! Robert Jordan weaves his magical tale of the Dragon Reborn through still more of his journey to Last Battle, expertly spinning all of the main characters stories together seamlessly. I can't wait to finish this series!

My favorite in the series thus far. The unfolding of the relationship between Rand and Moraine Sedai sets up the greater relationship between Aes Sedai and Rand. The desert scenes among the Aiel are some of my favorite.

If you've been reading the Wheel of Time series, you'll really enjoy this book. It continues the plot well and was really hard to put down. If you haven't been reading the Wheel of Time series and are a fan of fantasy books, pick up a copy of The Eye of the World, the first book in the series.

Too little butter spread over too much bread. Very good author ....very good story. Spread too thin. Way too much character development for inconsequential characters. I want to know how it all turns out ....but plodding through the chafe is tiresome. This is book 6 of 15 I am beginning to think I will drop the series soon and read something more pithy.

I really like the book and the series.

BUT ... the publisher is outrageously overcharging for the electronic version of this book ... and others in the series. The pre-order price is $9.99 and the trade paper back is $7 and it can also be ordered NEW for as low as $4.99.

There is no reason but ripping off the consumer to charge this much. There are virtually no costs in the ebook version, but there are production and distribution costs in the hardback, paperback and mass market paperback. So, if the publisher charges more that the lowest print version price, they are making a higher profit. There is no indication that the author (or in this case, sadly, his estate) receives more royalty than for the print version. So, this means higher profits for the publisher.

I have written to the publisher about this and the lack of their books in ebook format and they have chosen not to respond.

Having just read the rather remarkable The Shadow Rising, which most everybody (rightly) praises highly, I naturally expected at least some sort of drop in quality as I cracked open The Fires of Heaven. However, having finished the book, I’m not sure TFoH should be considered inferior to its predecessor. It really is a great read.

There are four basic plot threads in TFoH. For one, Rand leads the Aiel out of the Waste and into battle. Second, Nyneve and Elayne return to the East from Tanchico, hunting and being hunted by the Forsaken Moghedien, and eventually seeking shelter at the rebel Aes Sedai headquarters when they learn that Siuan Sanche has been overthrown at Tar Valon. These two plot threads intersect dramatically by the end of the book. Third, the deposed and stilled Siuan Sanche also seeks the rebel Aes Sedai headquarters and hopes to find ways to reestablish her importance at the heart of events. Fourth, Queen Morgase takes flight from Caemyln in an attempt to escape from her lover, who is really the Forsaken Rahvin, and in order to eventually seize back control of the realm he has taken from her.

Regarding Rand’s return from the Aiel Waste (my favorite of the plot threads), no one shines brighter than Moiraine. None of Jordan’s characters exemplify the idea that only by surrendering to the Pattern can one come to partially control events more than she. The willingness of this Aes Sedai to be subservient to Rand so she may have regular access to the Lord Dragon in order to continue teaching him bears fruit after the battle at Cairhien. And her serene willingness to fight Lanfear at Cairhien, especially in light of what she learned earlier in Rhuidean, is especially impressive. In addition, and very significantly, in a letter to Rand she says if he is to “dance free” as he must, he must not trust the Aes Sedai. This opinion is at least one thing Moiraine can see eye to eye on with Nynaeve, whose actions in the previous book elequently express this outlook.

Mat emerges as the hero of the fight against the Shaido outside of Cairhien. Mat ends up doing what needs to be done, much as he ended up doing in The Dragon Reborn, yet this gambler and ladies man has not fully internalized the notion that, as Joseph Campbell used to like repeating: “The fates lead he who will, he who won’t they drag.” If Moiraine provides the reader with a lofty example of wisdom in action, Mat is a much more recognizable, all too human figure that Jordan seems especially fond of.

Rand continues to grow as he is taught by Moiraine and Asmodean, among others, and as he steps into his ever more demanding responsibilities. And his relationship with Aviendha certainly becomes more intense. During the battle at Cairhien, he channels alongside Egwene and Aviendha-Saidar and Saidin working together-and is thus able to keep the Shaido from entering the city, which would have been a disaster. In the aftermath of the battle in which he avoids the Forsaken Sammael’s attempts to kill him, he is able to competently play the Great Game with various political factions. Rand also has a remarkable showdown with the Forsaken Rahvin in Caemyln, where he receives some timely assistance from Nynaeve. (Again, Saidar and Saidin together.) In the aftermath of this showdown, Rand meets up with Davram Bashere (Faile’s dad), who pledges assistance to Rand. This miltary commander was hunting for the missing False Dragon Mazrim Taim, though the search is rendered unimportant as Rand issues an amnesty. No males who channel are to be hunted down any more. He needs all hands available for the last battle.

Egwene continues learning from the Wise Ones, and somehow manages to alter the balance of power in her relationship with Nynaeve, whom she continues to communicate with, along with Elayne, in the World of Dreams. The impressive Wise Ones, like Moiraine, also articulate and embody the surrender to necessity in order to help guide the course of events philosophy.

In Nynaeve & Elayne’s plot thread, Nynaeve is more vulnerable than in previous books. In part, Rand and Nynave both have horrible feelings of guilt and struggle with the notion of being responsible for what happens to others. (Fortunately, they both eventually come to internalize that other people have agency as well.) Nynaeve also loses confidence for a host of other reasons (getting tricked into drinking fork root, getting bested by Moghedien, forgetting the name of Salidar) but comes back strong against Moghedien, tricking her in the World of Dreams with the a’dam that Elayne was able to make, which enables her to assist Rand against Rahvin. Also, it is clarified in this book that Nynaeve really wants to learn from the Aes Sedai to be a better healer. Oh, and Nynaeve manages to inadvertently set off a war between the Whitecloaks and the followers of the Prophet.

Like Nynaeve, Elayne demonstrates growth in TFoH. Her quick thinking during an emergency saves Birgitte, whom she bonds as a Warder. Elayne also figures out how to make an a’dam (!), and, therefore, other ter’angreal as well. As mentioned, this a’dam figures prominently in the story.

Nynaeve and Elayne’s plot thread includes a period of time where they work at a traveling circus. Though this plot development is not the high point of the book, neither is it the eye rolling embarrassment that some reviewers make it out to be. Thom and Juilin are also along for the ride, making important contributions at times. Also, Uno, the foul-mouthed hard as nails Shienarian from earlier in the series, is reintroduced.

The Siuan Sanche plot thread is a lesser plot thread than Rand’s or Nynaeve’s, though it still manages to be interesting. Having really enjoyed the way Siuan refused to give into despair after being deposed and stilled in The Shadow Rising, I found it fascinating reading in TFoH as she manages to find a way to “get back in the game” in Salidar. Also, Siuan Sanche & crew (Leane, Min, Logaine) lead Gareth Bryne on quite a chase to Salidar. Gareth not only feels more alive chasing after Siuan than he has for quite some time, he ends up accepting a grand new task, one for which he is well suited.

Morgase, who put Gareth into his funk by dismissing him, manages to pull herself out of her own funk by escaping the Forsaken who had bewitched her. This fourth (and minor) plot thread is enriched by the presence of Morgase’s old teacher Lini, yet another wise woman in a book full of them.

It is worth nothing that The Fires of Heaven is unlike earlier Wheel of Time entries in that one of the three boys from the Two Rivers does not make an appearance at all. However, as far as I am concerned, through Perrin had the best plot thread in The Shadow Rising, his absence in TFoH does not diminish the book at all.

Having painstakingly engaged in World-Building and establishing Societies + Sub-Societies + Core-Characters in the first 5 Books (Volumes Zero - Four) Jordan is FINALLY able to really let-loose with the humor, fun, and games that come with playing complicated characters off of one-another and against a plot that that is universal and far bigger than any of them. From his making fun of the more ludicrous and tight-ass elements of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam (The Big 3) to his obvious allusions to the repeating Christ-Figure Archetype + Supporting Posse across Mythology, Culture, and Religion Jordan simultaneously outlines the better and more absurd parts of all of them and their connection to one another. The one thing I wasn't happy with is that intentionally/unintentionally and/or consciously/unconsciously Jordan is "channeling" a great deal of Frank Herbert's 'Dune' series in much the same way as Terry Brooks "channeled" and/or RIPPED-OFF Tolkien whom RIPPED-OFF Norse Mythology. Nonetheless, The Christ Tale via 'Lord of the Rings' via Dungeons & Dragons via Petticoat Junction never fails to delight, inspire, or make one think. Clearly, like a Wild Dog, Jordan has grabbed hold of THE Core Bone at the intersection points of all Religions, Myths, Stories, Histories, and Cultures and is now delightfully gnawing upon it and wildly shaking it with continued delight!

The Fires of Heaven is book 5 of 14 in The Wheel of Time series. By book 5 the series is firmly in Act 2 of 4. I think Act 2 (books 4-6) is the best collective group of the books in the first 3 acts, but book 5 doesn't really stand up to books 4 and 6, both of which are commonly mentioned by fans of the series as their favorite. The Fires of Heaven is notable for its heavy focus on Nynaeve and the almost tangential menagerie storyline, its introduction of some major themes and types of action sequences we will see much more of, and for the first time the complete absence of a major character (Perrin). Along with Lord of Chaos, The Fires of Heaven probably has the best climax of any of the books in the series.

Any series stretching over 4MM words has an unenviable task of balancing between recapping too much in an effort to remind readers of what they read perhaps years before and recapping too little and leaving everyone lost. The Fires of Heaven is the first book in my re-read (the full 14, at 1 book a month) to annoy me with the amount of recapping and repetitive exposition given.

I was much closer to the age of our younger protagonists (Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, and Elayne) when I started reading the Wheel of Time. In a mark of how long its finale has been in the making, I am now several years older than Nynaeve. I was a bit concerned when I began re-reading the entire series in anticipation of the release of A Memory of Light that I would now find the younger characters' immaturity too off-putting. Thankfully, that is not the case (I find Faile's immaturity grating, but that was always true). What I have found is that I have a newfound appreciation for the older characters. And that is no truer for any character than for Nynaeve. She has gone from one of my least favorite characters to one of my most favorite. I can better appreciate her now, but The Fires of Heaven is still Nynaeve at her worst. In her broader character arc, she is firmly in phase 2 of 3. She has lost the position of authority she held at the beginning of the series, and her younger female companions are beginning to outstrip her, but she has yet to begin really growing as a person.

The Fires of Heaven heavily features Nynaeve (she is arguably the main character of the book along with Rand), but her storyline, and the menagerie storyline it is a part of, aren't terribly relevant for the larger series relative to the attention they are given. Certainly, if you find the way Jordan writes women off-putting, you will be a bit exasperated. The women are heavily featured and they are at the Jordan-stereotype worst. The menagerie storyline is also uncharacteristically humor-heavy, which some readers will find jarring. Nynaeve does, however, shows shades of her "Act 3" self at the end--her role in the climax is particularly apropos to her final arc.

The Fires of Heaven introduces some things we'll be seeing a lot of later on in the series. Jordan focuses for the first time large scale battle scenes (Tarwin's Gap and the battle at the end of The Great Hunt were sort of secondary). There will be many, many more battles as the series rolls on, and Jordan writes about battles and tactics at a broad level very well. Rand continues to grow in power, but we begin to really see the emotional toll his duty is taking on him and his sanity begin to crack. Rand's mental state will be VERY central to the story going forward.

The Fires of Heaven has one of the better original covers. For the first time the clothes appear as described, the coloring on the three characters shown is right, and the trollocs are depicted as humanoid rather than human. And the architecture, as always, is beautiful. The title, on the other hand, is one of the worst. It is pulled from a prophecy with only the most esoteric ties to the book 5 storylines and references a concept (heaven) unknown (or at least unmentioned) in a world with reincarnation.

Supergirls `It's a Trap!' Counter: The Fires of Heaven-1, total-4

This Book picks up right after Shadow Rising, Perrin and all the people surrounding him are missing, but this book fill it in with the story of Min, Leane, and Siuan that was mostly left out in the Shadow Rising. Rand and Mat are still chasing Couladin and The Shadio who are wrecking havoc all over the East, killing anybody that gets in their way. Rand has some great character development tat really let's you in to his thought process there's a big shock involving rand and another character. It's really fun watching the Taveren and Mat's luck pulling him all different ways, when he has really had enough and just wants to get a way but the Wheel won't let him. Egewyne Comes lore to learning the Wise Ones ways as well as learning the Dream world. Nynaeve and Elayne have the far interesting story in this book as they search for the rouge Aes Sedai They confront the Forsaken, The Prophet, Join the circus, The White Cloaks, and get poisoned, as well as meet up with some old Friends. I was very satisfied with where their story went.

This Book has the Most Deaths thus far in the series, of characters you've read about in the other books, I would say three of them are really shocking and I did not see them coming.

ALL in all this book was one of My Favorites there was lots of surprises, there was a good mix of politics and war. And this book had a lot of humor, not just all from Mat, Brigette has some truly great lines, as well as Elayne.

Ive been reading this series in a row preparing for the Final book and Now I'm on to Lord of Chaos.

The Fires of Heaven is a good quality installment in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, however it doesn't rise to the level the first four books of the series. The narrative changes from the Aiel Waste headed west and in Tarabon headed east with several locations in-between seen from the perspectives of various characters. But of all the characters, it was Rand al'Thor and Nynaeve al'Meara who dominated the majority of the book.

One of the good things about this book is that all the point-of-view characters help give great context of the world Jordan created, visiting many of the nations that have until this book only been names but given no in-person description. Another is the excellent described battle scenes that happen throughout the book, especially around Rand including the final fight of the book. And finally seeing the reactions to the coup in Tar Valon and the breaking of the White Tower.

Unlike the other four books, there are minor things that seemed to bring down the quality of this book. The first was the pace of Rand's POVs in which most of battles take place, the largest battle almost has the sense of being the climax of the book only for seeming to set up to the final battle. Then there was Nynaeve's narration, which at many times late in the book are a bit wearing especially as she comments on her traveling companions. And finally one of the primary characters is missing in this book and it's noticeable.

Overall the good vastly outweighs the bad, however the "bad" is more evident than the previous four books but not enough to not recommend.

What was it that happened in this book again? Even before I'd finished it I'd begun to forget, and I don't mean that as a complaint, or a slight against the book. On the contrary, after reading five of these in a row, they have begun to blend together into a kind of quasi-historical landscape of individual hills and valleys that defy compartmentalization into neat and tidy narrative arcs. Well... sort of. Everything that happened since the last Forsaken was killed/defeated is bound to be in this book - that only happens in one book doesn't it? Sorta... Two of them are killed in this book, one almost as an afterthought, and two "defeated" one way or the other. Jordan's characters may not like to kill women, but Jordan the author doesn't like to kill kill his villainesses, either.

Oh, yeah, THAT's what happened. Nynaeve got her comeupances! She realized that she was being stubborn, being silly, being vile, and that her actions had real and serious consequences for the people around her, and for the rest of the story she was sweetness and light personified. Except she wasn't. Right after she learned what a pain she was, she conveniently forgot all about it and went back to sharpening both sides of her tongue and quenching that blade with the blood of men and women both. Ye gods, but she's insufferable. I have a hard time waiting for her next chapter.

The Good: The tension between Rand and Aviendha finally breaks in a predicable, but welcome way. Mat continues to be an enjoyable character. Someone central to the story dies, giving us the feeling that the danger is a real thing. (Wait, I shouldn't say that. Thom "died" too, didn't he? Never mind about the danger.) The Battle for Cairhien is one of Jordan's best executed so far. Min, Suian, and Leanne make a fun group to follow.

The Bad: The battle scene with the Forsaken at the end feels a bit like a repeat of the previous, and a little bit unimaginative. It's like there has to be a super-destruct giant battle mode at the end of every story, but Jordan turned the volume all the way to 10 in the second novel and hasn't figured out how to get it to 11 in the novels since. What happened to Perrin? Sure, there's plenty going on already, but even a glimpse of his wedded bliss would be nice. Too many relationships are in holding patterns. Again, it might be too hard to follow Lan/Nynaeve, Rand/Min, Rand/Elayne, Moraine/whoever, Egwene/whoever, Perrin/Fayle/Berelain all the same time, but these are months going by with some long distance pining without letters and no stoking or waning of the fires of anyone's passions.

The Takeaway: Read between book 4 and book 6 for maximum effectiveness.

With The Shadow Rising, Robert Jordan moved The Wheel of Time series out of its 'adventure' arc into a 'political' phase as the characters finally moved into positions of high authority and influence amongst different nations and cultures, and could begin the process of uniting the world to face the Last Battle. Whilst adventure storylines would continue to appear, a lot more time from this point onwards would be spent on political maneuverings. Indeed, some storylines would unfold almost entirely within a character's office as they fired off letters, received intelligence, and debated strategy. That, at this stage anyway, Jordan is able to make this readable and compelling is a testament to his often-underrated storytelling skills.

The fifth book in The Wheel of Time opens by picking up the storylines from the previous volume. Rand has convinced several of the Aiel clans to accept him as their chief-of-chiefs, and he makes preperations to lead them back into the Westlands. However, his task is complicated when the Shaido clan rejects him and launches a devastating invasion of the kingdom of Cairhien. Rand is forced to take his troops in pursuit before he can secure the loyalty of the remaining neutral clans, leaving his forces exposed to possible attack on two sides. Meanwhile, Nynaeve, Elayne, Thom and Juilin have extracted themselves from the civil war in Tarabon but now face the task of crossing the hostile nation of Amadicia, the stronghold of the Children of the Light and a country where channelling is outlawed. At the same time, a fanatic claiming to be the 'Prophet of the Dragon' is ravaging the kingdom to the north, Ghealdan. Back in Tar Valon, the Aes Sedai have splintered into opposing factions, with Elaida seizing control of the White Tower and a 'Tower-in-Exile' opposed to her rule establishing itself elsewhere, but the latter's stance towards Rand is unclear. Finally, the Forsaken are preparing a trap to neutralise Rand once and for all.

There's certainly a lot going on in The Fires of Heaven and Jordan mostly handles these storylines with aplomb, switching between them to stop things getting stale and delivering a relentless pace to Rand, Mat and Egwene's story, which has them chasing the Shaido hundreds of miles and culminating in the biggest battle in the entire series (to date, anyway). However, the first few cracks in the series' structure are becoming apparent. Given the distances traversed by Rand in his story, Jordan had to find a way of slowing down Elayne and Nynaeve's trip across a much smaller area so events would converge as he needed them to. His solution was to whack them in a very slow-moving circus as it traverses Amadicia, which leads to the first chapters in the entire series so far which don't actually seem to advance plot or character, but merely keep things ticking over for some of the characters. With events proceeding pretty rapidly elsewhere, the cutting-away to Elayne learning to walk a tightrope or Nynaeve being followed around by the lovelorn circus-owner really kills the pace of the book, making it a sluggish read in places. Some readers may also bemoan the lack of any appearance by Perrin in this book. Whilst Jordan had downplayed some characters' appearances in previous novels (Rand in the third, most notably), this is the first time one of the major characters from the first book doesn't appear at all.

Jordan makes up for these issues with the ferocious climax. At the end of the book Rand unleashes a blitzkrieg as a huge battle is fought with the Shaido and he has to face down two of the Forsaken in separate, desperate duels with the One Power. During these few chapters an enormous number of important events in the series take place, several important new characters are introduced and no less than five recurring characters are (apparently) killed off. This section of the book really repays careful rereads, as you can see how Jordan impressively set up events ahead of time. In fact, this may be the most dynamic part of the entire series to date and makes for great reading. However, be warned that a fairly big mystery is introduced at the end of Book 5 that has still not been conclusively answered more than 15 years later, although Brandon Sanderson has promised us a definitive answer in the final book of the series.

The Fires of Heaven (****) is a solid installment of the series, with a sometimes leaden pace and a very tedious subplot (the circus) more than made up for by the highly impressive climax and the way Jordan deftly spins the series' course onto a new heading (although this also lays the seeds for some extremely dubious writing decisions in the books to come).

We come to the fifth book of the sequence and we can see that there is pressure to start bringing us to a conclusion. One that Jordan will again fight and sidestep around so that the series grows.

We have had in most of the books so far three streams. In the first when the party splits after being chased in Shadar Logoth, it has set us up for this sequence in all the others. But here one of the three, which might have been a conscious play on three Tevern, though often those three combined in some way, one whole third is missing. Perrin.

That makes this one of the weaker books.

It is a book about movement. Get from the Aiel waste to the land of the Kingdoms. We have had that before, but it seems when we have, we have been grounded in places. Here, that is at the beginning and the end.

We are introduced to exciting characters, Valan Luca and the menagerie, what fun. But again the story is so large Aludra returns, has met Thom before, and Jordan drops the ball by not having them recognize each other.

Galad takes more depth, and here we start to question relationships. Did not Galad and Rand share a mother? Will that not come into play? When?

But I said how things look like they could be finished at the end of the book. We have a powerful group of Aes Sedai with an army growing. We have the old Sheniaran companions of Rand growing an army, we have an army of Aiel, and we have an army of kingdom men following Rand, and more in the last few pages. We keep killing Forsaken.

So we can get to the big battle in the next. But we won't.

Too many ideas. Have to make sure every single one is fed to the faithful and noting left out. This book also spawns the rudeness that was Robert Jordan in the great RAFO-Asmodean dilemma. I have read and not found out more than a half dozen times. You can only guess at the answer. Jordan and his Hubris make this one of the worst of the series.

Another example of his Hubris. A city surrounded by, after several days of siege, 160,000 warriors. Walls may give an advantage of 5 to 1, so there has to be over 30,000 defenders inside, but that is never written. Further, until this battle, those 160,000 enemy, Aiel, could easily take on any two regular kingdom soldiers. It was only the better warriors who could face them fair.

Rand Brings over 300,000 Aiel spears, and there is another 160,000 undecided. In the midst of all this, the only kingdom soldiers a few thousand, under Mat, are roaming the battlefield with a mission.

The numbers of the Aiel in relation to all we know of the world are out of proportion. In relation to all we know of those who were to follow and who remained behind. The battle is also hyperbole in that we do not have a map, so a unit is in a gully, surrounded by hills, a light forest hiding them. This is all on the plains in front of a walled city. Jordan wanted to talk about a great fight, and though a student of military history, did little to give us a believable battlefield, or battle.

So why read this, because you have to read it to get to the rest. There is good stuff in it. And more good to follow. It adds depth to the rich world, but it certainly looks like it was written with add a careful plan on how to bring us to a conclusion. The objectives were met by bringing Rand to the Kingdoms with the Aiel, and setting up a Tower dedicated to fighting the fight that Rand has to fight. But so much more should have been done. And, where is Perrin?

NOTE: This review contains some spoilers, so I would not suggest reading this review if you haven't read this book just yet . . .

The fifth installment of Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series immediately picks up where The Shadow Rising left off, so those who haven't read the first four books before this one will be very confused.

Anyway, the story continues as Rand, Egwene, Mat, Moiraine, Lan, Aviendha, and the people of Rhuidean move West into Cairhien to stop the Shaido Aiel from destroying it. Meanwhile, Nynaeve, Elayne, Thom, and Juilin continue their search for the Forsaken while disguising themselves as performers in an active menagerie. A few chapters also involve Queen Morgase of Andor, Siuan Sance, Leane, and Logain. They're short but they are still very important to the overall story.

As I've said before in my previous reviews of Books One through Four, this is a fantastic fantasy series. It is vastly complex with its plot, characters, places, and a distinctive magic system. The characters, especially are what makes this story interesting. Rand al'Thor, Moiraine Damodred, Aviendha, Egwene al'Vere, Mat Cauthon, Asmodean, Valan Luca, Rhuarc, Queen Morgase, and countless others have their very own personalities: no one's completely the same (except for some minor characters). Mat Cauthon, especially, has become an immensely popular character over the years. His pure luck, his passion for gambling, and his appearance (green silk coat, wide-brimmed hat, fox-headed medallion, and spear) makes him one of the most recognizable figures in fantasy fiction.

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I think everyone who's read the book knows what's good about it: (memorable characters, complex histories and mythologies, humor, etc.). So I'll skip the good side, and focus on what's awful about it, at least in my opinion . . .

Like every other book that's out there, The Fires of Heaven does have its flaws. One of it deals with the pacing. In the first four books, the pace was just fine. In nowhere were they really too fast or too slow. But here in the fifth volume, almost everything seems to slow down for the first time. The number of plots and sub-plots are at a very high level (though not as high as the more countless ones in Books 8 through 10), there are a whole lot of things going on, so it takes time to understand everything. The second flaw on the list comes from the character Aviendha. Now, she as a character isn't the problem. She is indeed complex and fairly likeable. Her constant reminder to Rand, however, became almost painful. Whenever she tells Rand that he "belongs to Elayne," I felt like telling her, "He gets it! I get it! WE get it! You don't have to say it page after page!" This happens in The Shadow Rising as well. Thank God she stops in the second half of the book.

And speaking of Elayne and Rand, I can't get anything out of this couple. So they meet at Caemlyn for such a short time in The Eye of the World, and then in The Shadow Rising, Elayne and Rand admit that they're both in love with each other? I'm sorry, but I don't see any real relationship between the two, except for the "love at first sight" ploy. Rand would be better off only with Aviendha, (or Egwene, but that won't happen. I guess we'll find out who Rand will REALLY end up in the last volume).

Another flaw in the Fires of Heaven (hell, in the ENTIRE series) is the character Nynaeve. I know she's supposed to be a character that we can somewhat admire despite her big temper. In truth, I found her to be one of the most annoying characters in the series, and in fantasy fiction in general. She gets mad in almost every chapter that she's in, and her personality does feel forced at times. The scenes in which Nynaeve feels extremely miserable after she couldn't rescue Birgitte in time was especially irritating. Birgitte should've done something much worse to her, just to get her to understand that Birgitte is still alive, and that mistakes do happen. And let's not forget about her relationship with Lan, Moiraine's Warder. Where the heck did that come from anyway?! Like Rand and Elayne, I just don't understand how they were able to fall in love. Nynaeve and Valan Luca would be more sensible than this!

And finally, here's the one that hits hard . . . the absence of Perrin! Why isn't he in the fifth volume? He's ta'veren: he's supposed to be as important as Rand and Mat. But he's only mentioned in a few pages. Jordan could've at least trimmed down Nynaeve and Elayne's plot and written about fifty pages about Perrin, Faile, Loial, and the conflicts in the Two Rivers. But we're only left with brief mentions from different characters. A shame, really.

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With all these flaws, you would think that I would give this three stars instead of four. Well, I'm just being nice . . . for now. I have thoroughly enjoyed The Wheel of Time (except when it comes to Book 10), and I can look past the flaws, if not completely. All in all, The Fires of Heaven is still an enticing read, and it's much better than the later volumes.

Grade: B+

While I've only read this first book, and am part way through an Audible version of the second, I must say I am disappointed by the lack of depth and dimensionality to the younger characters thus far, and surprised because most all the previous reviews of the series have been so glowing. The story seems somewhat juvenile in perspective in Jordan's rendering of the main 3 boys. Their ongoing immaturity (and internal process) grow tiring which is not an endearing characteristic, considering they are the protagonists. It leaves the impression the series is written for children, not unlike Harry Potter. Hopefully this will improve, or I may not make it much further into the series.

Beyond this, the world they dwell in his somewhat well constructed, though the whole doesn't measure up to Tolkien's total rendering of Middle Earth, its languages and the layers of ages he created in the LOTR/Simarillian/Hobbit, etc. Perhaps I expect too much from Mr. Jordan, and though the comparisons are commonly made, I don't see it. Not in the same league to me at all!

This book is my least favorite of the Wheel of Time so far, having
just finished A Crown of Swords (Book 7). That being said, it was
highly entertaining, continued the illumination of the world where it
takes place, and contains plenty of action. In short, I loved it, but
I just didn't love it quite as much as The Shadow Rising, or Lord of
Chaos. Nevertheless my recommendation is to keep reading.

This book does follow the "pick up and leave" formula of the previous
four books, this time starting out from Rhuidean, with Rand and the
Aiel heading back to Cairhien, and warring with the Shaido, in picking
up from the ashes of The Shadow Rising. There is much explication of
the workings of the power with Asmodean, a very interesting character,
and of course Lanfear is still afoot. Rand's relationship with
Aviendha develops more and things take surprising twists that are not
resolved in this book. Mat is developed very highly as a character: I
really started to like him in this book. Nynaeve and Elayne make
their way back to the tower unknowing of the schism precipitated by
Siuan's deposing. Perrin is totally absent. This was a surprising
choice to me, but I barely noticed, and the way it was done (there are
visits to the Two Rivers in the dream world) was artful.

The big one was this: Nynaeve and Elayne join a circus. Now when I
first read this, I was furrowing my brow trying to think if this was
really as silly as it seems. After having read the next two books, I
realize it makes a lot of sense: Jordan's depiction of the world he
has created includes all aspects, which is what makes it great. One
of those aspects is the arts that he depicts. One of the biggest
characters of The Eye of the World is a gleeman; gleeman, poets,
musicians and so on take particularly large roles in these stories.
After considering that, seeing Elayne and Nynaeve in contact with a
traveling show made sense. It also makes sense in the political
context where Jordan presents it. I don't mind so much after a little
thought. Definitely not a reason to stop after The Shadow Rising.

The ending of this book (that is, the last 200 pages) is the big
action sequence, where we don't just get the usual big fight with the
Forsaken, but three (count 'em, 3!) huge battles take place.
Furthermore two major characters are done in during a sequence that
still haunts me. If Wheel of Time movies are made, I will watch this
scene over and over.

For being such a long book (nearly 1000 pages in my trade paperback copy), amazingly little happens in The Fires of Heaven, and this is why so many readers have abandoned this otherwise interesting story. Approximately the first third of the novel contains so much recap and repetition that, if I'd had "my hair in a proper braid," I would have been yanking it as often as Nynaeve does.

The formula for the first 100 pages or so goes something like this: One or two lines of dialogue, two paragraphs of backstory, another line of dialogue, another couple of paragraphs of backstory... It felt like the proverbial "one step forward, two steps back!"

I managed to stick with it, though, only because I was listening to it on audiobook (and therefore only half listening while I accomplished something else at the same time) and because I wanted to write a review. Besides, I found it immensely entertaining when I could complete Robert Jordan's sentences for him... <<Heavy sigh>>...

In The Fires of Heaven, we never see Perrin or Faile, which is fine with me. There is an interesting plot-line involving Siuan Sanche, Logain, and Gareth Bryne. Rand's adoption of Asmodean is entertaining, too -- I like that we're not really sure which side Asmodean and Lanfear are on. The plot does finally move forward a bit, but it takes way too long to do so. The book could have easily been cut to half its size and been better for it. If I had been the editor, I would have taken a blue pen to all instances of:
* females obsessing about the modesty of their clothing
* males obsessing about the modesty of female clothing
* needless skirt smoothing and straightening
* silk clinging to hips and breasts
* shivering or sweating that has nothing to do with the weather
* disgusted talk about not understanding the opposite sex
* braid pulling, tugging, and yanking
* sniffing
* thoughts or actual instances of bottoms being switched or spanked
* Nynaeve's cat fights

I would also have fixed these sentences (because they don't mean what Mr Jordan meant them to mean):
* "From the shine in Siuan's blue eyes, she had learned something."
* "From the horrified look on Mat's face, he was gathering his strength to run."
* "From the noise roaring out of the inn, the crowd inside was big enough to hide an army."
* "One man, a tall fellow in a ragged red coat that had belonged to someone else once by its green and gold embroidery, ran out in front of the others on long legs, shaking a wood axe overhead."
* "More like a palace, by the number of pages."

At this point, I'm quickly loosing patience as The Wheel of Time quickly looses steam. That's a shame, because the story itself is very good -- but it's just too hard to extract it from the dross.

The Wheel of Time is probably the best-known and most widely read fantasy series other than The Lord of the Rings.
When book one (The Eye of The World) was published in 1988 or 1989, it created a sensation -- a tremendous first volume that had the usual good-evil battle and tons of action but also was filled with magic, history, politics, sociology, cultural background and realistic characters.
When I re-read the first five books, I was amazed at the details of history and politics that Jordan provided in his world. Jordan also has numerous protagonists, not just one or two primary ones like many other fantasy writers. Moreover, the series features strong men and, through their magical abilities and powerful personalities, stronger women. Jordan has been rightly lauded for the prominent and powerful roles he created for the female characters.
The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven followed and created a tremendous series such that The New York Times noted that Jordan had come to dominate the genre that Tolkien made famous.
The Fires of Heaven is the most action-packed book of the series, with few dull moments and an explosive ending. The various protagonists continue their development, especially Mat (as a war commander) and Egwene. Rand continues to be pulled in many directions, but needs some help from his allies to survive.
Nonetheless, this book is NOT a preview of things to come -- The Fires of Heaven's plot twists near the end (especially the most important one that would be a HUGE spoiler) are barely examined in books 6-9.
Unfortunately, starting with Lord of Chaos (book 6), Jordan's creation became unwieldy. Instead of concentrating on following the themes and story-threads of books 1-5 (which combined are more than 3500 pages, hardcover), he created new storylines, bogged down the narrative and halted the pace of the epic. Book 8 in particular is an unmitigated disaster -- 650 pages (hardcover) with almost no progress to the story. Book 9 began to jump-start the narrative once again.
The series is at 10 books (the tenth will be published in January 2003) and growing (13 total possible -- it's a common numerical theme in the books), thus the last volume will be published in 2006, at the earliest.
Other than the final chapters of Lord of Chaos (book 6), this is the last of the good WoT books published to date. The Fires of Heaven is the blood-and-guts installment -- it has the highest body count, much war, scheming, conquest, hunting the evildoers, a couple of surprises and a fiery finish (hence the name). By the time you read this volume, you will most likely be addicted to the series as a whole; but if you hadn't made it this far, be forewarned that the pace, storyline, action and development slow down considerably in books 6-8.

The Wheel of Time turns and brings Volume 5 of the saga. The Fires of Heaven (TFOH) is IMHO the peak of the Wheel saga; it's all downhill thereafter. But TFOH is well worth reading. The politics of the White Tower muddy the waters, even as Rand's efforts to rally all the People of the Dragon gather momentum. The essence of the Aiel, the various warrior societies and their mission in the series become more clear with every revelation of their way of life and the fascinating honor code concept of Ji'e'toh. Egwene's apprenticeship among the Aiel and Aviendha's task of teaching Rand serve as windows for us to try and grasp the Aiel way of life. The battle scenes in TFOH are easily the best of the lot so far. Sadly, it's the same battle scenes that indicate RJ is following the bad trend of many authors and leaving huge blanks for the reader to fill in; is it because of laziness? See the description of the desperate battle between the Shaido and Rand's forces, with Mat battling for all he is worth even as Couladin himself comes against Mat's position. What happens? We only get a third party anecdote, several pages later, telling of the outcome, not a blow by blow account. Is this a new literary device? For a reader, such disjointed narratives are very annoying. Padan Fain appears and disappears yet again in yet another avatar and I for one do not understand where exactly he fits into the saga; sometimes I wonder if RJ himself is very clear about this aspect. The rousing climax is superb; unfortunately it is preceded by the interminable description of Elayne and Nynaeve's odyssey. Starting with dubious premises, this odyssey seems to have become self-sustaining with every possible logical ending becoming a new excuse for the tour to continue. The endless dissension between them also becomes stale and tiresome; after the way RJ has developed their characters in the previous books, this sudden descent into juvenile snappishness is paradoxical. Worse, RJ stretches the point to breaking. Where was the editor of this book? I still give the book 4 stars because of its clear strengths. I will not give RJ a 5 however till he comes up with better cartography.

Well I finished book 5 The Fires of Heaven and all I can say is that it is great. Rand and Aviendha's some what relationship took a step up. I wondered if something was going to happen between Rand and Aviendha (and it did). I can't what to see what happens when Elayne finds out. (personaly if I was Rand and all these women threw themself's at me I would go for it. what the hell you only live once), it looks like Min's prediction of 3 women falling in love with Rand has come true, the 3 women are Min, Elayne.and Aviendha, ( even if Aviendha hasn't admited it out loud, I could be wrong about Aviendha since I'm only on book 6 but at this point I'm sure it's Aviendha) It looks like Nynaeve and Egwene's relationship has turned around and Egwene is standing up to Nynaeve and becoming a (in my opinion) know-it-all plus she is be coming inpatient with her teachers and doesn't seem to care about the dangers as long as she learns everything. I'm glad that the Wise Ones punished her and showed her that she doesn't know as much as thinks she does. Egwene needs to learn to take directions and orders even if she doesn't like it, it is for her own good. I personaly would let her do what she wants and learn the hard way like Nynaeve did when she got lucky and beat Moghedien who was a Chosen One the first time she got cocky and thought she could bet any of them she was given a lesson the hard way then 2nd time and bearly bet her the 3rd time. Morraine looks to be dead and so does Lanfear it would not surprise me if Morraine some how comes back. ( I hope not) all in all a very good book. cheack it out you'll be glad you did.

The rampant problems that infest the Wheel of Time series at this stage are those that any competent editor could have caught and fixed. Jordan's working relationship with his editor/wife must have changed in some capacity, for this book to exist in the form it does. Was this one even edited? Every interaction between women makes for truly miserable reading. I cannot imagine the motivations Jordan had for making every woman a bickering bitch.

The fault lies in the editing process, honestly, not Jordan's shortcomings. He has an awesome story to tell, but he castrates it with all these loathsome women. He may indeed have enjoyed writing this book, but if so, something tells me the less I know about this author’s life, the better. No well-adjusted adult behaves like this.

BOOK 6 COMIN RIGHT UP! I’m doing it to myself, man.

Temporarily out of reading material, I happened to pick up two books, the first in Robert Jordan`s Wheel of Time series, and George R. R. Martin's 'Game of Thrones'. I read the Jordan book first and was very disappointed, especially knowing that I was going to attempt to read the entire series. But, I looked at all the books that he had put out and figured with all that writing he HAD to have gotten better with practice. Then I read 'Game of Thrones'. My god, read that book. It is amazing. Anyway, back to WOT. Having just finished volume five I feel I have to comment. Who are all these people giving these books 9's and 10's? I dont care about the length of the series or the books themselves, as long as the story MOVES. The story drags, even though there are some nice scenes hidden here and there. The characters remain one-dimensional, the soap-opera tendencies are overblown, and Jordan has a SERIOUS case of David Eddings disease (his cutsey men vs. women arguments). And judging by the comments of others, I am not the only one finding this three women sharing Rand a bit disturbing. Is there any real suspense in this series? I dont think so. Is Rand REALLY going to go mad? No. Is anyone we care about going to die? No. Is the Dark Lord going to win in the end? No. Has this series broken any new ground in any way? No. Looking ahead, even fans are moaning about the next two volumes of the series, not a good sign when I am not exactly enthralled already. My recommendation: if you haven't started this series, don't. Read Tolkien, read Donaldson, read Martin, hell even read Eddings first series. Stay away. All who enter are damned.

It took me a long time to get around to reading this. In fact, I had to force myself to read it. After reading the first four books, each as long as this one, I was quite burned out on it. However, once I did pick it up and start reading it, it all came back to me and I mostly enjoyed it. I think this book has good and bad points.
For one thing, everyone argues. A lot. You would think that all the trials and hardship they've gone through with and for each other, that it would bring them closer together. That's not the case. Instead, the characters are constantly at each other's throats. The women all think that Rand can't do anything right and get mad at him all the time, sometimes for no reason that I can discern. I found myself wondering if Robert Jordan perceives all women to be that way, since that is the way all the women in his books are. Rand has no idea what he's doing wrong in the women's eyes, and continues to act like a spoiled prince, while Elayne really is a spoiled princess. Nynaeve's stubbornness is unreasonable, and so is Aviendha's anger.
On the other hand, there is more to the characters than meets the eye. You just don't get to see that much of it, and it doesn't come out much in their reactions to other characters. Also, since the books are so long, and it seems like such a long time since they left home, it's hard to remember that Rand, Matt, and Egwene are only teenagers. I'm not sure what Nynaeve's excuse is, though.
We don't see much of Matt in this story, although he plays a more important part later into the story, and nothing of Perrin that I recall. I think Perrin should have had some part in this story, as he is part of the important trio with Rand and Matt. It's been so long since I read the other books, I'm not really sure I remember what happened to him, and seeing him again would have been nice. This time the story centers on Rand, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Aviendha.
Rand is trying to bring the tribes from the Aiel Waste together, and bring down the False Car'a'carn, Couladin. He also thinks that he's starting to go mad. Egwene is continuing her training with the Aiel Wise One's and is learning how to dreamwalk in Tel'aran'rhiod. Nynaeve and Elayne talk to Egwene through Tel'aran'rhiod, and are also hunting one of the Black Ajah.
All in all, I don't see that there is much to distinguish this book from the others in the series I have read so far. It's not horrible, and it's not great. It seems more that it is just a step along the way. I think it could've been a much shorter step. If you plan on continuing with the series, you'll have to read this book.

Ah...here is a book you can slam down on someone's leg and break it. The sheer size of "Fires" is impressive, so I snuggled down to chew this one up, prepared for the literary ride of my life.... and found that this book has nothing. There is no content in this book that can explain the 800 plus pages. I somehow finished it and to this day, can't remember a thing that was in it. All I recall is the ending was great, the last 50 or so pages were tremendous, but everything else was a waste of paper. What got accomplished in this book? I can't recall anything in this book, whatever emotions I had...who knows? All I remember thinking is that Mr.Jordan should have ended this series long ago, with book 3. Instead, he insists on churning out huge volume after huge volume, and expects people (rightfully so, because they are) to eat these books up. I'm sorry, but 8 volumes of this is too much. I made it to "Lord of Chaos" but gave up after that. Book 1 was great, book 2, book 3...and then it started to dwindle away, to utter monotony and repetitive, bone-dry BORING fantasy. "Fires of Heaven" may be considered a classic by Jordan fans, but I feel like a threw down _ bucks for a large block of paper. Utter boredom, disappointment in where this series went. Mr.Jordan, END IT.

If you like the series, there is no reason to stop with book four, but if you are getting tired of the series then don't bother reading The Fires of Heaven.
First, the reasons to read the book:
There is a surprising betrayal - a darkfriend in their midst.
Matt achieves much personal glory.
There is a huge battle.
They don't do as much of their corny foul language like "Burn me!"
One of the seven main characters dies.
One of the seven main characters has sex.
Now, for the reasons to not read the book:
The events above are not as interesting as they sound. The sense of wonder in The Eye of the World is gone. The feeling of discovering a new world is gone.
The suspense is gone. For example, the characters no longer have to rest in order to recharge their ability to channel like Moraine did in The Eye of the World. Sometimes they will just keep channeling spectacular feats all day long. There are no suspenseful chases or escapes.
The characters torment each other even more than before.
The women are even more bossy than before.
Perrin does not appear in the whole book.
Predictably, Rand learns more from Asmodean, but he still hasn't made an effort to learn how to block women from channeling because he needed a woman to practice on, and he was too proud to ask. What a jerk!
We learn that Rand can't hurt a woman even if it means death and suffering for all women for all eternity. That's OK with him just as long as no woman is hurt by him personally. What a jerk!
Balefire works really well, so they decide they had better not use it. What a bunch of jerks!

Despite the fact that the extremely famous Wheel of Time series seems to have lost some popularity with fans by the 10th book, this is a good epic (at least for the first 5 books I've read so far). Just like Tolkien allegedly created his world to explore the various invented languages, so too it seems that one of the motivations behind Jordan's creation is to suggest how mythology is born, lived and forgotten. As a result, the Wheel of Time world is centred on the idea of the revolving wheel where the succession of ages, is circular. The series contains a very well thought out universe and mythology as well as interesting characterisation and good writing. I don't really consider fantasy a favourite genre but this series has been good at least in the beginning.

This fifth book is better than the previous two in that it contains much more action Rand-wise (whereas the previous ones had several hundred of pages of him moping). After the end of the last book, he finally has his own people the Aiel and he finally begins to take action, weaving around the politics of Aiel customs, his commitments to his friends and the guilt of having them involved as well as machinations from the Forsaken.

The frustrating part is largely the other characters: Elayne, Nynaeve, Siuan etc. who are all scattered throughout the land and go on their epic journeys which are tedious at times. That and the gender politics of the Wheel of Time are increasingly frustrating as the men are bumbling fools and the women unfeeling dominatrixes (or at least most characters fall into one of those two broad generalisations). The mechanics of the new divided Tower is always interesting but there is quite a bit of what I found to be very frustrating.

Apparently the next book (6) is very good and then it goes downhill until 11. This one still doesn't seem as drawn-out and scattered-with-plot-openings as the next ones probably are, but there are still plenty of Jordan's quirks which become tiresome after several thousand pages. Whether you persevere depends on how much you like the world he's created. If you forego a significant amount of annoyance, there's still a good tale to be told here!

The fifth volume in the WoT series is the one where it becomes more or less official that Jordan is juggling too many subplots. For an entire book he loses track of one of his central characters, Perrin. And yet he really isn't doing anything to resolve all these storylines, instead he's building up more. In this book, for instance, Morgase runs away from her court to try to reclaim real power from Gaebril, a development that goes nowhere in this book but presumably will be used in future volumes. At the end, a character is murdered, leading to a mystery that will have to be unraveled at some future point. And, as in #4, another Seanchan character is introduced, then led offstage - where I can't really believe she'll stay - at the end of the book.

In this book, we have too little real plot advancement and far too much display of general bitchiness from Nynaeve, Elayne, Siuan, and Aviendha, all of whom act like they have PMS 24/7.

In spite of this, the book works pretty well. That's partly because it has a real ending, which #4 largely lacked. As part of that ending, a character is killed off who we had thought of as too central to the plot to die. But there's a bit of mystery, leading to the possibility that he/she might still be alive. The death isn't without elements of mawkishness, but I still found it moving enough to upgrade my opinion of the book as a whole, which probably would only have gotten 3 stars otherwise.

Incidentally, if you haven't already read the book, skip over the review directly under this in chronological order, written by someone who hasn't grasped the basic principal that reviews aren't supposed to include major spoilers.

This book is my least favorite of the Wheel of Time so far, having
just finished A Crown of Swords (Book 7). That being said, it was
highly entertaining, continued the illumination of the world where it
takes place, and contains plenty of action. In short, I loved it, but
I just didn't love it quite as much as The Shadow Rising, or Lord of
Chaos. Nevertheless my recommendation is to keep reading.

This book does follow the "pick up and leave" formula of the previous
four books, this time starting out from Rhuidean, with Rand and the
Aiel heading back to Cairhien, and warring with the Shaido, in picking
up from the ashes of The Shadow Rising. There is much explication of
the workings of the power with Asmodean, a very interesting character,
and of course Lanfear is still afoot. Rand's relationship with
Aviendha develops more and things take surprising twists that are not
resolved in this book. Mat is developed very highly as a character: I
really started to like him in this book. Nynaeve and Elayne make
their way back to the tower unknowing of the schism precipitated by
Siuan's deposing. Perrin is totally absent. This was a surprising
choice to me, but I barely noticed, and the way it was done (there are
visits to the Two Rivers in the dream world) was artful.

The big one was this: Nynaeve and Elayne join a circus. Now when I
first read this, I was furrowing my brow trying to think if this was
really as silly as it seems. After having read the next two books, I
realize it makes a lot of sense: Jordan's depiction of the world he
has created includes all aspects, which is what makes it great. One
of those aspects is the arts that he depicts. One of the biggest
characters of The Eye of the World is a gleeman; gleeman, poets,
musicians and so on take particularly large roles in these stories.
After considering that, seeing Elayne and Nynaeve in contact with a
traveling show made sense. It also makes sense in the political
context where Jordan presents it. I don't mind so much after a little
thought. Definitely not a reason to stop after The Shadow Rising.

The ending of this book (that is, the last 200 pages) is the big
action sequence, where we don't just get the usual big fight with the
Forsaken, but three (count 'em, 3!) huge battles take place.
Furthermore two major characters are done in during a sequence that
still haunts me. If Wheel of Time movies are made, I will watch this
scene over and over.

For being such a long book (nearly 1000 pages in my trade paperback copy), amazingly little happens in The Fires of Heaven, and this is why so many readers have abandoned this otherwise interesting story. Approximately the first third of the novel contains so much recap and repetition that, if I'd had "my hair in a proper braid," I would have been yanking it as often as Nynaeve does.

The formula for the first 100 pages or so goes something like this: One or two lines of dialogue, two paragraphs of backstory, another line of dialogue, another couple of paragraphs of backstory... It felt like the proverbial "one step forward, two steps back!"

I managed to stick with it, though, only because I was listening to it on audiobook (and therefore only half listening while I accomplished something else at the same time) and because I wanted to write a review. Besides, I found it immensely entertaining when I could complete Robert Jordan's sentences for him... <<Heavy sigh>>...

In The Fires of Heaven, we never see Perrin or Faile, which is fine with me. There is an interesting plot-line involving Siuan Sanche, Logain, and Gareth Bryne. Rand's adoption of Asmodean is entertaining, too -- I like that we're not really sure which side Asmodean and Lanfear are on. The plot does finally move forward a bit, but it takes way too long to do so. The book could have easily been cut to half its size and been better for it. If I had been the editor, I would have taken a blue pen to all instances of:
* females obsessing about the modesty of their clothing
* males obsessing about the modesty of female clothing
* needless skirt smoothing and straightening
* silk clinging to hips and breasts
* shivering or sweating that has nothing to do with the weather
* disgusted talk about not understanding the opposite sex
* braid pulling, tugging, and yanking
* sniffing
* thoughts or actual instances of bottoms being switched or spanked
* Nynaeve's cat fights

I would also have fixed these sentences (because they don't mean what Mr Jordan meant them to mean):
* "From the shine in Siuan's blue eyes, she had learned something."
* "From the horrified look on Mat's face, he was gathering his strength to run."
* "From the noise roaring out of the inn, the crowd inside was big enough to hide an army."
* "One man, a tall fellow in a ragged red coat that had belonged to someone else once by its green and gold embroidery, ran out in front of the others on long legs, shaking a wood axe overhead."
* "More like a palace, by the number of pages."

At this point, I'm quickly loosing patience as The Wheel of Time quickly looses steam. That's a shame, because the story itself is very good -- but it's just too hard to extract it from the dross.

The Wheel of Time is probably the best-known and most widely read fantasy series other than The Lord of the Rings.
When book one (The Eye of The World) was published in 1988 or 1989, it created a sensation -- a tremendous first volume that had the usual good-evil battle and tons of action but also was filled with magic, history, politics, sociology, cultural background and realistic characters.
When I re-read the first five books, I was amazed at the details of history and politics that Jordan provided in his world. Jordan also has numerous protagonists, not just one or two primary ones like many other fantasy writers. Moreover, the series features strong men and, through their magical abilities and powerful personalities, stronger women. Jordan has been rightly lauded for the prominent and powerful roles he created for the female characters.
The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven followed and created a tremendous series such that The New York Times noted that Jordan had come to dominate the genre that Tolkien made famous.
The Fires of Heaven is the most action-packed book of the series, with few dull moments and an explosive ending. The various protagonists continue their development, especially Mat (as a war commander) and Egwene. Rand continues to be pulled in many directions, but needs some help from his allies to survive.
Nonetheless, this book is NOT a preview of things to come -- The Fires of Heaven's plot twists near the end (especially the most important one that would be a HUGE spoiler) are barely examined in books 6-9.
Unfortunately, starting with Lord of Chaos (book 6), Jordan's creation became unwieldy. Instead of concentrating on following the themes and story-threads of books 1-5 (which combined are more than 3500 pages, hardcover), he created new storylines, bogged down the narrative and halted the pace of the epic. Book 8 in particular is an unmitigated disaster -- 650 pages (hardcover) with almost no progress to the story. Book 9 began to jump-start the narrative once again.
The series is at 10 books (the tenth will be published in January 2003) and growing (13 total possible -- it's a common numerical theme in the books), thus the last volume will be published in 2006, at the earliest.
Other than the final chapters of Lord of Chaos (book 6), this is the last of the good WoT books published to date. The Fires of Heaven is the blood-and-guts installment -- it has the highest body count, much war, scheming, conquest, hunting the evildoers, a couple of surprises and a fiery finish (hence the name). By the time you read this volume, you will most likely be addicted to the series as a whole; but if you hadn't made it this far, be forewarned that the pace, storyline, action and development slow down considerably in books 6-8.

The Wheel of Time turns and brings Volume 5 of the saga. The Fires of Heaven (TFOH) is IMHO the peak of the Wheel saga; it's all downhill thereafter. But TFOH is well worth reading. The politics of the White Tower muddy the waters, even as Rand's efforts to rally all the People of the Dragon gather momentum. The essence of the Aiel, the various warrior societies and their mission in the series become more clear with every revelation of their way of life and the fascinating honor code concept of Ji'e'toh. Egwene's apprenticeship among the Aiel and Aviendha's task of teaching Rand serve as windows for us to try and grasp the Aiel way of life. The battle scenes in TFOH are easily the best of the lot so far. Sadly, it's the same battle scenes that indicate RJ is following the bad trend of many authors and leaving huge blanks for the reader to fill in; is it because of laziness? See the description of the desperate battle between the Shaido and Rand's forces, with Mat battling for all he is worth even as Couladin himself comes against Mat's position. What happens? We only get a third party anecdote, several pages later, telling of the outcome, not a blow by blow account. Is this a new literary device? For a reader, such disjointed narratives are very annoying. Padan Fain appears and disappears yet again in yet another avatar and I for one do not understand where exactly he fits into the saga; sometimes I wonder if RJ himself is very clear about this aspect. The rousing climax is superb; unfortunately it is preceded by the interminable description of Elayne and Nynaeve's odyssey. Starting with dubious premises, this odyssey seems to have become self-sustaining with every possible logical ending becoming a new excuse for the tour to continue. The endless dissension between them also becomes stale and tiresome; after the way RJ has developed their characters in the previous books, this sudden descent into juvenile snappishness is paradoxical. Worse, RJ stretches the point to breaking. Where was the editor of this book? I still give the book 4 stars because of its clear strengths. I will not give RJ a 5 however till he comes up with better cartography.

Well I finished book 5 The Fires of Heaven and all I can say is that it is great. Rand and Aviendha's some what relationship took a step up. I wondered if something was going to happen between Rand and Aviendha (and it did). I can't what to see what happens when Elayne finds out. (personaly if I was Rand and all these women threw themself's at me I would go for it. what the hell you only live once), it looks like Min's prediction of 3 women falling in love with Rand has come true, the 3 women are Min, Elayne.and Aviendha, ( even if Aviendha hasn't admited it out loud, I could be wrong about Aviendha since I'm only on book 6 but at this point I'm sure it's Aviendha) It looks like Nynaeve and Egwene's relationship has turned around and Egwene is standing up to Nynaeve and becoming a (in my opinion) know-it-all plus she is be coming inpatient with her teachers and doesn't seem to care about the dangers as long as she learns everything. I'm glad that the Wise Ones punished her and showed her that she doesn't know as much as thinks she does. Egwene needs to learn to take directions and orders even if she doesn't like it, it is for her own good. I personaly would let her do what she wants and learn the hard way like Nynaeve did when she got lucky and beat Moghedien who was a Chosen One the first time she got cocky and thought she could bet any of them she was given a lesson the hard way then 2nd time and bearly bet her the 3rd time. Morraine looks to be dead and so does Lanfear it would not surprise me if Morraine some how comes back. ( I hope not) all in all a very good book. cheack it out you'll be glad you did.

The rampant problems that infest the Wheel of Time series at this stage are those that any competent editor could have caught and fixed. Jordan's working relationship with his editor/wife must have changed in some capacity, for this book to exist in the form it does. Was this one even edited? Every interaction between women makes for truly miserable reading. I cannot imagine the motivations Jordan had for making every woman a bickering bitch.

The fault lies in the editing process, honestly, not Jordan's shortcomings. He has an awesome story to tell, but he castrates it with all these loathsome women. He may indeed have enjoyed writing this book, but if so, something tells me the less I know about this author’s life, the better. No well-adjusted adult behaves like this.

BOOK 6 COMIN RIGHT UP! I’m doing it to myself, man.

Temporarily out of reading material, I happened to pick up two books, the first in Robert Jordan`s Wheel of Time series, and George R. R. Martin's 'Game of Thrones'. I read the Jordan book first and was very disappointed, especially knowing that I was going to attempt to read the entire series. But, I looked at all the books that he had put out and figured with all that writing he HAD to have gotten better with practice. Then I read 'Game of Thrones'. My god, read that book. It is amazing. Anyway, back to WOT. Having just finished volume five I feel I have to comment. Who are all these people giving these books 9's and 10's? I dont care about the length of the series or the books themselves, as long as the story MOVES. The story drags, even though there are some nice scenes hidden here and there. The characters remain one-dimensional, the soap-opera tendencies are overblown, and Jordan has a SERIOUS case of David Eddings disease (his cutsey men vs. women arguments). And judging by the comments of others, I am not the only one finding this three women sharing Rand a bit disturbing. Is there any real suspense in this series? I dont think so. Is Rand REALLY going to go mad? No. Is anyone we care about going to die? No. Is the Dark Lord going to win in the end? No. Has this series broken any new ground in any way? No. Looking ahead, even fans are moaning about the next two volumes of the series, not a good sign when I am not exactly enthralled already. My recommendation: if you haven't started this series, don't. Read Tolkien, read Donaldson, read Martin, hell even read Eddings first series. Stay away. All who enter are damned.

It took me a long time to get around to reading this. In fact, I had to force myself to read it. After reading the first four books, each as long as this one, I was quite burned out on it. However, once I did pick it up and start reading it, it all came back to me and I mostly enjoyed it. I think this book has good and bad points.
For one thing, everyone argues. A lot. You would think that all the trials and hardship they've gone through with and for each other, that it would bring them closer together. That's not the case. Instead, the characters are constantly at each other's throats. The women all think that Rand can't do anything right and get mad at him all the time, sometimes for no reason that I can discern. I found myself wondering if Robert Jordan perceives all women to be that way, since that is the way all the women in his books are. Rand has no idea what he's doing wrong in the women's eyes, and continues to act like a spoiled prince, while Elayne really is a spoiled princess. Nynaeve's stubbornness is unreasonable, and so is Aviendha's anger.
On the other hand, there is more to the characters than meets the eye. You just don't get to see that much of it, and it doesn't come out much in their reactions to other characters. Also, since the books are so long, and it seems like such a long time since they left home, it's hard to remember that Rand, Matt, and Egwene are only teenagers. I'm not sure what Nynaeve's excuse is, though.
We don't see much of Matt in this story, although he plays a more important part later into the story, and nothing of Perrin that I recall. I think Perrin should have had some part in this story, as he is part of the important trio with Rand and Matt. It's been so long since I read the other books, I'm not really sure I remember what happened to him, and seeing him again would have been nice. This time the story centers on Rand, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Aviendha.
Rand is trying to bring the tribes from the Aiel Waste together, and bring down the False Car'a'carn, Couladin. He also thinks that he's starting to go mad. Egwene is continuing her training with the Aiel Wise One's and is learning how to dreamwalk in Tel'aran'rhiod. Nynaeve and Elayne talk to Egwene through Tel'aran'rhiod, and are also hunting one of the Black Ajah.
All in all, I don't see that there is much to distinguish this book from the others in the series I have read so far. It's not horrible, and it's not great. It seems more that it is just a step along the way. I think it could've been a much shorter step. If you plan on continuing with the series, you'll have to read this book.

Ah...here is a book you can slam down on someone's leg and break it. The sheer size of "Fires" is impressive, so I snuggled down to chew this one up, prepared for the literary ride of my life.... and found that this book has nothing. There is no content in this book that can explain the 800 plus pages. I somehow finished it and to this day, can't remember a thing that was in it. All I recall is the ending was great, the last 50 or so pages were tremendous, but everything else was a waste of paper. What got accomplished in this book? I can't recall anything in this book, whatever emotions I had...who knows? All I remember thinking is that Mr.Jordan should have ended this series long ago, with book 3. Instead, he insists on churning out huge volume after huge volume, and expects people (rightfully so, because they are) to eat these books up. I'm sorry, but 8 volumes of this is too much. I made it to "Lord of Chaos" but gave up after that. Book 1 was great, book 2, book 3...and then it started to dwindle away, to utter monotony and repetitive, bone-dry BORING fantasy. "Fires of Heaven" may be considered a classic by Jordan fans, but I feel like a threw down _ bucks for a large block of paper. Utter boredom, disappointment in where this series went. Mr.Jordan, END IT.

If you like the series, there is no reason to stop with book four, but if you are getting tired of the series then don't bother reading The Fires of Heaven.
First, the reasons to read the book:
There is a surprising betrayal - a darkfriend in their midst.
Matt achieves much personal glory.
There is a huge battle.
They don't do as much of their corny foul language like "Burn me!"
One of the seven main characters dies.
One of the seven main characters has sex.
Now, for the reasons to not read the book:
The events above are not as interesting as they sound. The sense of wonder in The Eye of the World is gone. The feeling of discovering a new world is gone.
The suspense is gone. For example, the characters no longer have to rest in order to recharge their ability to channel like Moraine did in The Eye of the World. Sometimes they will just keep channeling spectacular feats all day long. There are no suspenseful chases or escapes.
The characters torment each other even more than before.
The women are even more bossy than before.
Perrin does not appear in the whole book.
Predictably, Rand learns more from Asmodean, but he still hasn't made an effort to learn how to block women from channeling because he needed a woman to practice on, and he was too proud to ask. What a jerk!
We learn that Rand can't hurt a woman even if it means death and suffering for all women for all eternity. That's OK with him just as long as no woman is hurt by him personally. What a jerk!
Balefire works really well, so they decide they had better not use it. What a bunch of jerks!

Despite the fact that the extremely famous Wheel of Time series seems to have lost some popularity with fans by the 10th book, this is a good epic (at least for the first 5 books I've read so far). Just like Tolkien allegedly created his world to explore the various invented languages, so too it seems that one of the motivations behind Jordan's creation is to suggest how mythology is born, lived and forgotten. As a result, the Wheel of Time world is centred on the idea of the revolving wheel where the succession of ages, is circular. The series contains a very well thought out universe and mythology as well as interesting characterisation and good writing. I don't really consider fantasy a favourite genre but this series has been good at least in the beginning.

This fifth book is better than the previous two in that it contains much more action Rand-wise (whereas the previous ones had several hundred of pages of him moping). After the end of the last book, he finally has his own people the Aiel and he finally begins to take action, weaving around the politics of Aiel customs, his commitments to his friends and the guilt of having them involved as well as machinations from the Forsaken.

The frustrating part is largely the other characters: Elayne, Nynaeve, Siuan etc. who are all scattered throughout the land and go on their epic journeys which are tedious at times. That and the gender politics of the Wheel of Time are increasingly frustrating as the men are bumbling fools and the women unfeeling dominatrixes (or at least most characters fall into one of those two broad generalisations). The mechanics of the new divided Tower is always interesting but there is quite a bit of what I found to be very frustrating.

Apparently the next book (6) is very good and then it goes downhill until 11. This one still doesn't seem as drawn-out and scattered-with-plot-openings as the next ones probably are, but there are still plenty of Jordan's quirks which become tiresome after several thousand pages. Whether you persevere depends on how much you like the world he's created. If you forego a significant amount of annoyance, there's still a good tale to be told here!

The fifth volume in the WoT series is the one where it becomes more or less official that Jordan is juggling too many subplots. For an entire book he loses track of one of his central characters, Perrin. And yet he really isn't doing anything to resolve all these storylines, instead he's building up more. In this book, for instance, Morgase runs away from her court to try to reclaim real power from Gaebril, a development that goes nowhere in this book but presumably will be used in future volumes. At the end, a character is murdered, leading to a mystery that will have to be unraveled at some future point. And, as in #4, another Seanchan character is introduced, then led offstage - where I can't really believe she'll stay - at the end of the book.

In this book, we have too little real plot advancement and far too much display of general bitchiness from Nynaeve, Elayne, Siuan, and Aviendha, all of whom act like they have PMS 24/7.

In spite of this, the book works pretty well. That's partly because it has a real ending, which #4 largely lacked. As part of that ending, a character is killed off who we had thought of as too central to the plot to die. But there's a bit of mystery, leading to the possibility that he/she might still be alive. The death isn't without elements of mawkishness, but I still found it moving enough to upgrade my opinion of the book as a whole, which probably would only have gotten 3 stars otherwise.

Incidentally, if you haven't already read the book, skip over the review directly under this in chronological order, written by someone who hasn't grasped the basic principal that reviews aren't supposed to include major spoilers.

Fires of Heaven is the continuation of Rand's journey after his trip to the Aiel Waste and his conquering of the Aiel peoples. Pursuing the rebel Shaido Aiel across the Spine of the World, Rand's forces march on Carhien in order to avert catastrophe. Battle scenes come into their own during this book, yet the clear trend is one so as to bring the characters into their own with regard to power. The Forsaken make appearances throughout, with each set of characters seeming to be battling a Forsaken at some point throughout the book. Rand's power increases exponentially, as he is now capable, and increasingly willing, to level vast tracts of territory with balefire to achieve his goals. Follows is Rand's assault on Camelyn as well as the removal of the subsequent storyline (for a couple of books) of a character that the WOT community has grown to love.

Grades:

Content: A
Development: A

Okay...so I've been reading this series for the first time and I just finished the Fires of Heaven. My feelings on this book are sort of back and forth...but overall I would say that this specific book was slow and poorly planned. I enjoyed the first half of the book much more than the second half. I'm not going to focus any of my attention here on the repetition of detail Jordan fills his pages with (honestly, I think it's just how he writes and I don't think it drags the story down as bad as other reviewers have expressed).
Now, I enjoy the WoT series. The depth of the world created is enough to keep me intrigued. I love the male characters and how they are developing. Jordan writes Rand's transformation with so much depth and care that his person truly becomes a living entity in paper. Matt is one of the best reluctant heroes that I have ever read, and Jordan shows just as much care toward developing him as to Rand. While it is true that Perrin (who grew as a character immensely in A Shadow Rising) was not in this book, I do not count it as negative....I don't think his presence would have made the book better (just an instinctual feeling, I guess).
When it comes to the women, I love Min...though I wish she had a more entertaining story line...she is easily the most likeable woman in the series. Elayne and Nynaeve are awful primary characters. They should have been secondary as everything they do and say is that of stock characters...predictable and repetitive with little to no development. Nynaeve does change some when she begins to admit she's actually afraid...but all it does is make her personality that much worse. Egwene is just becoming more like Nynaeve, it seems, but at least her character is developing...unlike the other women.
In the WoT, it is obvious that Jordan meant for there to be a definite divide between men and women in his world. I do not have a problem with this, but while the men are all different and separate individuals, the woman are all the same personality, just more or less of specific traits (most of those traits being negative). There really is no difference in how they think and act between each other, and it just gets old, especially when Jordan spends so much time on different things these women bicker about.
Now, all of that has been previously said by other reviewers, but my main issue with this book is that it was poorly planned. I always hate reading fantasy stories that appear to be woven out of thin air...with tons of loose ends...plots started never to be continued...and minor plots that carry throughout the series when it would be just as prudent to end them in the books they start in. I know..I know...there are quite a few more books in the series...but each book should contribute something to the whole plotline while retaining it's own individual developments and storyline. The underlying storyline of this book is mute (basically Nynaeve and Elayne are trying to get to the Tower, which turns into Salidar when they find out the Amyrlin has been overthrown... Rand goes to Cairhien and restores order...and in the mean time Matt become a general and we learn a lot about the world of dreams). All this is the bulk of the story. The introduction of Brigette would have been better if she maybe hadn't ended up being just like the other women in the story. And all of sudden in the last 100 pages, Rand is told Queen Morgase is dead, prob killed by Rahvin, so he just all of a sudden decides to to after him but before he leaves Lanfear shows up and he has to battle her. When that's done, he goes and kills Rahvin. It's just so out of the blue. We see one, maybe two chapters of life in Caemlyn...maybe a little of him when he's talking to the other Forsaken, but all of a sudden he's the major bad guy in this particular installment? And Lanfear is in this book even less and she just happens to pop in at the end for some major battle? Goodness sakes, it makes no sense. He spends almost the whole book focusing on Moghedien...and the ending between her and Nynaeve is anticlimactic. It just seems poorly planned and haphazardly patched together. I know Jordan probably has plans in the long run...but it doesn't change that this book could have used some serious content editing.
That all being said, I will still continue to plow through the series. I may not have liked this book as much as the others, but I still love the story and the male characters....I want to see where it ends.

This book was awful. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books and would give them 10's, and the third as well. The fourth started good and slowed by the end, giving signs to the decay of the story that was to become the fifth book. While the complexity of the plots and the overall storyline are attractive, Jordan has slowed the book so bad that even when Rand was battling the Shaido, I could easily put the book down for a few days. There is never a sense of suspense or panic, I was certain throughout my reading that no major character would die, it was a matter of seeing how the events played out. As for the characters themselves, the descriptions are cut and paste from one book to the next, they never evolve, and even though we no how they will react, we are reminded every other line. Jordan has also worked into the story an absolutely horrendous relationship between men and women, that is the same with every couple. No good questions are answered from the last book, and we are left with more at the end of this one. Anyone who dares rival the works of Tolkein to this verbose, out of touch writer needs to take some creative writng courses and get a good mental exam. For me, this series is done.

I'm slowly plodding along in my reread of the series, a little late, since A Memory of Light was released two days ago. Book five is one of my favorites, because even while the recycled phrases and clichés weigh down Jordan's prose, the developing characters speed the incredible epic forward. Fans of Perrin, Faile, and Loial may need to skim through this one, but other favorites flourish. Some of mine lived to see themselves become hateful, sniveling vermin *cough-Nynaeve-cough*, but at least *SPOILER* they find some redemption in the end. And by book five, it's too late to turn back. The Rubicon was some three thousand pages earlier, so I have to press on, for better or for worse, Tarmon Gai'don, screaming defiance, hocking loogies in the Sightblinder's eye, yadda yadda.

The Fires of Heaven is the first glimpse of what will plague the later novels. I had problems reading the first 500 pages, but after that the novel was great, even the parts concerning Nynaeve and Elayne. However, the first 500 pages probably took me four times as long to read as the last 480. They were slow and contained almost no action. I actually caught myself rereading sentences because I could not understood what they meant. But even the beginning was really too bad, just not as good as the second half, and the second half more than made up for the beginning.
What happens. Rand chases Coudalin into Cairhien. Mat is becoming a great general. Rand's Aiel fight the Shaido. Moraine fights Lanfear. Nynaeve fights Moghedian. Rand fights Rahvin. Who wins? The final two hundred pages are jammed packed with action and excitement. But the best part of the novel is that Faile is only mentioned once. She is without a doubt the worst character ever created. This next line is for anyone who has read the novel already.
Looking at the copyright date on the cover, it has been ten years since Jordan killed Moraine and probably twelve since Egwene's dream of Thom pulling a blue crystal out of fire. It's been ten years. When is something going to happen here.
Anyway, this is still a great novel.

The "Wheel of Time" is a wonderful fantasy series, and just about all the positive comments about Jordan and his characters are true, but it is difficult to avoid the sensation that the story bogs down within the later books, and particularly in the fifth volume, "The Fires of Heaven." The constant repetition of Aiel customs, Rand's temper tantrums, and chiches that are nerly inevitable in a project of this magnitude are at their strongest here. One gets the impression that Jordan wastes too much time with *travel*, causing one to wonder if Rand will *ever* get out of the waste or if Nynaeve and Elayne will *ever* get to Salidar. And how many boisterous inns and fat innkeepers do we have to suffer through? Do not misunderstand this criticism; Jordan is a very good writer and at least makes every chapter vivid and interesting, but the best novels in the series are the first, second, third, and seventh. Between those the sense of adventure and wonder seems to take a back seat to bureaucracy, boring journeys, and Rand's interminable temper tantrums and paranoia. In spite of that, "The Fires of Heaven" is a must-read due to its few essential elements of the overall story, and, again due to Jordan's excellent descriptive style, stands above and beyond many other rival sagas. I eagerly wait the eighth volume.

If weren't for Perrin's battle in the fourth book, "The Shadow Rising", I may have given up on this series.
While "The Fires of Heaven" isn't the page-turner that the first three "Wheel of Time" books were. It does manage to pull me back into this long epic.
My favorite character, Perrin, is barely mentioned in this book and I find the conniving, bossing and moodiness of the woman characters terribly irritating (they also scare me because I fear that those traits could be all too real).
It's the supporting characters, Thom Merrilen, Juilin, Lan, and others that make this story enjoyable.
"Wheel of Time" is defiantly a worthwhile read for fantasy fans and I do plan to read the next one. It's just too darn long. So it won't make to the top of my must-read-list.
While some huge epics out there, Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice" for example, stay vividly exciting. "Wheel of Time" seems to have a lot of filler.
Note to authors: You do know you can finish a storyline and start another in the same setting. These worlds are your creations for crying out loud.

Disclamer:This Review may be a spoiler. Also, if you didn't like the <i>The Lord Of The Rings</b> This is my favorite book!! The Aiel are the most impressive people in a book that I have ever known! The True Souce is the most discriptive power that has been writen. At a perfet par with <i>The PridyenCoranicals</i> by Lloyd Alexander. The Apprentace Adept is less intense, Tolkien is above, but only <i>slightly</i> Ilike the form, and the <b>length</b> of the books. If you don't enjoy an intense novel, filled to the brim with magic and enchanment, don't plunge in to R. Jordan. The loss of intrest during the middle of the book is a bad point, but the end is worth it. The multiyplicity of enemys and heros in astonding. The City of Ruinhidain was a magnifican addition to the Aiel part of the story. The Dark One has not reapperd in any of the dreams, which is a missed part. The Rand al' Thor trasition from the weekness of risitance to the Power is wonderful. Here is an exert from my Web Page The Wheel of Time:
by Robert Jordan
This is an admireable book coletion. The Wheel of time has Seven spokes, Each an Age.The previos age turns to legend. Legend becomes myth and even myth fades away before the age comes again.The Wheel is turned by <i>SADIN</i>, The male half of the true sourse and <i>SADAIR</i>,The female half. Some people can touch the true source. They are called Aes Sendi. Ever sencethe Dark One was relesed by the thirteen Aes Sendi, known asthe Forsaken, and traped by Lewis Therrin {<b>The DRAGON</b>} Their has been a taint on <i>SADIN</i>, making all male users of the One Power to go mad and use the power to destroy the earth. Rand al' Thor is the DRAGON REBORN. He was born on the slopes of Dragonmount and will onday defete the Dark One. The Forsaken are escapeing from Syoal Goul. The Dark One is attacing the barrier whith all his might. He is seaching for the items that can make his downfall. The eye of the world.The horn of Valere. The sword, Callanador. Rand al' Thor, Morine Aes Sendi, Perrin Aybarya, Matrim Carrborn, Nynaeve and Ewgene al' Vere are the stars of the first novel. The fight begins in <i>THE EYE OF THE WORLD</i>
<i>THE GREAT HUNT</i> <i>THE DRAGON REBORN</i>
<i>THE SHADOW RISING</i> <i>THE FIRES OF HEAVEN</i> <i>THE LORD OF CHAOS</i>
<i>A CROWN OF SWORDS</i> He is undoubtedly the greatest Author since Tolkein <b>John Brownlee</b>

There is a recurring theme in all of the reviews of the Wheel of Time books - eventually, it seems, reviewers become fed up with the slow pace and aggravating main characters and give up, with more giving up the further along in the series they go.
I'm probably at that point now. Fires of Heaven has a remarkable ending, one that gets the adrenalin flowing, but reaching that end is a long, tedious slog. Fully half of the novel - the half featuring the mind-numbing adventures of Nynaeve and Elayne - is barely readable. The portions with Rand are much better than in the previous book, but are too frequently interrupted by more of the Wimpy Women to be fully enjoyed. It is not that Jordan cannot write women . . . well, okay, he can't, but some of the best moments of Fires of Heaven come when he lets us inside the heads of Min and Siuan Sanche. But far too often the women characters spend their time complaining about men, only to place themselves in situations where men have to rescue them, all the while obsessing over how much cleavage or leg they or other women are showing. It's cute for the first few hundred pages of the first book. By the time one hits page 4000 in the series, however, it is a complete turn-off.
It took two weeks to muddle through the thousand pages of this one (and only two hours to get through the last two hundred). It is a serious question whether book six will be worth the effort.

I like the Jordan series, but the battle of the sexes is becoming fastidious. It's commendable the way Jordan has cast women into powerful roles in the series, but he has done so to a fault. It seems to me that women are not only equal to the men, but superior. The women can hardly say anything at all about the men without some dispariging remark. If the roles were reversed and the comments about the men were made about women, the series wouldn't survive. This book seems to be the culmination of predominant sexist theme in the book. The sexism is the antithesis of what we see in the real world, and it is just as irritating. The book itself is good if you can ignore this feature, or if it doesn't bother you. The idea of Elayne bonding Rand just seems absurd to me and it castrates what should be the most powerful character in the series. Of course I'll keep reading, I have too much time invested in the series to stop now.

This is the 5th book in the Wheel of Time series. As with the other books of the series, I will rate and review the book on its own merits and not be influenced by any shortcomings of other books.

First off is whether or not this book qualifies as a stand alone book. It has a clear cut beginning (Rand trying to decide what to do next after the events of the previous book). This storyline culminates in the events of Caemlyn, thus giving it a clear cut ending. I thus feel that this book is a stand alone book though much would not make sense to someone who hasn't read the previous books. There also still some unresolved threads making future books necessary as might be expected.

What I liked:

*Rand's growing strength in the power and finally growing confidence.

*Resolution of a couple of problems (even though new ones arise)

*Battles against the Forsaken, some long overdue

*Further Intrigue

*Mat's emerging skills as a tactician as well as more comedy at his expense.

*Birgitte

*Moiraine

*Lanfear

*The most argued about mystery in the whole Wheel of Time series!

What I didn't like:

*The pace slows down, particularly during the Elayne, Nynaeve, Birgitte quest. Even though some important events happen during this quest, it is still a tough read in those parts particularly when re-reading the book. I don't mind a slower pace as long as the information in it is relevant and leads to something climatic. A little more brevity in some parts would have been better. As one other reviewer alluded to, by this time in the series, we have firm pictures of the main characters in our minds and don't need a reintroduction to them or at least not THAT detailed of one.

*The complete absence of Perrin! Of the many main characters, Perrin is one of the "big three". Those three should NEVER be excluded!

In Summary:

Despite the slower pace in some parts, this book still had a lot of enjoyable moments with an exciting and emotional ending. The slow parts were still relevant and in the least gave the reader a feeling for the arduous journey that some of the characters were on. As for Perrin being absent, I must admit that I'm glad that RJ didn't throw in some filler just to include him so maybe that's not so bad after all. The slow pace and occasional over description, though was enough for me to take away one star (It was still enjoyable enough to make me feel pain in doing that, though).

Although I do generally agree with everyone else saying that the series is slowly beginning to lose some of its initial 'oomph', I must say that this book still tops the ranks of one of the best WoT books in the series.
And BTW, I do like Nynaeve so you guys can stop it with the insults about her 'braid tugging' and 'skirt smoothing'! Unfortunately, I don't quite like what Jordan has done with his characters. They started out pretty likable, with definitive characteristics and their own minds, but now I see that they've degenerated to extremes. The women as usual have almost formed their own unofficial universal Women's Circle, with Elayne, Aviendha, Egwene and the rest trying to rid the world of men (even though it's pretty obvious who they've thrown their hearts out for ...). Rand has lost all his appeal to me as the central character of the series, becoming more like a madman muttering to himself all the time, while trying to puzzle women out and defeat all the Forsaken for his 'immaculate' plans. Mat has always been irritating, so I'll just skip him, but Perrin was totally obliterated from this particular book! Sometimes, it gets pretty unnerving for someone with such a terrible memory like me to keep up with the central ppl in the story when they aren't even included in certain books... Anyway, the WoT is still THE series to read! I've already bought the next one, so I'm in no hurry to get to the end (if it ever comes! j/k Jordan! Take all your time! PLEASE!).

This series is extremely well written, in no other series have I seen characters with such attitude and personality. I live in Taiwan, and I have to wait much longer that most people who read these books. I still think that it is worth the wait though. Even though I reagard these books so highly, I managed to find three flaws in it, which is why I could not give it a perfect ten. One, in either this book, or the after it, Robert Jordan suddenly pops in the idea of Bail Fire and Nae'Blis (?). Out of know where, you all of a sudden find out about two relatively important aspects of the book. Second, every one of the female in this series has a bad temper (at least the main females), and none of their tempers have changes since the beginning of the series. Thirdly, Robert Jordan has a lot of fillers in his books, chapters that mean nothing, he is just delaying the Final Battle, GET ON WITH IT

I know this 5th book of the series is a little shorter then the 4th book. But this book felt longer to me to read. It just feels that the characters are getting old to me and that it is time to end this story. This should of been the last for sure by Jordan. But nope he goes on 7 more times. This is where I became annoyed that the story still was not over by the time I finished this book. Plus it hardly had any action. Now it still has it amazing writing and great story telling, but at the end I am ready for this series to come to an end.

I will try to keep this sort. The parts with Nyneave & Elayne are simply unbearable. I'm re-reading the series because I stopped at book 6 years ago because it trudged along to slow. Mainly because of the pointless constant bickering that goes on with Nyneave & Elayne. The parts with them take too long and there is no pay off for the "effort" it takes to read their stories. The characters take up too many pages and they are uninteresting. I don't care about them and judging by the reviews, not many others do.

Reading about Nyneave & Elayne is like listening to two 16 year old girls arguing on a cell phone. It takes forever and goes nowhere. It's petty and pointless. You can read two chapters in a row of their mindless story and have no clue what you just read or why it was important.

So I am now re-reading the series and I am skimming over their parts. I know this is literature sacrilege but so what? I enjoy the series much more now and so far I totally get the story, so I haven't missed a thing yet.

If I do I will catch the synapses on wikipedia or something.

So take my advice...ignore them. The rest of the story is great and so are the characters.

There is something, allmost inexplicably horrifying when you open the first page of the book and when you figure out that it was written in 1993. Then you make quick calcualtion, and then it stuns you. Twelve years. twelve years since book five (!?) and there is not an end anywhere close...Oh well, it seems that my grandchildren will countinue to read this saga, and they'll tell me all about it when I am blind and on my death bed....Oh well, better to say something about the book.

What can you say? This is the book five and if you're not by now into this series, you should turn around and walk away, but if you, for some reason like it (or you are just masochistic as I am) this is same stuff as any before.

It is, though, interesting, how everyone in the book, doesn't have a clue what they're doing, but they still insist on doing it, though still aware that their actions may shake the world in it's roots. Everyone goes around muttering their very own catchphrases that we learn to dislike, instead of maybe just being simpathetic with them in first book.

Oh, yeah, short summary would be necessary here, just for you to know what you're missing and what you should expect (but I'm sure you can figure that out by yourself by now). Rand is leading Aiel, whose ways he still don't understand. Mat is trying to run away from them but still cannot. Egwene is doing nothing. Nynaeve and Elayne show remarkable ammount of idiotic behaviour, and that's about it. Oh, yeah, and a big fight in the end, where another Forsaken gets dumped...

Just remember boys and girls...twelve years since then, 'till now...

The four page prologue is the most interesting part of the first half of this book. The next 300 pages are so monotonously boring, I almost threw the book in the trash. The attack on Cairhein was interesting, but then the book bogged down again because Nynaeve was constantly complaining about the same things over and over and over and over and over... The result is that the last half of the book is only slightly better than the first.
The fate of Lanfear and Moiraine were interesting. Nynaeve's confrontation and capture of Moghedien was also good. However, Rand's final confrontation with Rahvin is not only predictable, but down right formula. Every book ends with just such a confrontation against one of the Forsaken.
As I've said in my reviews of the previous books, Jordan is a fairly good story teller, but his poor writing ability constantly gets in the way.

First off, this book is not awful. It is just not that good, and this is where he starts wasting countless pages on meaningless descriptions. If you have read the first four, consider stopping. By the end of this oversized book, much of the magic of the series will be gone.

I don't know who told Jordan he was good at writing women, because he is the worst I have ever read. If real women were as snippity, hot-tempered, one-dimensional, and stupid as every single woman in this series, no one would be here.

This book also continues his over-use of phrases such as: 'but there it was', and 'so and so looks at character x as if seeing him for the first time'. He should get 10 floggings for each use of these two phrases, that will keep him on the flogging post for months. He also has a bad habit of capitilizing words/phrases that should not be. ie Nynaeve Tugs at her Braid, while Taking a Dump. Well it isn't quite that bad, but close. Actually, since he no longer cares about story and his main concern is now endless, pointless descriptive blather, I am surprised we haven't been treated to several hundred pages of one or more characters pinching off a loaf. Imagine the drama and excitement as we feel Elaynes pain as she strains and strains to no avail, and then she goes to Nynaeve for a herbal cure, and we get to learn what herbs to use for such a tragic condition.

The Wheel of Time is a deep, well fleshed out world in desperate search for an interesting story. It is not found in FoH, and the tradition not only continues, but gets exponentially worse, up to and including the worst novel ever written: Crossroads of Twilight.

This book is long. I don't like starting any kind of review like that, it simply states the facts. It is a series for people who like long, descriptive books. Still, most long descriptive books contain action. For most of this book, I was waiting for the events of the previous book, which was incredible, to be followed up on. There were the accepted on their journey after the Black Ajah, there was the new army in the Two Rivers, and there was Egwene learning about dreams. None of that was resolved until the next book. Instead, this is all about Rand travelling with the Aiel, occassionally stopping on the increasingly uninteresting travels of Nynaeve and Elayne. Still, all of that changes suddenly, when the book pull an about face, and a memorable battle occurs, leaving a suprising number of victories for the ta'varen. Like any good journey, the Wheel of Time Books are long and tedious, but the end is always worth it.

I know I'm late to the party, but the first book left me cold. The second was significant better (and I would have given up if it hadn't been); 3 & 4 were okay. But this one finally hit the mark with me. There are still a lot of people to keep up with, and that makes it hard for me to write, since I'm so busy trying to follow what's going on.

In _The Fires of Heaven_, the maturing that the characters have begun in the previous four books is really shown. Rand, while stubbornly refusing almost all the help people offer him, finds it difficult to be as tough as he pretend to be. His development is the most negative in the series, as he goes from an Everyman to a sort of uber-macho-man, the sort you can see Hemingway admiring: unemotional to the extreme. While this is understandable, it's also just the slightest bit annoying. Granted, Rand is surrounded by enemies, but he ought to figure out who his friends are. The other characters are less irritating. Perrin is absent for the entire book, presumably on some sort of extended honeymoon with his wife. While this is bad in some ways, it also gives Jordan the opportunity to focus more closely on his two remaining major plots: the Aiel matter, and the Black Ajah matter. To deal with the last first: Elayne reveals herself to be more and more a queen-to-be throughout the series. Her constant desire to be make peace and be diplomatic can get old, but that's what Nynaeve is around for. I don't know why so many people hate her-- she may be a bit tactless, but she has a heart of gold, as she shows time and again in the series. Of course, man troubles plague this book, since Nynaeve would rather be without Thom and Juilin (although they rescue her and Elayne rather neatly towards the beginning, for which they're actually *thanked*), and then they meet someone named Valan Luca, who actually falls in love with Nynaeve. There is also trouble with Moghedien, still angry that Nynaeve could match her in Tanchico; one of her cruelties in the World of Dreams makes Nynaeve become so unselfish it's almost nauseating, and a relief when she returns to her old self. With the Aiel, Egwene is learning all the twists of ji'e'toh, and maturing greatly. Aviendha's one step towards it is her semi-acceptance of her fate to never be a Maiden again, both by participating in the Cairhien battle without her spear and by the interesting scene in the Far Snows of Seanchan. Mat is amusing as always, whether shocking everyone with the knowledge he gained from the other *Finns, or when trying to escape a battle only to always find himself in the thick of it. The two huge battles towards the end of the book are very long, if you like that sort of thing, and full of non-martial observations, if you don't. And then, in the Andoran battle, there's the mysterious demise of Rand's tutor, Asmodean, which has been haunting _Wheel of Time_ fans since. There are so many great little plot details that make _The Fires of Heaven_ wonderful to read, from the use of forkroot to Rand and Lan becoming to similar to Forsaken plots. It's definitely one of the two best books in the series.

It's hard to believe that even with the fifth book, you're still not even half-ways through the massive telling that is The Wheel of Time series. And it's important that they all be read in order, you'd be hopelessly lost otherwise. So if you haven't started at the beginning, you need to go back.

Rand has been declared He Who Comes With The Dawn, The Dragon Reborn and several other titles after he fulfills some prophecies. He's expected to fight the last battle against the Dark Lord, and while he's reluctant, he knows it is destiny. Unfortunately, not all of the Aiel believe in him and they have flooded over the mountains to invade the "wetlanders" as they call them, and he must do something to stop them. But powerful minions of the Dark Lord are about as well, and he must constantly watch his back lest he be destroyed.

Rand is probably the primary character in this book, as he is in most of the books. He definitely is losing more and more of himself though. And he's barely anything like he was in the first book. A lot of that was done intentionally I know, but it would still be nice if he held onto a few glimmers of his original personality. Mat had a smaller role in this book, and while it was nice to see him, I wish it had been more than in just battles. I don't have the attention span for battle scenes and so didn't enjoy his role as much. And Perrin, well he wasn't in this book at all, which was disappointing. All the girls were as annoying as ever. They started out such good characters but Jordan has them squabbling all the time and it's distracting and somewhat insulting. Nynaeve is my favorite character, but what Jordan has done to her makes me seethe at times.

There are so many stories in this book that are weaved together that it can be hard to keep track of them sometimes. And a few are some that I didn't particularly care about. The side story for Min, while probably somewhat important, just wasn't that interesting and I would have rather it be recounted in a few paragraphs than as a primary story. Nynaeve and Elayne were a little more interesting, but as said before, their character traits made it less enjoyable than it could have been. Anything with Rand in it was strong though, and kept the story moving. Jordan has a penchant for detail and he uses it a lot in his books. So much so that this is one of the larger books in the series, and that's saying something. It isn't as much filler as you would expect for it being a middle book of the series though, a lot happens and I appreciated that. Jordan can get bogged down at times but it didn't seem to happen here.

A lot of flaws but still a very enjoyable read. If it wasn't so late I'd be diving into the next book already because I want to continue on with the story. Definitely a series for those who like detail and adventure.

The Fires of Heaven
Copyright 1993
964 pages

Review by M. Reynard 2013

There is probably little to say about this book that will be useful to the reader of this review. If you are considering reading Book 5 of the Wheel of Time saga, you probably have read the first four. In that case, I can assure you that this book is more of the same - well written, engaging, and deep. There are some specific details that might interest a reader of the series, which I'll include here.

The plot: of the "Original 7" that set off from the Two Rivers in Book #1, only 6 are included in this book. Although Perrin is probably my favourite character, his absence from this story is welcome because it also means the most annoying character (Faile) is also absent. Of the other 6, five are clustered around Rand, as he brings the Aiel (the desert-warrior race) across the mountains to invade the kingdom of Carhein and add it to the countries that have pledged allegiance to his cause. Along the way he battles Forsaken, his own demons, and the mechanations of his so-called allies. Meanwhile, Nynaeve and her group learn of the coup in Tar Valon and attempt to locate and join with the rebel Aes Sedai.

Jordan is clearly becoming a better writer (or he had a better editor?) with this book. Much of the annoying repitition of previous books has been eliminated, so we only have Nynaeve blaming Rand (or Lan) for everything 10 times instead of 100 times. Similarly, the story is more "plausible" because it doesn't rely on a series of cooincidences to get everyone back together at the end - the Original 7 are in 3 groups at the beginning, and are still in 3 groups at the end.

Finally, there has been little suspense in previous books because the Original 7 (and the other main characters) have never been in danger of dying. As a contrast, I point to Tolkien, who killed Boromir about 1/3 of the way through, which made the rest of the books more suspenseful because you never knew who might be next. Well, Jordan has finally killed someone of importance (I will not say who, obviously) in this book, although the manner of the character's death leaves open the possibility of a return (sort of like Gandalf's "death" in LotR). Even with the possibility, it should make subsequent books more interesting since Jordan has finally given us a shocking development to nudge us from our complacency with the series.

To sum up: Jordan fans are likely to be pleased with this effort. I found the writing to be better than in the previous books of the series, and the annoying characters are written in a way that makes the characters annoying without annoying the reader when reading about them.

Into the forbidden city of Rhuidean, where Rand al'Thor, now the Dragon Reborn, must conceal his present endeavor from all about him, even Egwene and Moiraine. Into the Amyrlin's study in the White Tower, where the Amyrlin, Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, is weaving new plans. Into Andor, where Siuan Sanche and her companions, including the false Dragon Logain, have been arrested for barn-burning. Into the luxurious hidden chamber where the Forsaken Rahvin is meeting with three of his fellows to ensure their ultimate victory over the Dragon. Into the Queen's court in Caemlyn, where Morgase is curiously in thrall to the handsome Lord Gaebril. For once the Dragon walks the land, the fires of heaven fall where they will, until all men's lives are ablaze.

There are many masters in high fantasy. J.R.R. Tolkien would certainly be lauded highest when it comes to development of the world in which the events he illustrates transpire. Robert Jordan, for all the criticism leveled against him for what appears to be a marketing ploy - stringing the series out as long as humanly possible to generate greater book sales - would certainly have to rank near the top for character development. His series is filled with various interesting folk with varied viewpoints and motivations. While most (decent) authors go well into detail in describing the motivations and quirks of their heroes, Jordan doesn't stop there. Even his villains are thoroughly detailed. Moghidien, for example, one of the wickedest of the fallen, has a history and personality that influences how she reacts, as well as insecurities and frailties. Good, evil, benevolent or malign, all of Jordan's characters are fully fleshed out, and we get a fair view into their minds and motivations as the drama unfolds. Yes, the world is on the simple side, and yes, the plot, of late, has lost its pace; but it's a world and plot filled with only the most fascinating of folks. At a series currently juggling over 50 characters, all unveiled over the last 10 volumes, it's a commendable and laudable feat, indeed.

Fans of Jordan's epic series of many volumes of many pages have been whinging since book six that the series seems to have no end in sight. Unfortunately, it's now a race against the clock for Jordan and his publisher, whose decision to prolong the series as long as they have may result in the work never being finished. Ironically, Rand, the hero destined to die on the slopes of the Dragonmount, may outlive his creator. Full sympathies to Jordan, and I, for one, hope he holds out long enough to complete the story he began.

While this isn't my favorite book in the series so far (as of now only 7 have been published and the 8th is coming next year) this is clearly ANOTHER masterpiece.

It has Rand realizing some of Min's visions and fulfilling several prophecies that were mentioned earlier in the series. Mat finally discovers that his luck IS useful for something afterall.

And several of the Forsaken get taken out of the picture...some for good others perhaps not for good. We see the apparent death of Moiraine and Lanfear but with several hints that they may be back at untimely moments later in the series, and Lan heading off to meet a "green sister" who Moiraine trusted with his bond. I especially liked this because it showed a "final" duel between Lanfear and Rand, Rand and Rahvin, and Moghedien and Nynaeve.

I bought the first book "The Eye of the World " with a bookstore gift voucher, knowing nothing about the series except that it had a prominent place in the fantasy section and looked like a popular series. Turned out to be a good decision, as "The Eye of the World" and the next two Wheel of Time books I purchased with the rest of the voucher were all top-notch fantasy, set in a world equal the best of them. However things started to go wrong around book four (using my own money now), after Rand got to Rhuidean the whole dynamic was off, I could tell something wasn't right. I got through the book anyways, despite the magic having gone and reading the Wheel of Time becoming more of a chore than a pleasure.
By book five when a good deal of the book concerned the adventures of non-essential characters running away from another even more non-essential character, "The Fires of Heaven" went for longer and longer periods without being read. By the time I checked on here and found out that old Perrin Aybara wasn't even in it, and rest of the series had less and less to do with the core characters, I had completely lost momentum. "The Fires of Heaven" has been taking up bookshelf space ever since. I think the first 3 books belong in any fantasy readers collection, and it's probably best to read the first 4 and stop there.

After surviving the disappointment of "The Dragon Reborn", the Wheel of Time series has definitely regained its lost momentum and the series continues to get better with each book.
This book has been my favorite of the series so far. Jordan builds on the momentum he captured in book four ("The Shadow Rising"), and the storyline and character development continue in TFOH.
As for the main characters, each is facing new and exciting challenges in this book. Rand is still dealing with the realization that he is The Dragon Reborn. He has rallied the Aiel clan chiefs in a massive battle against the rebel Aiel chief Couladin, who claims that he is the true Dragon Reborn. Couladin and his followers, the Shaido, meet the fury of Rand and the rest of the Aiel in a decisive and climactic battle.
Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve continue their pursuit of the Black Ajah. Word has reached them that Siuan Sanche has been overthrown and stilled by Eladia. The three have also learned that a group of Aes Sedai has decided to try to overthrow Eladia and reclaim the White Tower.
Mat, Lan, and Moiraine continue to travel with Rand. Mat distinguishes himself in the battle with the Shaido by beheading Couladin. Moiraine has decided to become more yielding to Rand, but this turns into disaster at the end of the book.
This book is the best of the series so far in my opinion. The storyline and character development is very good, and the plot keeps the reader interested throughout the book. The last 200 pages of the book are some of Jordan's best work. The ending of the book is a true cliffhanger and will leave the reader wondering what will happen next. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Hopefully, it will be as good as this one.

My only complaint with this mammoth series is that sometimes I think Jordan loves the sound of his own voice. His descriptive prose has a tendency to run on and on, especially in regards to clothing!But aside from that, now re-reading this series for a second time I find it even more enjoyable. Small victories are won as the story moves closer to Rand's ultimate battle with The Dark One. One of the best things about this particular installment is that the character of Matt who in the previous novels I just found plain annoying, is finally becoming a more well rounded and interesting character with some real purpose. The downside to the book is Perrin is not mentioned once. Fans who've enjoyed the series thus far will find more of the same, but with some new twists. And not everyone makes it through this time.Personally I find myself breaking the novels up instead of reading them one right after the other. That way I find you don't get burned out too quickly.

A little background: I first read the first 6 books of the Wheel of Time in 1995, thinking at the time that those were ALL the books in the saga. How wrong I was, but then again the Internet was still in its infancy and I didn't have a mind to check for information about its completeness all the same. Disappointed by the lack of ending in sight I decided to not read a single more of these books until the last one came out, and over the years I've kept my decision.

Fast forward 2013, the final book in the series is out and confronted with the decision of whether to pick up book seven and just read up or go back and start the series anew, I decided to read from book one again and, boy I am happy I decided to read them again. I'm not exactly a teenager any more but I've been enjoying reading the first books in the saga, really, really enjoying them. The Fires of Heaven is a beautifully written book, my favourite along with the Eye of the World among the first five books. Sufficiently fast paced, even a wee too much when considered the whole saga. It successfully creates an interesting new plot line for a few characters where you might be wondering why there were even brought up in prior books, and moves the story along quite nicely.

I can't compare these books to the yardstick against which the genre seems to be measured against these days, RR Martin's work, since I won't be touching those until he is done with them, but suffice to say that in my opinion the first five books area amongst the greatest, if not the greatest, example of what defines this genre. Highly, doubtlessly, recommended, unless you are taken aghast by the sheer amount of reading you will enjoy if you plan on reading this epic through.

Final Note: I have read some criticism regarding the pacing of some later books, I will make a point of reviewing those too when I get there, which shouldn't take long, even as a father (I certainly didn't have my current duties back in 1995) it's hard to put these down!!!

After a couple of chapters to set the stage, the Rand plotline moves forward at breakneck pace throughout this volume and a number of important events take place (including the biggest mystery of all in this series!). My only complaints were that the Siuan/Min/Leane and Elayne/Nynaeve threads moved too slowly at times. However, the Elayne/Nynaeve thread still had some critical events take place. I truly enjoyed the Rand/Aviendha interaction, as I did Mat resisting the call of battle at first before giving in. The last 100-150 pages of this book are shattering, and really serve as the conclusion to the events from Shadow Rising. While it dips in parts, this is a solid four rated book and really makes you yearn for the next book.

I begin to get the sensations that many other reviewers have outlined from my reading of book 5. The pace seems to be slowing down, apart from the obligatory speed-up in the last 100 pages, there seems little in the way of action in this book. My interest level is ebbing, and book 12 looks a long way away from here. I start wondering if its time to quit, while Im ahead, so to speak.

I believe around 500 pages could be cut from this volume.
100 pages cut from Nynaeve's introspection / anger
50 pages cut from Aes Sedai gossiping
70 pages - the entire "circus" episode cut
50 pages from Rand's repetitive thought processes
50 pages from Elayne
50 pages from Egwene
The remaining 130 pages could be cut from random clothing descriptions / minor characters who serve no plot purpose.

This is not a good book. There, I've said it. Books 1-4 were good, but this is the first truly bad one. I will read book 6... but the jury is out.

4.5 stars. This is the 5th book in the Wheel of Time series, and about 1.5 years have passed since the villagers of the Two Rivers left their home with the Aes Sedai Moiraine and her Warder Lan. Since the ending of The Shadow Rising, about 2 months have passed and it is now late summer in the Wheel of Time world.

The Shadow Rising ended with Rand uniting half the Aiel clans and capturing the Forsaken Amosdean for a teacher so he can learn how to control saidin, the male half of the True Source. This book is told mainly from Rand, Egwene, and Nynaeve & Elayne's viewpoints. There are also some sections told from the perspective of the former leader of the Aes Sedai, Siuan Sanche and her comrades, including another former Aes Sedai, Leane, that was her second-in-command, a man that could channel, and Min (another character, while not given as much page time in the series, does play a somewhat significant role). For those who enjoy reading about Perrin, he does not make an appearance in this book.

I thought The Fires of Heaven moved along at a quicker pace than even the previous book. Nynaeve & Elayne encounter dangers from one of the female Forsaken, Moghedien, who is stalking them in the dream-world and the waking world at the same time. While Nynaeve & Elayne struggle to keep hidden from Moghedien and find the rebel Aes Sedai hiding from the White Tower and their new Amrylin, Elaida, Rand is facing just as many dangers and struggles trying to stay one step ahead of all the Forsaken trying to bring him down, in addition to chasing the Aiel clan that refused to follow him.

What I liked about this book was how everything moved along faster, there always seemed to be something interesting or new occurring. Whether it was learning more about the World of Dreams, the new enemy of the Seanchan, the Forsaken, etc.

I also liked how you get more insight and knowledge about the mysterious Forsaken, especially Amosdean and Moghedien. Up until this book (and a portion of the last book), there wasn't much information given about the Forsaken. All that was given was the Forsaken were the 13 most powerful Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends that turned their backs on the Light and swore new oaths to the Dark One. But in this book, you get snippets of the Forsaken and what they are planning.

There was one big annoyance I had with this book, and that was with one particular character, Egwene. Her character personality wasn't so annoying in the previous books, but it seems that in this book she has gone beyond annoying for me to the point I wished I could put my hands through the pages and literally strangle her for her hypocritical and arrogant ways. Not to spoil, but knowing what is in store for this character, I can see why Jordan had decided to tweak her personality and have her change in this fashion as it becomes apparent later in the series when she becomes something more.

It got very annoying to see Egwene sniff and glare at Rand for what she considered arrogant ways, or to give Nynaeve a thorough scolding for not listening to her about the dangers of the Dream World. Especially when Egwene herself was just as arrogant in her belief she was right and Rand wrong, and the fact she didn't take her own advice to Nynaeve about the dangers of the Dream World (when she was ordered by others, her teachers the Aiel Wise Ones, not to enter the Dream World without a teacher, as she was still learning about the Dream World). I couldn't help but notice those contradictions, and it drove me up the wall to read this character taking the high road while expecting others to listen to her like she was the voice of authority and they mere mortals who had no clue. In this regard, Egwene is becoming more and more Aes Sedai.

The arrogance of *all* the women in the Wheel of Time world can get quite annoying too, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Egwene was thinking so much of herself. All the women surrounding Rand think they can guide him best, and only they know what's best for him in order to see him live to the Last Battle with the Dark One. Like I said, gets real irritating at times to read!

In fact, it's interesting, all the main characters have gone through some personality changes that are noticeable. They have all experienced certain events that have shaped them and changed them in ways that *are* noticeable to the reader (if you have read from the very 1st book).

Rand has become even more hard and cold, as it's the only way he knows how to do what he must do without guilt or remorse for what he is, Egwene more arrogant and lofty, Nynaeve has learned to reign in her famous temper and be more reasonable at times, Siuan & Leane having lost the ability to channel have been brought down a peg or two in Aes Sedai arrogance, Moiraine has been less overt in her prodding of Rand and even listens to him now.

Actually, of all of the main characters, I would say Mat has probably changed the least in personality. He is still the gambler and rogue, who doesn't want to take on any responsibility, although he does become more than he was by the end of the book too.

Anyways, if you can overlook the blatant sexism by the women characters, this book and the series is very good epic fantasy reading.

Something to do with balefire? Lightning? The tempers of the people in the book? I still don't really know what "The Fires of Heaven" stands for, and I must admit that troubles me.
But not to the point of reading the book again.
This book's content made no impression on me. I can't remember anything that happens in "The Fires of Heaven" other than three scenes near the very end. I have no idea why. This amnesia set in two weeks after I first read the book, and has continued since.
At the time I read it, I still really liked the series, which I was reading from the library, had just finished "The Shadow Rising" extremely quickly, and hurtled into "The Fires of Heaven." It took me a month to get to the last page. This was where the series's plotlines suddenly exploded into a million writhing lines of illogic. It must have been, because when I started "Lord of Chaos" (which I liked much better), there were those plotlines. But only vague images of this book itself remain to me.
If you're reading "Wheel of Time" for excitement, you might want to skip directly to the end of "The Fires of Heaven." There are several interesting battle scenes that might make your blood pound without reading the rest of the book. (I won't reveal them for spoilers' sake).
Why review this book, then, if it made so little impression on me?
Because that's not what should have happened. I was in the middle, so far as I knew, of an exciting series- grant that I was younger then- and one where I actually cared about the world if not the characters. I thought the pace would continue. I thought Rand would change the Aiel in some dramatic way. I thought there was a plot somewhere in all the Aes Sedai bickering. I thought the thing I wanted most would happen, and Faile would finally die.
But this book slammed me dead. It was a year before I started "Lord of Chaos," and then I didn't miss the presence of "Fires of Heaven."
So, even though my reaction to this book is mostly indifference, mixed with it is a grumbling dissatisfaction. I think that Jordan sabotaged himself with this book. Various reviewers pinpoint various places in the saga that made them give up. This book wasn't enough to make me give up, but it was enough to warn me that Jordan was not an undisputed genius and could not walk without faltering. Up until that point I had thought he was.
The one star is because there are no 0-star options. Well, and because I still wonder what the title means.

As "A reader from Alexandria" so rightly noted:
>> As I've said in my reviews of the previous books, Jordan is a fairly good story teller, but his poor writing ability constantly gets in the way >>
I'd add: The lack of a good editor gets in the way at least as much. I have come halfway through Book Five so far in the series, and although Mr. Jordan spins a fair yarn, I am constantly annoyed about errors in spelling, grammar, and story flow, all of which a good editor would catch and have corrected. All too often, what is said on page n jars with what is said on page m: Obviously some editing was done, but not all references "cleaned up".
The worst example of sloppy writing so far has to be: "Except that his step was lighter and he felt full of vinegar" (pg 669, Book Five). Gee a guy a break. Now, I am no native speaker, but I am virtually certain that this bit was not a particularly witty twist of words, but rather a skillful (snort) mangling of "vigor" to "vinegar", however it happened.
Ah, enough ranting, I guess. It's too bad, really, the series is good enough that it'd actually have deserved the work that would have been necessary to pull it out of the bog, IMHO.
Another possible talent wasted, eh.

This is book five in a series of books by Robert Jordan called "The Wheel of Time." It is a well-written sprawling science fiction fantasy saga about a young man who is born to end up battling with the evil force in the world. He and his friends travel all over the world trying to get everyone on his side, getting ready for the big battle which will decide whether the end of the world will go to the evil one or the good people. But not everyone will believe in him. There is magic, and unseen forces, monsters, strange peoples from far away, all kinds of different unexplainable things happening that can only happen when magic is used. It's a fun read, there are many small plots and twists to follow along the way. I love the story line, and the writer is wonderful. It's very colorful, and it is easy to visualize in your head, based on his descriptions, what is going on. The characters are very real and their personalities are very distinct and some are quite unusual. I have looked forward to each book as I have gone along through the series.

one thing i've always had against fantasy stories, including this series is that they never seem to give the enemies more than a two dimensional characterization. this one attempts it rather well with the forsaken and some of the darkfriends, but trollocs are just fodder for rand's lightning strikes.
but my own pet pieves aside, this story is rich and complex. this world that robert jordan has created is imaginative and innovative. it may seem like he is using some stereotypes from our own cultures throughout our world, but he's mixed it up well enough to be considered his own creation.
the story will engross you, as it should and you will be caught up in the characters' drive for survival. enjoy it, and all nine books so far.

I must say that this book wasn't the best of all the Wheel of Time books, but still I loved it. The plot was great, all though I'm sorry to see Moiraine die. I also hope that Lan (my favourite character) stops that gibberish about widow's clothes and marries Nynaeve. I mean, she's been waiting long enough. Rand finally, stops taking crap from all the women who think they know better. One thing though. I would like to know how in hell does Elayne think she could make Rand her Warder. What's wrong with that girl? Personally, I hope that he chooses Min, cause she is the nicest. Overall, I love all the books in these series and I hope that Mr. Jordan keeps on writing until another Age of Legends comes along. Tai'shar Malkier, Tai'shar Manetheren. Leanna S

This volume is where I gave up on the "Wheel of Time" series. The scenes became too repetitious, all the characters started sounding alike, and the overall story had long since lost its direction. Strange, but I recall being impatient during the first 100 pages of volume I, "Eye of the World." That was just a hint of the frustration to come. Jordan created what could have been a fascinating world with a well-imagined matriarchal society, and hinted at many intriguing things about its past... then drifted off into endless scenes with the female characters b***hing about the men. If the series ever ends, the publisher should hire somebody to boil the whole thing down to 1,500 pages or so.

6 years after first hefting this might tome I have finished it. This series ruined my enjoyment oif fantasy for half a decade but it has since been rekindle in the wake of the LOTR revival. Most fantasy novels are fun and magical, but this series is like listening to the life story of a loquacious boor. It plods along for a LOOONG Time and eventually wears out its welcome.
Despite all the drawbacks I enjoyed reattacking this book and finally finishing it. I'm looking forward to starting the next one soon.
I was a Wheel of Time burnout for several years but I'm glad to be back into the material. If you have lost faith, take a break and come back to the series at a later date. Its still going to be several years until this thing is done. In the meantime I recommend the Death Gate Cycle by Hickman and Weis, for people wanting something different.

The WOT books are getting harder and harder for me to read -- and I'm listening to the unabridged audiobook versions!!! The series started off with a bang and has gone gently downhill ever since. I must admit, this book was better than the last few but this isn't the best fantasy series I've ever read. Just the longest. The book does have some merit, I was happy to see a little romance, there was a decent amount of action, and there wasn't too much of that "irritating" braid pulling!!! But as I've said before with Jordan's books, he kills you with details and you have to wade through the details to get to the story. On the other hand, if you like details, this is the series for you!

I am compelled to submit a review because my experience with this series is very much at odds with a lot of the other reviews, so I want to offer another perspective. I have given up on this series after slogging through the first 4 1/2 books (I gave the series a reasonable chance), because there are too many other good things to read out there and I can't devote any more precious reading time to a series that does nothing for me.

The background story/universe of this series had a lot of potential, but it is never realized. This book and all the books so far (and, I'm assuming the rest of the books would follow suit) are about 85% repetitive filler, 10% new/interesting background material, and 5% events and developments that actually move the story forward (and very little of this being what I would call 'action'; action in this series is quite tame - I almost said 'lame'). Most of the background material, of the universe itself or the characters, is the same background material stated over and over again; so the characters (and the universe itself) do not actually have any depth or complexity. I think that Jordan does this to continually bring what might be new readers up to speed, which completely annoys me. To have to read 600 pages for only a few (I'm not exaggerating here) moments of wonder, awe, surprise, shock, sadness, concern, etc., or even just the story moving forward (the rest of the time spent thinking, 'OK, I've already learned this information 5 times in the first 3 books, when is something actually going to happen?) is not even close to being worth the effort.

I do want to recommend one fantasy series that I feel is one of the best things I've ever read (in any genre), and which excels at these qualities I find so lacking in Jordan's series - and that is Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. All 5 stars, all awe-inspiring, with a far, far richer universe and hundreds of characters all with their own personalities and who you care about, unbelievably exciting and compelling (and brutal) action, revelations coming at breakneck speed, all the threads coming together beautifully in the end. One warning: there is no catering to possibly new readers; you are continually dropped into the story and may need some time/effort to figure out what's going on, just like the characters in the story; and you may have a hard time keeping it all straight, or remembering all the key threads or how they relate to each other, just like real life. Give it a try.

Unfortunately I found FoH to be an unfulfilling novel, on the whole, considering it's the 5th book in the series. It's not necessarily worse than the first 3 novels, but rather a rehashing of past themes and plot devices in such a manner that it does not warrant 900 odd pages - especially after the excellent 4th book, Shadow Rising, I can't help but feel somewhat let down.
Still it isn't a total loss by any means. For example, I feel that the continued excellent use of Matt provides a standout character that is interesting and one that you truly begin to care about. Of course Matt alone doesn't carry the novel but I hope that Book 6 can revitalise the series by adding a new dimension or two.

This was the weakest book in the series so far for me. The plot is thinly developed, and the relationships are not focused or emotionally acute enough to make me care. I read this after I finished Shadow Rising, with the relationship of Perrin and the Bashere woman fresh in mind. (I think that she was from house Bashere-- the Hunter of the Horn, whom he loves.) This one, despite the sparkling relationship between Aviendha and Rand, saw these highlights come few and far between. The best thing in the book for me was probably the rise of Matt as leader of the Red Hand, a re-instated military group from the Age of Legends. Matt does not use Age-Of-Legends warriors or anything to man his army. He just runs it. Also, this book relates some great tragedies, and course changes. The book gets three stars because Jordan's prose is still actually pretty lucid, and he seems to have a point to make. The thing is, these points are explained with little vigor.

As this is not a new book, there are many reviews published here on the store. The great majority of the reviews are correct in making the same point: this story is much too long.

The Fires of Heaven is the fifth book of this series. There are currently ten in the series, plus a prequel -- and the story isn't done yet. There must be close to 9000 pages of "Wheel of Time" books published -- and the story isn't done yet. There must be 50 or 100 separate characters running around the stories (often with similar names, to confuse the reader) -- and the story isn't done yet. There are dozens of different plot lines floating around and confusing each other -- and the story isn't done yet. To make a comparison, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings ran 1350 pages without the appendices, and that is considered a long story. The length of this story is far beyond ridiculous.

I also agree with many of the reviewers that Jordan's female characters -- not only the more famous named characters, but innumerable Aes Sedai, "Wise Ones," "Maidens of the Spear," and so forth -- act like teen-agers afflicted with permanent PMS. It gets far beyond tiring to read the thousandth description of how stupid they think men are, etc., etc., ad nauseam. The series could have really been improved if a couple of these offensive little twits could have gone bad. Then there would have been real reason for their incessant squabbling and bickering, and maybe they could have wasted each other and we would be done with them. But the bickering and whining continue, with no end in sight. If the story were of reasonable length, maybe this approach to female characters would be endurable; but after several thousand pages of this, it gets far more than tiring.

Jordan also over-uses the plot device of having characters appear to die, or actually die, and then somehow come back. Tolkien used this device once (with Gandalf). Jordan uses it with several characters in this volume alone. This is bad writing for two reasons: first, it reduces the finality and horror of death, and thus cheapens it; and second, it confuses the reader mightily -- is this character really gone, or not? One of the major characters of the story up to this point dies in this volume. But does she? So many other characters have come back; maybe she will, too. So what's the big deal about dying?

Perhaps most importantly, Jordan makes the great fantasy error of making magic too powerful. In a previous volume the hero, Rand, got his hands on a magic sword that could blow up entire cities. After this, Jordan must have realized that putting such power in the hands of his hero would ruin the story -- makes things too easy -- so the hero took this superweapon, stuck it in the floor, and left it. While that idiotic behavior is rationalized in the story, the least bit of common sense says that he would keep this weapon, use it to slaughter all the bad guys, and bring the story to a quick end. But that would keep Jordan from selling another zillion books, so the weapon gets left behind and is not used in this volume. Even so, the hero's magical power is so great that he apparently can just zap uncounted bad guys into nothingness. If so, just why he spends this volume building a military coalition to fight wars is beyond any reason. This is important because even as a stand-alone book, apart from the endless series of which it is a part, this book has a plot that does not make much sense.

When Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings, he wrote the entire work, and then re-wrote and edited it completely, so that the entire story held together. Jordan instead started with a single book -- The Eye of the World -- which was written so that it could clearly have stood alone. But because the first book sold well, Jordan seemingly dedicated his life to grinding out more and more Wheel of Time books. Since they kept selling, he kept grinding, with more and more characters, more and more plot twists, more and more endless verbiage. This book is a too-long part of an endlessly-long series. It is readable for those that like fantasy, but as literature, it scarcely rises above garbage. I give it two stars because I have actually read worse, and one star is the lowest score you can give. So I suppose it rates more than one star; but it is not a good book.

I'm a 14 year-old girl with no patience, and let me tell you, I've now finished Book 5 here and I'm on my fourth trip through in five days! I just don't want to put this series down! As you read it, you feel all the emotions of all the characters, from Nynaeve's anxiety about Moghedien to Rand's anger at Ravhin to Mat's desperation to get away from Rand, Lanfear's fury at Rand, everything, and under it all you get a very distinct sense of danger and urgency now that the seals of unbreakable heartstone can be shaved with a knife. This is a total must-read! It's even better than Book 4, and I did not think that was possible! Read it, or weep!

Never have I read such a fantastic book in all my lifetime. His characters are loveable and real. They aren't cheesy and they don't overdo their heroism. It is exciting and that ending really got me goin'! It has an easy-to-use map and it is rrrreeeeaaaaaallllllyyyy long, so it won't end way before it even begins. The other books in his series are also, as expected, perfection of the English language that enchances readers who take the time out of their little lives to be caught up in a world of fantasy!!! You can curl up next to the fire and have a jolly good time reading it. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Being particularly fond of lengthy series, Robert Jordan delivers the goods. I didn't find out about the series until the eighth volume, but when I did I couldn't put them down. Just when the story gets you focused on one character, the perspective changes in such a way that another character is the central figure. I especially enjoy when they interract. I am also looking forward to the illumination to the allusions of this world perhaps being a time in our own very distant future (light bulbs, airplanes, even the original names of their notable historical figures). I can't wait to see where it's all going and am looking forward to ride.

Although this book is not the best in WOT it is necessary. Jordan has created a wonderfull series, but whithin the series he needs a few stepping stones, this is one of them. Be patient, get through the stepping-stone books so that you can enjoy the great books that come after it. This book is very important because it introduces the Aiel, they definatly have a big part to play in the series. BE patient and remember these books are a SERIES they are not ment to be judged alone. Think of the WOT series as a single book and all the books chapters in the WOT book. No one judges a book by a couple chapters.

After reading the first four books of the Wheel Of Time series, I was rather impressed with the fifth. Not only was Robert Jordan able to come up with a bunch of new ideas (that we all thought he'd used up in his first four) but he was able to freshen your memory without the repetition of other authors.
Robert Jordan is the best author that there has been for a long time, when people are still reading his books fifty years from now, I won't be surprised. The quality of Fires In Heaven is unsurpassable, and there will never be a fiction/fantasy book that equals it. Long live the Wheel Of Time.

The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time, Book 5) is the fifth book in the Wheel of Time fantasy epic written by Robert Jordan. Rand Al'Thor the dragon reborns power is steadily increasing. His relationship with Aviendha is intensifying and one wonders where it will lead. A brilliant sequel in this amazing fantasy epic. I can not wait to read part VI. Highly recommended. 5/5.

'The Fires of Heaven' is book five in the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan. So far the series has been consistently good, although I've heard that after this one the quality starts to decline. We'll see.
Jordan keeps adding new characters (consult WOT fan websites for reference help) so much so that Perrin doesn't rate one page out of 900+ in this book.
Also Jordan has his particular annoying writing quirks, including frequent references to breasts and cleavage- it is completely out of control in this book. Every time a female character appears he describes their clothes and the resulting effect on how their breasts are displayed. I don't know if it was part of some adolescent male marketing strategy or what- but it's a little too much.

If half stars were allowed I actually would have given this book another half star. I did enjoy it, but it was quite long and the length did not seem as necessary as in some of the other books. The action seemed slow, even draggy, which I had not found before. There were quite a few places where Jordan went into more detail than he needed. I also think that at this point he could stop explaining where every character came from so much and trust that by book five the reader probably knows all about it.
It's hard to reach a balance between realism and interesting reading. As other reviewers have pointed out, Elayne, Nynaeve and Birgitte do bicker a lot and it is annoying. However, it's also realistic behavior to expect from three women cooped up together in a small space. Does that mean we want to read about it? Maybe not at such great length.
Many interesting things do happen. I am increasingly fond of Mat, whom I couldn't stand at the start of the series. I enjoyed the women's time with the traveling show. As always, I enjoyed the characters of Thom and Juilin. I mainly enjoyed the characters in general. I would, however, like to see people begin to communicate and compromise more. Everyone seems to think s/he knows exactly what's best for everyone and no one listens. I hope they can begin to resolve this before the ultimate battle, or they're going to be in trouble.
Book five is a point where people who have been stretching to be patient with this series are going to find they can't stretch any farther and give up. For those who don't find very long books daunting and those who don't chafe at inaction, it is something of a flat spot, but with its own features of interest.

Once again Jordan scores another bucket. This book makes you wonder if Jordan will ever or even can wrap up the series (of course he will and can 'cause he's the shiz). A really big book (just like the rest in fact) that has a few slow parts (but then again, when else would you be able to put it down and get some sleep @@:'). My only beef against the book is that Jordan's fetish with female anatomy (cleavage shots anyone) gets old and anoying (it's prevalent throughout the series in fact), but overall an awesome book even though I would rank it as the worst in the series.

I enjoyed the storyline but writing was off. A lot of goofs, continuity problems and needed to be edited heavily by an editor. The book could have been cut back 200 pages and been a much better read with out losing anything. But hey it's just my opinion.

This book is filled with wonderful action and suspense and decent character development. The introduction of some new characters is done quite nicely as well. Jordan has a gift for putting the people in his books in seemingly impossible situations and then extracting them from those situations in ways that are both suprising and plausible. I found myself wondering if we were going to lose an important character so often that I was genuinely suprised when we did. I have two major problems with this book that most reviews have already covered 1)no Perrin, big mistake 2)for all the pages and events in the book, the story itself doesn't seem to move forward. I found myself going with this edition of the story waiting for some important payoff. I was dissapointed that it never came. I'll give the next one a shot because I've come this far, but I hope to see some resolution soon. Still a good book.

There are certainly both positive and negative things about this book and the Wheel of Time series as a whole.
There are only a certain number of ways we can read about how wonderful and terrible saidin can feel. Ice and fire, sweetness and vileness, etc. ad nauseum. But the reader gets the impression that Jordan wants us to understand exactly how it feels for male channelers, and the constant repetition of sweetness and vileness makes the end of Winter's Heart all the more poignant, even moving.
I have to take issue with previous reviewers' problems with the book. Elayne, Nynaeve, Egwene, Rand, Mat etc. all act juvenile BECAUSE THEY ARE JUVENILE. Even Nynaeve, the eldest of this young group, is understood to be no older than 25. Being 24 myself, I can testify that these individuals are acting exactly as many of my peers would act given the same situations. I can't imagine what kind of stress it would produce to have the kinds of life-altering experiences these people have had. I understand it is fiction, but I think Jordan has done an excellent job portraying realistic characters and their reactions.
I also don't understand one reviewer's statement about "Jordan's juvenile obsession with female nudity and sexuality." Honestly, the male characters are naked or in their "smallclothes" just as often as the girls are naked or in their "shifts". I would have to say Jordan is again being realistic. People change clothes. It happens. I think Jordan has anything BUT an obsession with nudity. He doesn't go into medical detail about body parts like some writers. Heck, one of our main characters didn't even have sex until the FOURTH book in the series. Sex is not meant to be a driving point in the story.
Speaking of the story, I would have to join others in saying that the series has gone on longer than it maybe should have. But I'm sure Jordan is well aware of this fact himself, and doesn't need US to tell him that. That whole "many-headed monster" idea is probably truer than we think. As a budding writer myself, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to keep track of as many characters and storylines as Jordan is juggling. I would have to say he's doing admirably. Bravo, sir!
I believe the story is meant to have a web, or Pattern. As I read the story AGAIN, I am struck by how clear it is that events are drawing to a conclusion, however bleak, far-off, and long-awaited it might be. I'm willing to wait and I respect Jordan as a writer trying to write the best story he can.
I believe it was Stephen King (and please forgive me if I'm wrong) who once said, "Sometimes a story is just a story." I think we, as readers, would do well to remember that. I've been a fan of fantasy for as long as I've been able to read. In a literary sense, of course certain authors (Tolkien being a good example) are going to be better than others. Tolkien is probably looking down from whatever cloud he may be sitting on, and wishing we would all just let the authors in the genre he really created simply TELL THEIR OWN STORY. I think we need to stop comparing EVERYONE in the fantasy genre to Tolkien, LeGuin and others. Personally, I don't care for LeGuin. But that's my opinion. If you like Jordan's books, good for you. If you don't, well then good for you too. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion.
Before I close this review, I would like to remind the readers who keep comparing Tolkien and Jordan of one thing. Please remember the VOLUMES of material concerning Middle-Earth that Tolkien never had a chance to have published before his death. I believe the "History of Middle-Earth" is pretty close to 12 volumes, if not more. Jordan doesn't have to worry about a professorship at Oxford, so he therefore has the time to do what Tolkien never did . . . truly complete his epic.
I say again, Bravo Sir!!

Close to two years ago, I started reading The Wheel of Time series. I was pretty hooked once I read The Eye of the World. Now, four books later, here I am at The Fires of Heaven. I started this book OVER a year ago. Over the months, I have trudged my way through this book page by page at some points.
Jordan had a solid storyline going for him, so where did he go wrong? Here are a few things that may answer this.
First and foremost, he seems to have become completely convinced that the quantity of pages in each book outweighs the quality of them. The first book was around 800 pages. Thats fine. The next one, I believe, was shorter. Now though, each next book gets more difficult to fit in my hand. The main cause is that he spends nearly an entire page or more to tell us that . . . "The sun is hot." If a blade of grass was bent on the other side of the castle, he makes sure we know about it. He spends way too much time with description instead of the story. Each step our characters take seem to take a chapter.(Gamers, have you noticed how these books are more like sidequests in a game? Simply there to keep you a little occupied before the grand finale . . . only, you HAVE to do the sidequests!) Also, in his descriptions, he forms sentences that are the lengths of paragraphs. Obviously, he wants to prove that he's capable of forming complex sentences. Unfortunately, he fails miserably. Simply because it annoys me now to not know what the heck was just said, I have found myself rereading sentences over and over to no avail of making sense out of these bunched up sentence fragments. Terrible grammar skills has he. . . . I could be a grammar teacher now that I've had so much practice observing what is bad.
Maybe the more hooked readers haven't noticed, or refuse to, that many characters seem to have very little diversity from one another. Elayne, Egwene, the wise ones and just about every other female character seem to sound like an old, bickering nanny whom all have nothing but confusing "sayings" to say. Most of them are also red-heads too. . . . Honestly, I used to like them. Now, it really wouldn't bother me if a couple of them just . . . vanished. He does do a better job with the male characters however.
Also, have any of you people noticed how this series is subtly becoming a . . . porn tale? Jordan had me convinced that the showing of a woman's ankles was controversial in his world. Now, it seems that its become offensive to NOT have sweaty, naked women giving massages by the fireplace and sneaking off into Rand's room to seduce him( I never said I disliked this change mind you! I merely find it quite odd.)
Overall, he's gotten in over his head now. The story grows ever complex and you wonder what he WON'T suddenly add in. One of our characters has suddenly gained the ability to make ser and ter'angreals(something not done since "the breaking of the world."). Some of these sudden additions not only make ZERO sense, but are completely annoying. My prediction is that by the 15th book, Rand and a crazy old lady from Tear whill have created Grenade Launchers and B-52 bombers.
I constantly find myself wondering who many people, that he had previously introduced, are. With too much rubbish having been said in these books, I just find myself guessing when this or that happened or who the heck he or she is. I guess that I've simply grown accustomed to not caring about so many things in this. I have bought pretty much the entire series though . . . or have I. In five years, I may discover that I'll have ANOTHER ten books to buy. How many more nannies must come and seduce Rand and how many times must everything be retold from a different angle!! I've almost confused myself trying to clearly disect all of this. . . . All I can say for myself is that I've wasted my time(and money) if I don't continue my trudging. There are still more irritating flaws that I may have overlooked. Sorry for the length of this. Just thought I'd give the rest of you a heads up on this one. If you're new to all of this, buy a DragonLance book instead. The plot is deeper, takes less time and gives you more innovative and emotional characters for you to get attached to. I still think this story has massive potential, but perhaps if someone else were in charge of the writing, editing and etc. . . .

'The Fires of Heaven' is much, much improved from #4 in the series. Jordan completely eliminates every one of his overused phrases from 'TSR'. No more people muttering under their breath or smiling amusedly at another's embarrassment. (Okay, so the women still like to try on different, outrageous clothes in Tel'aran'rhiod..and they're surprised by someone every time, but no one's perfect)
Like all of Jordan's books, this one bogs down a little in the middle..but it's a much shorter period than normal. The action pretty much goes straight throughout. I was left at the end wanting more.

I am on book #7, and have loved everyone so far! There is A LOT to remember, I have used Google more times since starting this series than I have in the last year! But I am in love with the characters, the stories, the world. Everything. I thought they would get boring, to have so many longgggg books, but they have no got boring for me. On par with the best epic fantasy books out there!

This is the much anticipated sequel to "The Shadow Rising." Rand has entered Rhuidean and has been marked by two dragons, one for each arm. By coming out of Rhuidean, bearing the dragon marks, Rand fulfills an ancient Aiel prophecy and becomes their Car-a-Carn (Chief of all Chiefs). Eqwene is learning from the Aiel Wise Women how to become a master of The World of Dreams, while passing some knowledge on to her friends Nynaeve and Elayne. Mat begins to find out he has some interesting talents concerning War, and that his memory stretches over many lifetimes.
While each character developes over the book some interesting plot twists keep the book refresing. Through the previous books many things are hinted at and this book provides many answers. If you have read the previous four, then I urge you to read this. It will amaze you, and leave you hanging for Book 6 "Lord of Chaos."

I'm going to start this review with an assumption; that you've read the first 4 books in the Wheel of Time series. I'm going to make a second assumption; that you're not sure if you want to embark on a 1000 page long journey to...wherever the next one goes.
That's a start. If those assumptions are right, then this review may help you. If not, maybe this review will serve to give you an idea of how Jordan writes. Failing those 2, I have no idea why you might be reading this. But I'll do my best to entertain you.
Jordan can put words together. Like a bricklayer, he can slap words down and cement them in place with the best of them. As you read the book, you never stumble through pages of narrative. If the procession of words is a foundation, Jordan builds a good one. It's fairly easy to walk through the pages of the book because Jordan is, in general, a good wordsmith. What's he not necessarily good at is getting to the point. His well built foundation often times supports a minimal structure.
This book is better than the 4th in the series. But after several hundred pages, you begin to seriously wonder why you're still reading it. After roughly 600 pages, I asked myself, "Is this going anywhere?" I was reminded of the Talking Heads song, Road to Nowhere. I'm actually being serious.
Eventually it does go somewhere, and that's what makes this book better than the 4th in the series. That, and the fact that the last 100 pages serve as the conclusion. In contrast, I think book #4 was wrapped up in about 5 pages. However, I'd be lying if I said I had trouble putting it down. The truth is, Jordan slogs through another loooooooong book to tell a relatively normal length story; but with a lot of words added to describe things you don't necessarily want to read.
Jordan must work under some restriction where he is required to maintain a conservation of feminine anger in any book he writes. One of the problems I have with the average Jordan character is that they more often than not act like a pre-teen with a sour disposition. Resonant with this is Jordan's lack of character development. This book does a better job in that regard. However, some characters regress. Some that acted with composure in the previous books suddenly get, as strange as it sounds, immature.
Another annoyance I have with Jordan is his vocabulary. In one sentence, he actually uses the expression, "Languid hauteur." Are you serious? I feel as though I am the object of Jordan's attempt to learn a new word every week. I'm not here to build my vocabulary. I just want to read a fantasy story. Others have commented on this same phenomenon, so I'm not the only one who thinks that reading "haughty" 20 times in a 300 page stretch of narrative is odd.
Another of Jordan's shortcomings is his ludicrous depiction of women. I'm not sure how many feminine rituals there are in the series now, but rest assured of this. No ritual exists in this book without female nudity. Whatever Jordan aims for with this, he misses so widely that I think he shot the wrong way. I won't even offer suggestions as to what exactly is going on there.
I think we're supposed to be led to believe these books are built with a strong female presence. The reality of the matter is that most women in the book act like teenage girls who still think that boys might actually have cooties. The reverse is true also, with most male characters randomly veering off on his own train of thought in which he deduces every woman is 51 cards short of a deck. Maybe that's a fair assessment, considering the way Jordan portrays most of them.
Even with all of this, the story is better than the last. The angry female characters are becoming less of an issue with Jordan, while building strength is becoming his predominant theme. The idea of the characters "building strength" is one I took from another reviewer, who suggests these stories are like a game of D&D being played out in a book. I think there's a lot of truth to that opinion. Every chapter we have a new skill being developed or learned.
All of that said, again, it is a decent read. You cold do worse. Yeah, I'm sure you could do better but I'm not very well versed in fantasy stories to be able to say. So I'll probably pick up the 6th book because I am compelled to find out what happens. Truth be told, as lengthy as the book is, it's refreshing to get your money's worth when you buy it. As opposed to some of these 250 pages books, Jordan's sure have a lot of meat on them.
A final tidbit about the story. At this point, there are over 30 characters in the book. Each occupies a story line, no matter how trivial the character. Granted, they are often intertwined so we're not reading three dozen narratives at once. Still, there are so many that Jordan left out at least 5 major characters this time. An entire book went by with no mention of Perrin and that story. Mind you, there were 1000 pages in which to do this. That tells you just how laboriously the narrative thickly flows through these 1000 pages.
Jordan's acceptance that not all the good guys can get out scot free is a step forward. As is his character development and the more robust final showdown. I still think he's got some work to do in terms of shoring up the details of his story. Every book ending is roughly predictable, and this one is no different. But this is probably worth picking up if you're not sure whether or not you want to continue.

This book series follows some standard fantasy themes but the level of detail and plot depth are unmatched in any series in any genre that I've ever hear of or read. If you want a book/series that manages to craft an entire world and its peoples to an extent that, at times, it could be a history book but that manages to do all of that while also using a plot that is second to none in complexity/entertainment then this book and the Wheel of Time Series is for you.

Some of the chapters between the beginning and the battles and between battles are a little slow,perhaps, but I DID read the next four books before I wrote this review, so perhaps mine opinion is being influenced by the standard of book six, and the recentness(for this series) of book nine. It had many memorable chapters: The Craft of Kin Tovere; This Place, This Day; News comes to Cairhein, and others. Also Mat comes to terms that he is not immune to the Forsakens' attention. I think this is the first book where one of our three boys is not in the volume. That was a slight disappointment.

It took me a long time to read this book because the story was not very interesting for large spans of the book, and I really dislike the character Nynaeve.

Spoiler Alert Below:
However, the one thing that I really, really resent about the book was Jordan's very poor choices in presenting the story. There were basically three climatic events in the story: Rand chasing down Couladin and the Shaido clan, Nynaeve and Elayne finding the Aes Sedai hideout, and Rand destroying some Forsaken. We spend hundred of pages following Rand's trek out of the wasteland in pursuit of the Shaido. I am looking forward to a big battle with Couladin. HOWEVER, once we finally reach the confrontation with Couladin, it is presented from a Mat's reflection on the events. OMG! All of that time spent building it up, and it is basically blown off in a few sentences and barely described in those - like it did not really even matter. The same thing happened at the other two climatic events: they were built up and basically blown off.
This book is nothing more than a filler in the series. I will continue with book 6, but I am not beginning it with enthusiasm like I did book 5.

Great to get back to the action after a lull in the series of Dragon Reborn and Shadow Rising. There are some really great scenes in the fifth book of the series and, from what I've heard, great things continue to happen in the next book. This series can be tough to get through, simply because of the sheer number of pages to read, but Fires of Heaven gives me hope that the final payoff is going to be worth it.

So. Book 5.
After reading it, I must say that I was a trifle bit disappointed. I still love the series, and cannot wait to sink my teeth in the remaining books. But really -- one can only take so much of Nynaeve.
I really do not have a problem with headstrong women characters. But, when a headstrong female character takes up over 300 pages of detail describing how men are fools, one gets tired.
To his credit, Jordan displays Nynaeve (as well as many of the other "woolheaded" women) contradicting her own thoughts. Not a line after admonishing men for thinking that violence could solve everything, Nynaeve wishes she had a stout stick to thump the men with. (Just after Nynaeve talks to Galad in Samara, for the curious.)
Really, with the headstrong feelings of the women, subtle glances passed between men and women alike, descriptions of scandalous diving necklines, and an inconclusive ending, Fires of Heaven leaves a foul taste in the back of ones mouth.
Part of the problem is that my favorite character was barely even mentioned in the book. It seems that Jordan, in 600+ pages, could not seem to remember Perrin Aybara. Which to me, is unfortunate -- I absolutely loved The Shadow Rising because of Perrin, and to not have included him is annoying. Especially since the addition of Perrin could have saved the book from Nynaeve.
Even so, I cannot give the book a really bad mark. It did succeed in keeping my attention. And, Jordan was able to weave threads of suspense during the endgame of Fires, even if the pattern failed to resolve any issues. I just hope that Lord of Chaos finds Jordan's characters in more favorable positions.

I think that the Wheel of Time series suffers from the fact that it has taken over 15 years for Jordan to get as far as he has. Alot of people stopped liking this series starting with this book, and if I had started reading them in 1988, I probably would to.
However, this is not a series of books that can simply be seen as single, separate entities, this is a massive epic, and each volume has its own purpose. I have started reading this series with book #1 and simply gone through each in turn.
Jordan writes his books with a distict eye on the social aspects of his world. We witness the turn of events in his novels as a person of that world would. Tainted by the viewpoints and prejiduce of its people. This is a refreshing idea in fantasy, where many books orient themselves into distinct and static plot lines.
Jordan breaks many barriers in fantasy: Strong female characters (sometimes debated), exploring complex personal relationships, characters that think and feel. These aren't just hack and slash heroes, they ponder the right and wrong of their actions, and constantly find themselves in doubt over their justifications.
Think about each book in a bigger picture, and you'll find that they not only fit together cohesively, but that you'll be yearning for more. If I had any complaint, it would be that new work on this series takes awhile to surface.
For readers that enjoy this type of reading, I would also recommend the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Dark Tower probably isn't typical fantasy, but it is a very good read.

Robert Jordan has awesome characters flying all over the place in his series. (I personally like Matt, and Perrin.) In this book, all of these amazing characters are doing some serious butt-womping! Nanaive in Telaranroid. Rand in the palace, and just his plotting alone. Matt turns out to have more hidden abilities in addition to his gambling luck (which I envy more than anyone can know) Perrin returns home to what I thought would be a boring "time to get the crops going before it gets to cold and the town starves" scenario, to instead be a knuckle-whitening challenge! Does he have to leave such tense cliff-hangers?!?! I read the next hundred pages like a man possessed to get back to that character, only to be presented with a cliff-hanger for another character. This is like an intelligent Soap Opera for serious fantasy fiends. And as for reading the books over, and over again to prepare yourself for the newest- I have a solution! Audio cassettes! I do NOT recommend listening to them before reading the books, as they do cut out quite a bit of the charm that is Robert Jordan. But they are very good, and M. Rolston is an excellent reader (except for Thom Merrilyn's voice). They are abridged and can be zipped through very quickly- letting you dive right in to the next book!

Okay, I like elements of Jordan's books, but this novel jumped the shark for me. Must every one of the main character's have a 'secret power'? No more normal humans, no, Min can predict the future, Egwene can dreamwalk, Nynaive is super powerful (but only when angry), Mat can channel dead Generals, Rands has hordes of nubile women lusting after him, Perrin... I won't even go there about Perrin's super-keen-but-oh-so-silly wolf abilities, which seemed to drop out of the sky. Where are the NORMAL people? I'm all for the super powers *in moderation* but what makes fantasy interesting is the struggles between normal joes and the super powered ones. When Jordan makes every one of his characters super-human the believability goes down the toilet.

Also, Jordan's fantasy race the Aiel seem to be a race of Mary Sues. They can out-fight, out-hunt and out-run normal humans. Their customs are deemed superior they look down their noses at everyone else. The Aiel annoy me to the very core, as Jordan seemed to have created this unbelievable race to serve Jordan's messiah-ish character Rand.

There are some other ick moments in this book for me. Jordan clearly seems to be setting up Rand to become some sort of fantasy Polygamist ala Heinlein. Ick. Also there is a strange element of humiliating powerful women which Heinlein seems to enjoy. Women are often spanked or 'thrashed' and male characters aren't. Also, he creates situations where characters are forced to do humiliating things such as.... The trio of former aes sidai forced to laundry, fetch, and clean for the general as 'punishment.' It seems a bit petty giving the characters lives are in danger.

This was an entertaining novel, but the mary-suism really needs to be dialed down. 3 stars.

I think this is one of Robert Jordan's better books. To all of you people who give the latter half of the series a poor review, I don't think that Robert Jordan's subtle use of detail and foreshadowing actually registers in your pitifully impotent and inadequate minds. Somebody earlier stated what dress Egwene and Elayne are wearing is inconsequential, but if you think about it you need all the detail that he puts in. in a book detail is the quinessential essence, the essence that creates a cinematic experience in ones mind and imagination. In the Fires of Heaven Robert Jordan creates one such experience in such a vivid way that leaves the reader in a lingering taboo of contemplation, hungering for more. All of this is created in such a tangible and malleable way to form the perfect picture in the reader's mind. So if a person cares not for detail, then he/she can't get anything much from this wonderful collection of extoardinary novels. The way he evolves his storyline throughout the books is amazing. In book one, the story takes place in Emond's Field, a small localized location. As the story progesses the point of veiw gradually grows larger, more grand. It grows to encompass whole regions, countries, eventually the whole continent. Overall what I am trying to say is that the use, the jordanesque flare, in The Fires Of Heaven is not unnecessarilly subtle nor brazen, but that of a perfect level to illustrate the extreme beauty and complex world of The Wheel of Time. All in all, The Fires of Heaven was most definately a great book and i can't believe anyone could think otherwise. Read it again, pay more attention to the detail which you think so poorly of. ~signed, the HMFIC

I'm sure this is a great book. The Dragon Reborn and Shadow Rising were both great, and available in Canada on Kindle. But The Fires of Heaven? No. I don't understand how the store can get the copyright nailed down in Canada just fine for two books in a series, but not for the others. And no explanation to its Canadian customers; no indication as to when we might expect it; nothing.
Is it that Tor (Macmillan) grants Canadian eBook copyright for some, but not all of this series? Whether it's them or the store one of them is really messing up its customer relations, and the other one, by not communicating to us what is going on, is doing the same.

*Update: the store has just made this available in Canada. The three day delay is no problem; the absence of information is. I was going to buy a used paperback copy from a second hand store today. Now I don't have to, but it would have sucked if I had done so yesterday not knowing that I only had to wait one more day to get the format that I want (and am willing to pay for). I've upgraded my rating from one star to three to reflect that I'm happy the store is taking the steps necessary for it to make these titles available in Canada, but that I'm disappointed with their communication of what's going on to us Canadian customers.

I started this series late...spring 2001, but I absolutely can't get enough. The whole series is wonderful, and it just keeps getting better. I've read several reviews that say Jordan is taking too much time, dragging the books out. I do not think so. If you're an avid fan, you want to know all the little things, so it's almost as if you're there.
The way Mat was brought into the center of things more in this book was very good and provided a great profile of the "new" Mat. I did miss Perrin in this book, but I'm sure he'll be back. I was almost disappointed when the book ended because I wanted more...but then, I've got more with the other four that are already published.
If you've not read any of these books, start at the beginning and read them all.

I'd have to rank this installment just behind the first book. Jordan's storytelling ability simply shines here. His interweaving of prophecy and history make this a page-turner. His look into Aiel society had me riveted. They are so intricate and so history-driven, it is amazing!!! Jordan's use of history and culture throughout the series make this a very interesting series, even though some of the books can be slow. Still, this book makes up for that fact many times over.

The story rolls ponderously along, gathering characters like fractures. While I like intricacy, and this series has it, the details are slow in coming- especially as this is yet another 1,000 page book (here editor, editor: come out come out wherever you are!). You often can skip whole pages and not loose the story thread. Character interactions reinforce my conviction that Jordan's philosophy is: trust no one, have no friends, and those you do you cannot confide in, and if you love someone, torment them mercilessly. The book jacket says he's married, but lists no kids... no wonder!

Even though The Fires Of Heaven is the fifth book in the Wheel of Time series I would have to say that it is the best one out of the seven books that I have read in his series The Wheel Of Time. It keeps you latched on to the books and intrested in the charecters by making you be sad when one dies or happy when one makes a great discovery. Just plain and simple it is a great book and I would recomend it and all of the Wheel of time books with great pride.

Yes, the book is very long. When I began the series, I'd only read a couple of thousand page books. Now, I'm starting to think that I'll have read a dozen by the time the series is finished. That's besides the point. When I read Robert Jordan, the pages fly by. Suddenly I'm 100 pages from when I last looked at the page. This book had some of the usual annoying babble and frustrations such as Nynaeve and Elayne consistently falling into traps and revealing too much information. I did enjoy reading about Rand's relationship to Aviendha, and Moiraine's change in character. Mat is becoming more and more interesting as he begins to have a life of his own outside of following Rand. Sadly, the book doesn't talk any of Perrin, and way too much of Elayne and Nynaeve. I think the ending could have been a bit better but I still liked it. It gets 4 stars because I didn't put the book down with a big "wow" at the end. Jordan keeps the story moving with various plot twists, and I don't think there is a single chapter where something significant doesn't happen. It's a very, very good book, and from what I hear, the next one is better. I just have one question... how many women can have "ice cold stares" or something equivalent to that?

I thought this book was pretty good. The pacing is pretty good and everything is described in detail. Sometimes it gets annoying since there are a lot of pages keeping you away from the action, but it does lend that extra bit of richness to Jordan's world. There are some surprising developments and a couple plot twists you won't see coming unless you read between every line...and even then you will probably miss it. All in all, the book is an enjoyable read for the most part.
The only thing keeping me from giving this 5 stars is that @*#&$ Nynaeve. I wish Jordan would use Balefire on her and remove her sorry thread from the entire series PERMANANTLY. She has got to be one of the biggest @*#&$^% of all time in the genre. Egwene and Elayne I can stand, and Moraine has always been the best female character in the series, and perhaps one of the best ever created in the genre.

The Fires of Heaven is an amazing story. I've just read it for the umpteenth time, and I found it as engaging as ever before. Unlike Knight Michaels, who writes nearby, I do not see characters being "murdered," whether by sexual stereotyping or anything else. The main protagonist, Rand, shows an incredible growth in strength in response to the position he finds himself in. He seems to understand full well how everybody else has ulterior motives or hidden agendas where he is concerned. He alone seems to have an holistic view of the struggle, and he steels himself to do, or cause to be done, that which will give the best chance of success. If he seems arrogant or "full of himself," - well that's sometimes what it takes to be a leader. Yet having to be that way is hurtful to him. He is after all, just 20 years old, and most of the world wants to use him or to kill him. That's a load for anybody. And, it's humorous to see the effect that three young women can have on the poise and concentration of our young Dragon.
We see Elayne a lot more in this book. Sure, she's a spoiled brat. And, she's also delightfully spunky and adventurous. She has been growing on me, and she wins my heart in the scenes around Birgitte's reappearance in this world, and in particular by her dealings with Thom and Juilin. Those guys will follow her anywhere, and that's a good start to becoming Queen of Andor.
Nynaeve - now there's a case for you. She has so many conflicts gnawing at her it's remarkable she can keep it together at all. She is several years older than the other key characters, and she was an important person in the quiet place where she has lived most of her life. She's struggling with the changes - her loss of acknowledged station, her situation with Lan, her ambivalence about Moiraine and Aes Sedai, etc. But, she's tough as nails and fierce as a tigress, and a real heavyweight with the One Power. The scenes with Moghedien, especially in the Royal Palace, are riveting.
Mat - my favorite character - just keeps on being Mat. He would always take the easy way if he could, but the Wheel won't allow it. Our unassuming hero just continues to grow. Because he is such a cynic and antiestablishmentarian, the things that befall Mat are really incongruous. As a result, stories about Mat are often side-splittingly funny. But, even though Mat doesn't confide every little thing, Rand recognizes the development of his military skills. He uses Mat's skills to the extent he can. The battle scenes around Cairhien are terrific.
As for the relations between men and women, I think Jordan has that scoped out pretty well. That's why that book about Mars and Venus was a monumental best seller. Let me introduce you sometime to my five sisters-in-law. They make ordinary Aes Sedai seem like Brownies, and they all seem to think they are the Amyrlin Seat. And, we brothers-in-law just look at one another and roll our eyes when they launch. There's nothing to be done about them.
Finally, to those of you who think Jordan is just "milking" this story for the big bucks - think a minute. Imagine yourself a very wealthy person now, who everyday has to sit down behind a typewriter and write for 8 or 12 hours. You're going to spend a large chunk of your life producing further instalments of a story instead of going off to play and spend all that money. And this even though some significant number of people will revile your efforts and accuse you of being some sort of sleaze. I am thankful Mr. Jordan has stuck with it. I'm willing to pay the pittance he asks every two years or so, just to find out about some imaginary people who seem very real and are important to me. Remember what your grandmother said: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

The fifth book of the Wheel of Time Series, compells you to read on like those before it. Despite suffering from the same ailment as book 4 (The Shadow Rising), that is too much detail, The Fires of Heaven finally gives Moiraine a place in your heart, finally unwraps any built up dislike, and truly lets you see her as a real woman.
The Forsaken (or Chosen as they call themselves) play an even larger role in this episode, revealing not only how much Rand has matured but also how far he has to go.
The lack of any presence of Perrin only assures me that he has a larger role in future novels in this series, and the few brief glimpses of Emond's Field in Tel'aran'rhiod give you a glimpse and expectation of what's to come.
I regret that I feel at times "Where is this going? When does the end come?", all I need do is remind myself of the struggles of the people in the World that Jordan has so intricately constructed. The characters come alive as never before. Like real poeple, the depths of their personalities vary, but all are worth considering. If nothing else I can honestly say that when reading this and other books in the wheel of time, I do not read words on a page, but rather gaze about me and see the amazing and fantastic events unfold around me. I am always by the end of every installment, more than willing to read the next if only to visit with those who seem friends near and dear to me.

The first 4 books were not too bad, but hold on to your seat, because it is downhill from here. Jordan loses focus with book 5, or maybe he never had a focus to begin with. Certain themes which have been beaten to death are beaten more: (Nynaeve is a hateful men hating (except for Lan), hair tugging bitch. Mat, Rand and Perin all do not understand women, but think the others do......you get the idea.

In this book Nynaeve who up until this point was a strong brave leader, does have a personality shift and suddenly can only think about how much cleavage she is showing, and worries about her circus act, while the rest of the world goes to hell. I would like a nickel for every time the word bosom is used in this book. I can only guess that Jordan must have had a very poor relationship with his mother, and I doubt has ever managed a successful relationship with a woman. He spends chapter after chapter puzzling out the male-female differences and relationships without ever finding an answer. How many times do we have to see that men and women are different, before we can move on?

Do we really have to know how each character is dressed down to their underwear in boring detail?

Jordan gives his characters unlimited superpowers, but then makes them too stupid to use them? Rand chases after his enemy through the waste on foot, while the guy rapes and pillages ahead of him, when he could just skim ahead and zap the guy with a lightening bolt......duh.

You had better learn the art of skimming yourself for this book and the ones that follow unless you want to find that you have burnt yourself out.

First, I have a question in regard to the first review. How in the name of all that is good and holy can you say that the WoT series is a product of a short-attention-span generation? NINE books at close to 1000 pages each? There are alot of problems one might have with WoT, but I don't think that can be one of them. Let me say also that if you have read the first four, can you really be happy stopping now? If he wasn't any good, you wouldn't even be here... read the book.

...But still good. Highly entertaining, especially in the second half, and full of surprises, The Fires of Heaven builds on the positives of The Shadow Rising. Another outstanding volume.
Also Recomended: The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, The Left Behind series by Tim LaHayn and Jerry B. Jenkins, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkin, The Shannara series by Terry Brooks, The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan, and the Remnants series by K.A. Applegate

I have just been rereading the series and have had a strange suspicion...I do not believe this series is being written by the same person. First of all, the every book is written with a slightly different style. Second, there are many inconsistencies in the series for example some of Min's viewings from the first book never show up later, maybe they are still yet to come? or were forgotten or not used by successive authors. Also starting with this book, book 5, many inconsistencies begin to show up, for example, at the end of book 4 the Avendesora tree in Rhuidean has only one limb broken, but in the beginning of book 5 it is burnt to a crisp...Finally, while there are many appearances of "Robert Jordan" at various events, the appearance of having just one author would not be hard to do, and "Robert Jordan" is actually the main character in a book entitled "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Hemingway!

I really love the series, and I feel like I know the characters-- they are even in my dreams! But I get irritated with the repetitive nature of the books, how Jordan is always reiterating things that we already know, such as: Nynaeve can only channel when she is angry (I don't know how many times I have read that!) and that she is much stronger than Egwene or Elayne, if she can channel at all! I get sick of it because I have read all of the books so far, and I manage to keep the characters in line-- I figure everyone else probably does, too. Also, I felt that there was something lacking in the fact that Perrin didn't make an appearance at all. But I guess I shouldn't complain-- the book was indeed impossible to put down, and I will be looking forward to starting #6 as soon as possible!

I love Robert Jordan's books SO much...they have all the detail of Tolkein. In fact RJ IS the new TOLKEIN. BUT, Tolkein knew when to wrap a story up, and Robert Jordan hasn't got a clue. The series has been running for too long now and I can't believe we have another three or four to go. I would beg RJ to hurry up and finish the series off because my wallet, and my patience is running out.

"When will it end?? NEVER! MUWHAHAHAHAHA!"

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*****

First off, up until this point, I found the series moderately entertaining (especially the 2nd book). Granted, in every book, there are certain aspects of Jordan's redundant writing that are very annoying. For instance, the childish, and extremely immature thoughts and actions of the female characters. Realistically, in a time period like that, if a woman acted as arrogant and sexist as they do in this book series, they would get a good "thumping" and be forced to learn from their mistakes (As would anyone really). Instead, the men grovel like slaves around the women. It's very annoying and infinitely un-realistic. Even in fantasy, there are certain rules one must follow pertaining to the characteristics of the human race. Hardly anyone in this series of books makes a rational, practical decision. There is hardly any Logic here, and when someone who is supposedly "Wise" speaks up, its merely common sense that hopefully everyone in real life should, and probably does know. Most of the so-called "intellectual" sayings in this book bassically translate to somthing a 10 year-old kid would know.

Human characteristics aside, Jordan has a great attention to detail when it comes to scenery (Clothing, geography, battle fields etc...) Hardly anything is left out. I suppose this is good, if one really wants to leave the real world and become part of the reality that Jordan has created.

But here we are...at the 5th book. I hate to say it, but not enough happened in the time-line to justify 5 long books. Sometimes, it is hard to tell just how much time has passed from one point to another. Jordan has virtually no sense of time at all in these books. This can either be as an excuse for such a long series, or its just basically poor writing. I'm a little undecided on that.

This book is full of the usual aspects that the previous 4 had:

1. Most of the men can't think for themselves (However there are a number of Characters that I do like allot. Uno, Julian, Matt, Asmodean, Lan, Thom, Loial (Who isn't even in this one..go figure) What happened to Elays?? Uhg..

2. The female characters whine and complain like my 2 year old daughter

3. Rand's increase in the One Power, is directly proportional to how much of a complete idiot he is turning into. It all started when he absolutely refused to believe he was the Dragon Reborn (End of Book 1 I believe). It takes him a number of books to finally stop being so damn immature and finally step up, and take action. This is the ultimate annoying aspect in this series. Rand attains the 'Sword that cannot be touched'. A weapon that can level cities...What does he do? Shoves it into the floor at the Stone Of Tear, and scampers off into the woods for another adventure. Wow..smart huh?

4. The Forsaken are scheming as usual. It's a mystery to me that they were picked by the Dark One. Powerful as they may be, they're mostly stupid, too paranoid, and un-trustworthy of one another. It would make more sense to create a truce and simply eliminate Rand. They could. Everyone knows they could. But they don't...Frustration level ever increasing...

This series seems to remind me of a poorly written play with too many characters to have on stage at any given time. Jordan seems to shove various ones on for certain amounts of time, then shove them off, with hardly a word of goodbye.

Something that I must point out is the way Jordan decides to kill off, or deal with the "Evil" characters. This whole re-incarnation nonsense is spoiling the importance, and fear of death. I believe it is wrong to kill off so many "Evil" characters at one time. Characters that have potential are eliminated.

And yes...Asmodean. Here comes my biggest gripe of all..

I rather liked Asmodean, his character was interesting, and it was rather refreshing to have someone cross over from the "Evil" side, to "Good" side (Even if it was un-willingly).

He does provide a lot of insight for Rand. If I was a Forsaken, I would defiantly cross over to Rand's side, it only makes sense. BUT...Instead of keeping Asmodean alive and allowing him to help Rand with his great struggle...He's killed off at the end of the book.

Right there, Jordan drops a huge amount of story potential, and trades it for the same, un-inventive, one-sided drivel that the rest of this book contains. Then Rand goes on to Kill Rhavin. Another interesting Character wasted. Lanfear has also been killed (as far as we know). Again, another interesting character wasted. I could care less about Moraine. After the first book, her character is basically rendered useless, and is completely unneeded.

All in all, Jordan has a tendency to do away with the interesting characters (Hurin, Ingtar, Elays etc..) And keep the boring, immature ones. (Nynaeve, Egwene, Elayne, Aviendha etc...)

The series is simply too long, and I'm positive it has over 1000 pages of material that needs to be discarded. If Lord of Chaos is as bad as this one, I'm burning my collection and sending the remains to Jordan's house.

So, to those who are in the midst of this series like I am, I say to you; 'Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends'.

Alot of people dislike this book for reasons that mainly show up in the first half of the book. Nynaeve is particularly annoying throughout most of the book and her point of view seems to overwhelm the first half. Nynaeve's parts, being mostly dialogue and fighting with Elayne, made the first half pretty slow. Also, I have to complain about the fact that Perrin/The Two Rivers wasn't included whatsoever in this book. Since he has one of the most interesting story lines in the book I was a little dissapointed, but I'm sure there's a reason and it makes me more excited for book six.

I forced myself through to the second half of the book, and everything turned around. It took me about two days to finish the last 500 or so pages and it was an obsessive read. I don't want to give anything away, but it really picks up when it gets back to Rand and Mat and I just ordered book six...dying until it gets here.

It's really worth reading. Just push yourself past the first few hundred pages.

Reading this book is like stepping into a new world. The
Charactors become part of your life and you can wait to find out
what happens to them. The entire series(book 1-8) are well
thought out and detailed in everthing. It leaves you waiting
more, and yet not laking anything.. This is the best series
ever....A true "don't miss!"

Rand Al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn, He Who Comes with Dawn and possibly the Coramoor of the Sea Folk. He is destined to fight the Dark One in the Last Battle and then Break the World again. In this book The Fires of Heaven, you are with Rand a lot of the time and you see some of his characteristic development. You also read about Aes Sedai who wield the One Power, Darkfriends who serve the Dark One and Forsaken who in the Age of Legends were thirteen of the most powerful Aes Sedai who serve the Dark One and also have some Darkfriends under their command.
This book is a good fantasy novel about a young man with enormous responsibility on his shoulders and he must decide what to do with this power and responsibility that he possesses. He leads battles that get men killed, fights with his friends, orders people around and tries not to get captured in the nets of meddlesome Aes Sedai. This book is not just about Rand it also is about Mat Cauthon who is trying hard to forget what he is and has become, Egwene who is learning to become a Dreamer, Nynaeve and Elayne who are trying to find the hidden Blue Aes Sedai and many other characters who deal with their own problems.
This book is very detailed and descriptive and a very good adventure and fantasy story. I thought it was a very good book even if was a little drawn out in some parts. I think it strayed a little too much from the center of story and included none of Perrin which I was very disappointed about, but overall it was a well written and fun adventure/fantasy story. The characters were very realistic and believable and retain a lot of the characteristics people today, for instance Jordan writes about women never letting a man do what he wants and always convincing him to do what she wants, and how men can never stop women when they set their mind on something. I think it was very funny to read about all the social struggles the characters in the book go through, it was very realistic and entertaining. The theme of this book was courage, Moiraine Sedai showed innumerable amounts of courage when she faced Lanfear knowing that she was going to die, but she did it because she had to, to save the world, if she hadn't the Last Battle wouldn't have happened because Rand would have died. Nynaeve also showed courage when she went into Tel'aran'rhoid even after Moghedien almost killed her in it, if she hadn't conjured up the courage to do this then Rand Al'Thor probably would have been killed by Rahvin. Rand Al'Thor also showed courage by bearing his burdens and did what he had to do eventually and went and faced Rahvin.
I thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of this book even though at times it could be very slow, overall the book was very good if not quite as good as it's predecessors. I would recommend this series and book to anybody who likes a good fantasy novel and has a bit of time to read.

It's rare that to get chills or an emotional response to fiction of any kind, but that has happened twice for me with Jordan novels, once in The Great Hunt, and once here.
If you have gotten hooked on the Wheel of Time's earlier books, this will not likely disappoint you. The writing is starting to get a little ... dense here, but you will only be disappointed if you abandon the book early.
Enjoy this book, because you have a lot of reading ahead of you that is less than stellar in Books 6, 7, and 8. There is noticable improvement in "Winter's Heart" ... but that's a 1500 pages away. In the meantime, things do move here, and if you have read 1-4, be prepared for a surprise by the end.

FIRES OF HEAVEN IS A GREAT BOOK
I started reading The Wheel of Time when I was fifteen years old. I got a partial copy of The Eye of the World for free at Walden's. I threw it in my closet and picked it up a few months later thinking what the heck. I soon became enthralled. It was exciting, complex, and a little bit spooky. So much better than the D&D junk I had been reading since I was twelve. It was the best fantasy I had ever read. I read and loved all the books up to book 6 and then I ran into a wall. From this point on the books get slower and more difficult to get into. There is a lot of sitting around doing nothing and idle conversation. The writing becomes very over descriptive (I really don't need to know what color the drapes are but thanks for the info) and there is a very noticeable lack of action. Action and suspense were what drew me to these novels, but with each installation there is less and less. It starts to get repetitive also. Reading these later books now 11years since the 1st book I have discovered that you have to read them very slow and try to picture the the setting in your mind. Otherwise you just won't enjoy them. If you're going to read or listen to any of these books I suggest the first one Eye of the World. I think it's the best.

Title says it all. I enjoyed the 1st-3rd book in series. Forth book sort of dragged. By the middle of this book I had to make a decision...keep going with an endless supply of boring pages and books ahead or throw in the towel. Let's face it, life's too short. If you want a thousand pages of satisfaction pick up the unabridged version of "The Stand". I'm afraid this doesn't do it.

Think about it another way do you want to read over 5000 pages of a series that has mixed reviews from like minded fantasy readers?

Cheers

Ah . . . if only Robert Jordan could go back to the end of this novel and we could forget what came after. This is the last installment of The Wheel of Time which truly engaged, surprised and excited. The thousands of potboiling pages which follow "The Fires of Heaven" are not horrible, but here is the last time all the characters had depth and complexity, not just melodrama. Read here and enjoy.

holy cow! i could just die, i love this series so much! however, i give the fifth installment in the series only 4 stars, or actually, i would give it 4.5 stars because, i felt the story line was weighted down by a little toooooo much detail & history. the story is still incredible, there are still amazing & surprising turns everywhere, but the story seemed weighted down by too many words. but i still LOVE this book.

I was a little disappointed that Perrin never made an appearance, but the character developement more than made up for it. This is my second time through this series, and I have never grown tired of it. Every time I read these books, I catch something I had missed before. RJ's ability to create such intricate storylines never ceases to amaze me. However, I am growing a little tired of hearing phrases like"The Light burn me!",and"The Light take him for a fool". Also,I don't know if anybody else feels the same way, but I am getting sick of reading about the Whitecloaks! I hate those guys. Whose side are they on, anyway? It was, however, worth the time to trudge through the dumb stuff to get to the parts of the story that truly show Jordan's brilliance. Everyone and their mothers should read this series, and especially FoH, which I believe to be the turning point in TWoT series.

I really have a hard time understanding the people that love these books. I was looking for a new fantasy series and I'd heard about the Wheel of Time. Its fantasy. Its long. Its popular. So maybe its good, I was thinking. Well 5 books later I'm giving up. Sure the first book was interesting; getting to know the world and the characters usually is. But by now The books are so predictable that reading them is more of a chore than enjoyment. The plots of each individual book are so cyclical that soon we will be able to predict on exactly which page-number Rand will have his final confrontation with the latest minion of the Dark One. And the plot of the series as a whole no longer interests me becuase I no longer believe that Mr Jordan is capable of surprising his readers. If you like cliches and retread plots that go nowhere than you'll like Robert Jordan but, in my opinion; you'll be a lot happier with Tad Williams or George RR Martin if you're looking for true innovators in modern fantasy literature.

What a series! Started reading based on my son's recommendation. Interesting, once I got going, and it continues to take me places I never could have imagined. Never boring, some loose ends and leaps of logic, but it keeps you glued so that you continue reading the books. This book maintains a high level of imagination, surprises and plot twists. I love that the women characters act, think and react like real people. These women are inteligent, strong, courageous, and far from timid. So far I am impressed and genuinely enjoying reading this series of books.

The fifth book had exellent plots that made it seem half as long as it was. Some interesting plots are starting to arouse and with the seals on the Dark Ones prison weakening danger is at an all time high. There are many interesting developments that many readers thought would never happen and there is some emotional parts to this book that will ingrave the words into your mind. It looks a little long but it is one great piece of literature.

I think writing these reviews for Jordan books are like grouptherapy.
"Hi, my name is...and I suffer from WOTmania. I started reading long time ago but I haven't been able to stop it and it has teared my life apart."
And everybody else in group is nodding. Some are saying yes I know how you feel but...maybe it ends some day. Or sure they hope so.
No...really, somehow Jordan reminds me of myself as writer. I have played some rolegames when I was younger and I'm great making new worlds with interesting characters but at least I know when to stop. Jordan doesn't.
I like that books are almost perfect. I mean that there aren't too many unnecessary words to describe something that reader doesn't want to know like Lini's advice number 44544576 and does Nynaeve change his clothes in the dreamworld and thinks like that. As said they are useless. At least after the time you have heard those words thousand times.
Somehow I feel that all the characters in the books are living in some kind of fantasyworld. No, I'm not kidding. Everybody seem to have this terrible important mission to achieve but they hardly do anything about it until someone shows them the way. Then they achieve with almost no action at all.
Let's face it. Jordan's characters are dull. Women even more than men. Women in the books just dream over something that never really has happened like twelve year olds. I mean not only the young women but also the more mature ones. It's pretty clear that age scale for this of series is about 15 years old. Just like Eddings books.
In the books,
men are like they don't know anything about women.
Women are like they know everything about men.
How funny. I'm almost laughing. The series is based into this kind of small jokes and the thing that Rand al'Thor and his companions must face the evil one as in all the other series. Well, I think I know as well as you how that is going to end. I don't really even wait that series ends but that something would happen between the start of the book and the end. If nothing happens it's like watching photo of something when I could watch moving picture and I like movies more.
Watch my point? I have tired of seeing that nothing happens. Jordan draws wonderful world and then let's it be. I'm tired of Rand killing another forsaken in seconds when before that he has used like dozen of lifetimes thinking should he do it or not.
Just like this review Jordan's book are full of rambling. Nothing else. But I warn you. If you touch the first book, The Eye of the World and you may become ill. It's called WOTmania and it won't stop until bookserie stop. Then you will wake up from the dream and understand what you have just read and how many pages of it. Then you can use those pages for some better purpose.
So my message is: Save the environment and don't read Jordan because he kills the rainforest with useless modern entertaiment more sure than anything on earth.

Robert Jordan has created the greatest epic fantasy novels I have ever read and continues to write the finest...he draws you in lets you know the options then has the characters go another path making their own options. His writing is the highest respected...and enjoyed. If you agree E-Mail me and lets discuss this...:)

I like to read and I read alot: The Wheel of Time books are a well written set of books. I have enjoyed these book from the time the first book was given to me. I have bought the rest of the books. I was sadden to here of the passing of Robert Jorden.

I am on book 8 in the wheel of time series and I have loved every one of the books so far. The characters really come alive. I read before bed each night and I can never wait to find out what the characters are going to do. I really recommend this book series.

This book was great! The way Jordan will send some kind of twist to the story and get you excited is magnificent. Jordan loves to hit you with the excitement when you least expect it, then let you calm down and hit you with one again. As with all of the books so far you do not know what to expect until it happens. The only thing I did not like about this book was the absence of Perrin anywhere in the book. Other than that Jordan gives the characters old and new more depth and life. So far I have been quite pleased with the series as it becomes more interesting with each book. Hopefully, book six will be just as good, if not better than this one.

The Wheel of Time is a great series. Very original and a riveting read. The only problem I had with this series is it drags on through about thirteen novels. It's still worth the read but be prepared to commit some time to this fantastic series.

I have read every book in this series so far and get completely sucked up into each volume. A great series with wonderful character development, excellent environment details and descriptions. A truly great series that everyone should read.

What to say?! Of the 5 I've read, this one is by far the best. The Lord Dragon learns more about weilding the One Power, about his destiny to fight Ba'alzamon, and keeps finding himself thrown about the pattern like a leaf in the wind. As beautifully detailed as one could wish for; you almost feel the taint of the dark one when Rand touches Saidin. The battles, the sorrow, the laughter. Jordan shocks and amazes. I can't wait to get number 6.

I just started the series last week, and I'm on number five. I've really enjoyed these books, but I have some problems. Everyone else has commented on the amount of description, so I can skip that. Starting in book 3 or so, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Egwene merge into the same character. Without the context you couldn't tell which character you are reading about. They act exactly the same. It's very frustrating. Was I the only one who noticed that Nynaeve's obsession with pulling her braid came in the middle of book 2, and not book 1? All the "habits" of characters have evolved along the way. However, my biggest problem would be this obsession with "Women's Circle" or the constant berating of men. I'm a girl, and we aren't always that derogatory of men. I'm getting to the point where I dread the girls perspective because we have to listen to 3 pages berating men, and then the plot continues. However, if we listen to Rand we get his little temper tantrums and lessons on Aeil customs. But if we switch to Mat we hear about how much he hates being ta'veren. These are my biggest problem. And traveling. Can't they just arrive somewhere and stick with it? I do really enjoy the series, and hopefully he'll be able to smooth out some of these problems.

The book did a great job of keeping the interest of the reader and it also did a good job of detailing the feelings of each particular character. I felt most of the in depth looks at the character's feelings and it put me so on edge that I couldn't put it down. Great book out of the series.

I had a few problems with this book. First of all, there are some scenes that are just plain repetitive. Every chapter about Elayne and Nynaeve is just them bickering about each other for wearing skimpy clothes, like a book for 13 year old girls. I think this book gets better reviews because the end is extraordianary. The last 200 pages or so are top notch, but the rest of the book is just uneventful. I mean the first time Jordan said that Nynaeve showed too much "pale bosom", it was fine, but if you pay close attention he says it dozens of times throughout the course of the novel. I stopped at about page 600 to read another book, and after I returned I liked the rest of it, but it is just too long and drawn out (kind of like the series in general). Definitely the worst book in the series, but you have to read it to appreciate the later ones. It is a necessary evil.

Some say hes good....some say hes great....some say hes bad....I say hes EXCELLENT!! RJ cant be topped on these books. Hes gets you interested then sucks you right in with these books. You can almost feel Saidin rush through your blood. 100 years from now they will be reading this.

Robert Jordan has created the greatest epic fantasy novels I have ever read and continues to write the finest...he draws you in lets you know the options then has the characters go another path making their own options. His writing is the highest respected...and enjoyed.

I have to say that I (25 yr old Student) am getting terribly sick of people that criticize this book. I just finished it, and book 5 was everything that I could have imagined and more. The only explanation I can think of is that it takes a more mature/experienced reader enjoy amount of detail that Jordan puts into every page. In the Fires of Heaven, Jordan unleashes the best tactical combat scenario of the series, and uses each character to their fullest with the exception of Perrin, which seems to be absent from this book. All in all, an extraordinary effort on Jordan's part. I highly recommend this book/series to anyone who wants to jump-start their imagination.

This book was excellent. It was wonderful to find out about Rand's real mother and father. But the real story lies in the ending of the blockade of Carhien by the Shaido Aiel. Also in the book Andor is added to Rand's belt. Another exciting part was the killing of Rahvin and Lanfear (or so you think). Jordan is a brilliant writer. I felt all the emotions swirl through me while i was reading, I could almost hear Lews Therin's voice. I loved this book just like all the other books in the series. But the only thing that made this book a four star instead of a five star was that Perrin is hardly mentioned.

If it wasn't for Perrin and Mat I'd give up on this series.
The first three books thrilled me. I loved the world and the characters, knowing that there was going to be at least another 8 of these was amazing.
How could it all go so wrong so fast.
I've gone from loving and caring about Rand to thinking the sooner the mad man dies the better. All the women have turned into an absurd caricature of a universal Womens Circle. Jordan endlessly repeats himself (I can only think it is for people who have picked up the books half way through, because surely he doesn't need to remind his readers minor points after this long) and his plot devices are childlike at times.
I admit that he is keeping me reading these books and that is for two reasons 1. I want to be there when Rand dies and 2. I have to read something while I wait for the new George RR Martin book to come out.
If there is anyone out there who reads Robert Jordan and hasn't read George RR Martins 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series I suggest you switch NOW.

when i read this book, i knew it was gonna b good- it was- so those critics must understand- RJ doesn't write short epics- he does long ones- various opinions, but mine will always be the same for all of RJ's books- EXCELLENT.

I have never put down a book (actually, I have, once)

I Have never left a series unfinished

I am leaving my third decade

I have read this book one and a half year ago. No one goes anywhere and they go slowly.

I Will probably finish the series when i get to be around seventy, so I can say that I've finished it and go in peace with myself and maybe get Mr. Jordan's hidden message, which I seriously doubt.

I am also posting this on book one, so no one goes unwarned, as the series started off pretty well.

Shame.

Quite simply, the most boring book I've ever read. I thought Lord of Chaos was ten times better, but this is only my personal opinion, of course. Many people list this as their favourite and LoC as the most boring one, so I guess everyone should read them and make up their mind :)

I LOVED this book. Everything was so descriptive (but not boring). It was vivid; I could SEE the events taking place, hear the word exchanges, and FEEL the characters' emotions. For example, I got frustrated with some of the characters, so frustrated I started arguing with my dog about it. Yes, laugh if you wish but its true. I have even dreamed about parts in this book. I think about the story constantly, this and the other books of The Wheel of Time. I've also been able to pick out and name characters before they're "introduced". Anyway, i COMPLETELY recommend this book for anyone who likes fantasy, inner conflicts, battle scenes and tactics (there are a few), or just plain good books.

I thought The Fires of Heaven was a good book. But Jordan is starting to slip. It seems that Jordan is repeating himself. But when I finished this book it seemed to me that the six book was going to be better.

I just started the series last week, and I'm on number five. I've really enjoyed these books, but I have some problems. Everyone else has commented on the amount of description, so I can skip that. Starting in book 3 or so, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Egwene merge into the same character. Without the context you couldn't tell which character you are reading about. They act exactly the same. It's very frustrating. Was I the only one who noticed that Nynaeve's obsession with pulling her braid came in the middle of book 2, and not book 1? All the "habits" of characters have evolved along the way. However, my biggest problem would be this obsession with "Women's Circle" or the constant berating of men. I'm a girl, and we aren't always that derogatory of men. I'm getting to the point where I dread the girls perspective because we have to listen to 3 pages berating men, and then the plot continues. However, if we listen to Rand we get his little temper tantrums and lessons on Aeil customs. But if we switch to Mat we hear about how much he hates being ta'veren. These are my biggest problem. And traveling. Can't they just arrive somewhere and stick with it? I do really enjoy the series, and hopefully he'll be able to smooth out some of these problems.

The book did a great job of keeping the interest of the reader and it also did a good job of detailing the feelings of each particular character. I felt most of the in depth looks at the character's feelings and it put me so on edge that I couldn't put it down. Great book out of the series.

I had a few problems with this book. First of all, there are some scenes that are just plain repetitive. Every chapter about Elayne and Nynaeve is just them bickering about each other for wearing skimpy clothes, like a book for 13 year old girls. I think this book gets better reviews because the end is extraordianary. The last 200 pages or so are top notch, but the rest of the book is just uneventful. I mean the first time Jordan said that Nynaeve showed too much "pale bosom", it was fine, but if you pay close attention he says it dozens of times throughout the course of the novel. I stopped at about page 600 to read another book, and after I returned I liked the rest of it, but it is just too long and drawn out (kind of like the series in general). Definitely the worst book in the series, but you have to read it to appreciate the later ones. It is a necessary evil.

Some say hes good....some say hes great....some say hes bad....I say hes EXCELLENT!! RJ cant be topped on these books. Hes gets you interested then sucks you right in with these books. You can almost feel Saidin rush through your blood. 100 years from now they will be reading this.

Robert Jordan has created the greatest epic fantasy novels I have ever read and continues to write the finest...he draws you in lets you know the options then has the characters go another path making their own options. His writing is the highest respected...and enjoyed.

I have to say that I (25 yr old Student) am getting terribly sick of people that criticize this book. I just finished it, and book 5 was everything that I could have imagined and more. The only explanation I can think of is that it takes a more mature/experienced reader enjoy amount of detail that Jordan puts into every page. In the Fires of Heaven, Jordan unleashes the best tactical combat scenario of the series, and uses each character to their fullest with the exception of Perrin, which seems to be absent from this book. All in all, an extraordinary effort on Jordan's part. I highly recommend this book/series to anyone who wants to jump-start their imagination.

This book was excellent. It was wonderful to find out about Rand's real mother and father. But the real story lies in the ending of the blockade of Carhien by the Shaido Aiel. Also in the book Andor is added to Rand's belt. Another exciting part was the killing of Rahvin and Lanfear (or so you think). Jordan is a brilliant writer. I felt all the emotions swirl through me while i was reading, I could almost hear Lews Therin's voice. I loved this book just like all the other books in the series. But the only thing that made this book a four star instead of a five star was that Perrin is hardly mentioned.

If it wasn't for Perrin and Mat I'd give up on this series.
The first three books thrilled me. I loved the world and the characters, knowing that there was going to be at least another 8 of these was amazing.
How could it all go so wrong so fast.
I've gone from loving and caring about Rand to thinking the sooner the mad man dies the better. All the women have turned into an absurd caricature of a universal Womens Circle. Jordan endlessly repeats himself (I can only think it is for people who have picked up the books half way through, because surely he doesn't need to remind his readers minor points after this long) and his plot devices are childlike at times.
I admit that he is keeping me reading these books and that is for two reasons 1. I want to be there when Rand dies and 2. I have to read something while I wait for the new George RR Martin book to come out.
If there is anyone out there who reads Robert Jordan and hasn't read George RR Martins 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series I suggest you switch NOW.

when i read this book, i knew it was gonna b good- it was- so those critics must understand- RJ doesn't write short epics- he does long ones- various opinions, but mine will always be the same for all of RJ's books- EXCELLENT.

I have never put down a book (actually, I have, once)

I Have never left a series unfinished

I am leaving my third decade

I have read this book one and a half year ago. No one goes anywhere and they go slowly.

I Will probably finish the series when i get to be around seventy, so I can say that I've finished it and go in peace with myself and maybe get Mr. Jordan's hidden message, which I seriously doubt.

I am also posting this on book one, so no one goes unwarned, as the series started off pretty well.

Shame.

Quite simply, the most boring book I've ever read. I thought Lord of Chaos was ten times better, but this is only my personal opinion, of course. Many people list this as their favourite and LoC as the most boring one, so I guess everyone should read them and make up their mind :)

I LOVED this book. Everything was so descriptive (but not boring). It was vivid; I could SEE the events taking place, hear the word exchanges, and FEEL the characters' emotions. For example, I got frustrated with some of the characters, so frustrated I started arguing with my dog about it. Yes, laugh if you wish but its true. I have even dreamed about parts in this book. I think about the story constantly, this and the other books of The Wheel of Time. I've also been able to pick out and name characters before they're "introduced". Anyway, i COMPLETELY recommend this book for anyone who likes fantasy, inner conflicts, battle scenes and tactics (there are a few), or just plain good books.

I thought The Fires of Heaven was a good book. But Jordan is starting to slip. It seems that Jordan is repeating himself. But when I finished this book it seemed to me that the six book was going to be better.

After the first 4 Jordan books, I was on board. I thought number 4 was just as good as the rest, if a bit long-winded. But something about number 5 just turned me off. Halfway through this book it hit me that this series was never going to end, and even if it does, there's no way it can be worth the effort. At page 800 of this book, I bailed. That was 4 years ago. I do not regret the decision, and still haven't.

Let me compare this series to another series I recently read, the Earthsea series by Leguin. I had never heard of these books, until a friend recommended them (apparently the scifi channel just made a tv version of Earthsea, and my friend was telling me all about it). Do yourself a favor, if you have never heard of this series, go to the library, and get "A wizard of earthsea". It's only 200 pages. Read the first 50 or 100, and if you don't like it, fine. But let me tell you, it is the polar opposite of Jordan. Leguin can do more with 50 pages than Jordan can do with 500. No exageration. This book moves by so fast, you can't skim. At all. You can read it in an evening. Not only will it be a nice refresher from Jordan, but you'll lose all respect for JK Rowling in the process. Read it and you'll see what I mean.

If you are into epic tales of adventure of the fantasy genre, this is a supremely written book for anyone looking for a good read that lasts a long time, even for those who read fast. Jordan continues to write books that are detailed and interesting, even though he has written several others in this series. I highly recommend this book to anyone from the age of 12 to 120.

PMZ

Just the 3 first of the serie are somehow worth the reading. Following the readers review I bought straight the 9 first books. What a mistake. the Game of Thrones or even Sword of truth series are far better than the Wheel of time serie. It is as if Robert Jordan is paid by the line like the french writers from the 19th century, Balzac, Flaubert etc...
So far I have finished 1 to 7. From the 4th (till 7th) they just are impossible to finish. Like chewing branflakes forever and being unable to swallow it.
I really regret I went further the third.

Do not make my mistake unless slow rythm and low level action is what you seek.
Robert Jordan has also the gift for beginning threads of stories with no intention of closing them, creating new characters without really caring to give them substance, depth or real influence on the plot.

My recommendation: read the 3 first ones, and then taste the 4th, if you have the patience and like it carry on. If not don't hope it'll get better and you'll get some action or anything ...stop right there.
Same with the 5th etc...
Don't buy them all at once like me.
This a real never ending story, not even close to that, and it just gets slower and slower with more and more characters...
I hate it, but may be you won't.
My bet ? you will.

OK, short and sweet cause you have already read the other 4 books.

Like the other books in the series, The Fires of Heaven is intriguing, if u can get past Jordan's childish problem with women. The stroy line is wonderful, but it seems one can't get through a chapter with out a character commenting on "Oh the opposite sex is stupid. We have to take them in hand." However, the plot line is enjoyable and so is Jordan's formation of magic and how it is used. So if you can stand Jordan's view of women (which he should see a counselor for) then the rest of the book is a must read.

So far I have read all the books up to this one and it is so far the best I have read. The book whaen I read it plays like a movie in my head and is so intense in the most part that I couldn't put it down. You think you know what is going to happen next but 9 out of 10 times your wrong and if you do put the book down you'll be guessing what is going to happen untill you start reading again. This series being so long and but always actionpacked outdoes the Lord of the Ring. I recomend this book to anyone who likes fntasy and adventure cause it has it all.

There are some wonderful, wonderful scenes here. I don't think anybody in fantasy-writing can outdo Jordan at his best - and here (volumes 4, 5 and 6, in my personal opinion) he really is at his best. I'm not saying this work is without flaws, but I am saying it's a giant achievement by a giant talent!

This series, I admit, can get a bit repetitious but there are plenty of surprises that should, like in my case, keep readers on their toes! I don't want to spoil anything, but their are many occurences within this book and series that will shock the reader, and leave you thinking "I never thought of that". This series is great, in my opinion, and I will faithfully devote my time with it until the end. What are you waiting for you wool-headed idiots! Read this SERIES!!!

Upon finishing this book I thought about why I was reading these books. It certainly wasn't for the good stories. By now the books have gotten very repetitive and some points are absolutely mind-numbing. Basically all of the portions without Rand are getting very boring. Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve are fighting constantly and it is immensely annoying. Robert Jordan needs to keep the story on Rand and finish this series up. I sure hope #6 is better than this one.

Although this wasn't one of my favorite books in the story it was still informative. Rand goes is STILL in the Aiel Waste which is tiring, but his bond with Aviendha grows and becomes love. but this is the book that starts the series sex scenes too. yuck! and there is a forsaken fight! yes! I find the fights between Nyneave, Elayne, Birgette, and Valan Luca or whatever his name is quite humorous. And Nyneave's love craving for lan romantic. Though at the end the when Rand reaches Cairheien, he is suprised at the death of Moiraine and Asmodean. Fortunate for your guessing purposes, it leaves you stumped with 2 questions

*Who killed Asmodean?

*Is Moiraine really dead?

But you will have to read the other books to get more clues!

I can't believe some people think this book is boring. I think it is one of the best in the series. I especially love the scenes with Nynaeve and Elayne at the Menagerie. I laughed out loud at many of the things they did and said. And the ending was tremendous. The scene with Siuan, Nynaeve and Moghedien in the world of dreams was fantastic. Keep it up Mr. Jordan!

Yes...I liked The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, thought The Dragon Reborn was okay, and thought The Shadow Rising was great, but later everything gets bad. Yes...Robert has lost his touch. HE OVERUSES DETAIL. No, I do NOT care about what dresses Elayne and Egwene are wearing...I care about the characters' feelings. Robert beat the series into oblivion (eight books and still counting?!), unlike David Eddings, who had The Belgariad be only five WONDERFUL books. Robert was great in the beginning, but was unable to hold on, and lapsed into repetetiveness.

Yes! It was actually possible to write an entire, lengthy novel that is part of a long and ambitious series, and not substantially advance a single basic plot line. Just a string of overly descriptive chapters that moved characters around on vaguely defined or just unfinished business. What a depressing concept.

I decided Jordan had essentially run out of ideas, yet he still seemed determined to stretch "The Wheel of Time" past ten or more titles.

Willing to give the man one more chance, I confess I purchased "Lord of Chaos," but gave up for good shortly after reading 100 pages when the paperback's binding failed and the book disintegrated. Since two of the previous books had shed their covers before I finished them, I decided this was a trend towards very cheaply made paperbacks stuffed with filler and fluff.

Sadly, the series had become a waste of time and money.

This is definitely better than Part 4 (TSR). The ending was quite exciting, I think second to that of Part 2 (Great Hunt).The characters have definitely matured more & the Dragon is able to understand that he should not easily trust anyone -- even Eqwene.
But hey, this series is getting way too long! Is this going to end? The story has resolved into a stagnant state where we hardly see any advancement in the story at all. That's why I refrain from giving it more than a 3 star.

This is a book that weeds out the casual readers from the hardcore fans. Its slowwww, and almost nothing happens, it took me alomost a month to read it; I kept putting it down. If you think this book is terrible, youre right. This is the worst book, in the series, and a far second worst is book 7. The rest of them are great. If you can handle this one, youll be rewarded with an additional 7500+ pages of some good stuff. If you cant, godspeed, maybe you should try out sword of truth, its a lot less convoluted.

Last time I read this book, it was a while ago, but at the moment, I am nearly half way re-reading, I've nearly finish 4, and about to reenter five.
With what i remember, it was fantastic as it all is. More introductio to the Aiel culture, so on...the thing is i can not remember many details, but don't worry, will read it and update!!!

Every time I pick up one of Jordan's books, I'm so totally enthralled from beginning to end, that I can't put it down. I just recently discovered this series, being a "newcomer" to sci-fi and fantasy reading, and I've gotten through the series in record time and started browsing them again, looking for the "hidden" jewels I missed the first time!

The box arrived in good condition if just a bit later then expected (two days beyond stated delivery window). The packaging was well done to prevent damage and the box contained what I had ordered, always a good thing.

I don't understand why sellers do not give a brief synopsis of the book they are selling and would be grateful for this addition. But over all I was happy with this sellers treatment of my order.

Well, this book was almost boring! Only because it's a Wheel of time book I kept on reading. I must say: the scenes with Rand in it while fighting the Shaido's and the scenes with Nynaeve and Elayne were very borin. Only the parts with Min and co. and Liandrin were cool, but as you know, this is about 100 pages long. Too bad, but book 6 was one of the best, so don't stop reading after having read Book 5!

The Fires of Heaven is the fifth book of the Wheel of Time series.

Half of this book should have been cut out. There is no need for the number of Elayne and Nynaeve chapters, and nothing of much importance happens in Rand's chapters before Cairhien that justifies the length of them. Not to mention the many Siuan and Min chapters. Egwene also gets really annoying in this one. And what was the deal with not letting us see the Mat fight. This is definitely the most ambitious book of them though, and it was enjoyable enough.

wonderful! after trudging my way through "the shadow rising" (my least favourite in the series) i was worried that this series was going to take a nosedive. thankfully, i was mistaken. this book is by far the most entertaining of the 7 i have read so far. i loved all the little plot twists - also loved the fact that perrin wasn't in it (sorry perrin fans - he's boring!). definitely worth reading!

I was really excited about reading this book when it came out because I had finished "The Shadow Rising" in two days because I was so addicted to the Two Rivers/Perrin storyline. In this book I really wanted to read more about Perrin because by then I had gotten a bit tired of Rand. Then I read this book and to my disappointment there is NO Perrin.... The storyline is pretty good but their needs to be more action. I am being kind giving this book a 3 star rating.

This book definately upholds the series Wheel of Time. One aspect I don't especially like is that they took Perrin out of this book completely. He was one of the best characters. I liked how he incorperated the forsaken into this book, but i think its a little corny that Moiraine and Lanfear died like that. Overall I am impressed by this addition to the series, and I welcome more books to come.

Although I love this series, I want it to end. I am finding myself more interested in Mat and Perrin, rather than Rand. I had to read another book, after I read this one, instead of Bk. #6, just to clear my head.

Having read all of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books I still think this one is the best yet. There is plenty of character development, and the entire book is filled with action lacking in The Shadow Rising. The entire story keeps you on the end of your seat, while still allowing for character growth. The Fires of Heaven is also cleansed off the muddle of characters and plots in later books.

I felt this book did not pack as much punch as the first 4, but that's not to say I didn't like it. I liked it a lot, actually, and thought the ending was very good. Nynaeve vs Moghedien was awesome! And I (like everyone I'm sure) am dying to know who Asmodean sees at the end. Here's hpping that both Moiraine AND Lanfear are still alive and duking it out somwhere.

As his Wheel of Time spins on, Robert Jordan writes one more excellent addition to the series. Mr. Jordans books, including this one, have such depth and clarity that they cannot be misunderstood. I for one cannot wait for the next installment in this epic series.