The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

A great book. Gives all the information you could want out of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. History, timelines, and important facts about all the nations that make up Jordan's fictional world. It even gives the calender and holidays of the many nations. Facts and info on the Aiel, the Seanchan, the Aes Sedai, and Sea Folk. Stories from before the Breaking, during the Breaking, and after. Nothing--save the books in the Wheel of Time series--beats this book.

The content...
This book has really no new important information that hasn't been given already in the series. Unlike other reviewers, I expected and agreed with this focus. I wanted something that tied together all of the facts, some of which were spread over so much distance that they seemed almost trivial until placed together.

The artwork...

Pretty bad, but that could just be me. I imagined the various characters certain ways, and to have them drawn "officially" so different is disappointing. About the style however... well, I am no artist and can't really criticize that. I don't think that the artist was given enough of a description of various characters to create "true" pictures of them... there are too many inconsistencies.

The author...

Who wrote this anyway? I see two names on the cover, but only RJ is getting any blame. I doubt that he had the time to write all of this book. I think that it is mostly Patterson's work and RJ should be left alone. So should Patterson - the approach is not all that bad, and as for the typos and contradictions... well, they appear in the series too.

The conclusion...

All in all, a good book - about what I expected. Unfortunately, my lasting impression of this book is that it came too soon. There are books left in the series yet, which means another guide at the end. This book winds up being either a token gesture to the readers while Path of Daggers is written, or, with its high price, just a money grab.

I would expect from R. Jordan who in truth is an excellent writter and whose work and world reaches in authenticity and brilliancy that of J.R.R. Tolkien, to demand a much higher capability and talent from the person chosen to illustrate this wonderful book. I was trully disappointed by the drawings and I am obliged to say that I personally have a couple of friends who could illustrate this book with much higher accuracy and drawing ability. All the pictures, except the covers of the 7 books, are failures. The Dragharr is alien-like, Aviendha who is supposed to be of wild and amazing beauty is rather ugly and most of all, Lanfear who by the words of R. Jordan is one of the most beautiful women if not the most beautiful, of all ages, is like a cheap comic figure. On the other hand this guide proves to be valuable for the "Wheel of Time" fan and its contents are summarising the whole world and its known history in the best way. I wish that in the future R. Jordan will choose another artist to re- draw the characters. Only then, his fans will be able to forget the present failed ones...

The artwork is, unfortunately, on par with the covers of the series. I never understood why Jordan and TOR couldn't get better art for the covers. And then when this book came out I was so incredibly disappointed to see the paintings and such were basically as bad as the covers of the series. No, they are actually worse. Nothing takes you out of a fantasy world more quickly when it looks fake or, frankly, just bad.
Hopefully those overseeing the Wheel of Time series after Jordan's death can get some better artists involved.
For instance, the art work in George R.R. Martin's Art of A Song of Ice and Fire book is a great example of the quality of art that Jordan's series deserves.

this is a good supplemental to have with the books. in the 9000 pages or so of reading we've all done so far, it's hard to get the history of his world down, so it's nice to see it more organized and not scattered through the current story. i just hope we get more immersed in the shara and seanchan worlds. that would be fun. it would be a waste if we don't actually see those two worlds, if all the action happens only in the current land.

The information in the book is nicely compiled. It probably isn't anything that hasn't come up in the books but it's nice to have as a reference. I liked being given a timeline of the past wars. The pictures are the only bad thing in this book. They're awful. The women all look the same except hair/eye color. Same goes for the men. A lot of them look older than they should as well. I don't know what Tor was thinking with these illustrations. Other than that, this is a nice thing to have but I look forward to the encyclopedia that is being made soon.

There are numerous reviews on this page for which I am eternally grateful, they saved me from wasting the money. (Some, especially the reviewer from New York, were very well written). They write about the book far better than I could. I have to wonder..I found Crown of Swords to be by far the worst Jordan book, are we dooomed to descendingly worse books? Will he just spend some time on the next two and wrap it up? *arg....venting frustrations*

The only reason I did not initially buy this book was because I lost my checkbook. This seems to be a blessing in disguise due to the reviews I have seen. Granted the book does provide interesting information and help sum information about a world that grows more complex with each book. Unfortunately I found the images to be rather disappointing. The art was ok, but I have seen and expected better from someone like Jordan. The information about the other lands looked interesting, but I found it ruined the intrigue of the series in many ways. For example, Shara was supposed to be this mystical land that no one has ever seen and is shrouded in mystery (China). Well, from what I scanned of the book, it gives a map, history, people, and government of the land. This practically spoils the entertainment and surprise when entering the land. I am not going to buy the book simply because it will make the remainder of the series more enjoyable. When Book 8 comes out, I'll reread the series to catch up.

This is a great resource for WOT readers; you can find out stuff you never would have known, like lists of Amyrlins and descriptions of Seanchan. But I was really disappointed by the art. I think whoever did the covers for the books should have done the art; at least Egwene wouldn't look pint-sized, and Loial's nose wouldn't take up half his face. All in all, a must-have - just don't look at the pictures.

I tend to agree with what a number of people have been saying about this book. Most of the artwork is, quite frankly, terrible. Don't get me wrong as a reference book I've found it almost invaluble, but that's not the reason I wanted it. I had heard that the artwork was to be fantastic, and I was excited to see what I'd heard were going to be wonderful renderings of a fascinating world. I didn't get that. It's good, but not what I'd hoped for.

This is known by fans as the big book of bad art for a reason. Its a big book and its full of bad art. A few snippets about the world that won't really influence events is ok, but the drawings are not accurate, and not well done. There's fan art out there that is a lot, lot LOT better than this, free for viewing.

I just can't understand why they can't use artwork that is accurate with what is in the books. Is it so hard? For almost fifty dollars things like artword and spelling do matter, and well, they should. This was absolutely horrible and disappointing, and as far as the text of the book goes, there is nothing new (at least nothing new that is well written). Horrible horrible horrible.

Not bad really. The pictures were awful though! The artist must have never read the books at all! If you've read or seen the Wheel of Time Roleplaying book, the pictures are much better there.
Stuff on the Seanchan and Shara weren't bad, but most of the stuff thru the book was pretty vague, like Jordan didn't want to reveal anything. Which makes sense considering this book came out only when Jordan's 7th in the series was out. A lot has happened since then.
But basically, everything in the book you could get from the series, if you just read it carefully. It's a good companion book for extra history and details, but it could've been better with more maps, better pictures, and more history and details. Don't buy it unless you're a hardcore fan.

I bought this years ago thinking it would provide great artwork and insights into the the Wheel of Time series. Sadly, it gave neither decent artwork nor anything other than information already available by simply reading the novels. A disappointment in every respect.

This book revolutionises the wheel of time. This is by far the best creation of Robert Jordan yet.
I am very sattisfied by this book and will tell all my friends about it. Robert Jordan is one of the literary geniuses of our time and will remain in our memories forever. The wheel of time is a vivid series.

Robert Valentine
(Avid Fan)

This book was a total waste of time to reed or even look at. How could anyone give it a 10? The art had absolutely no basis on any discription and anyone with a IQ of greater than that of a peanut could have done a beter job on it. I have loved all of Jordan's other books and hope to see many more HIGH QUALITY titles in the future, but this one was a disgrace to the series...

While I truly enjoy the WoT books, I have to say this was a "Show me the money" book by TOR. The information in the book was primarlily a rehash of things readers discover or can infer through reading the series. In other words, for those that have read the complete series up to the date of this book there was not a whole lot of new information. For those that are just starting the WoT series, this book could spoil a lot of the suprises. I also have to admit that I thought the art was terrible and question wheter the artist even read the series.
On the plus side, the Guide provides a handy reference for hard core WoT fans. It also provides a number of maps that the books have lacked.
I would suggest buying this only after you have completed reading the series up to book 8 and have read the short story in "Legends." This is a good reference book to have if your re-reading the series or just trying to pass the time until the next book is out.

I never thought I would say it, but this has "Sell Out" written all over it. I like many other Fools saw this book and bought it without hesitation. However, I will not make the same mistake again. Once I saw the so called picture of Loial, I calmly put the book down, hid it in the back of my bookshelf, and tried to pretend that I didn't waste almost 40 dollars on this garbage. I expect a masterpeice in book 8. And it had better offer some resolution that book 7 certainly did not offer.

I know that to a lot of you this was a disappointment but I liked it. I will admit, most of the information was just the stuff from the books in the series, but I think it was good, because when I got confused about something in the WoT books I could just flip to a page in this book, instead of searching through the pages in the other books. The Artwork was not as good as I thought it should be (kind of like the artwork in The Dragonlover's guide to Pern) but I think the information was worth it. I thought that the section on the Sea Folk and The Seanchan and the Shara was very good, it had great information. This book was worth the read.

I am an elementary school student. I had to wheedle SO MUCH to get my folks to buy this for my B-day. Now I wonder if it was worth it. All the extra info is cool, but the illustrations SUCK! I think we all agree on that. The people do NOT look like that! Rand and Mat are cuter, and Lanfear is so pretty you can't put her on paper, and so on.

For those that have read past A Crown of Swords in the Wheel of Time series this book may come across as a little outdated in some aspects. Even so, there is a treasure trove of information in this that can help fill in a few gaps in the overall story (especially the Age of Legends and Seanchan). On the converse, the pictures are utterly horrid, and hopefully if another of these sorts of books come out (or a new edition of this one) they choose a slightly more talented artist along the lines of Jeremy Saliba or Seamus Gallagher.

In short, a useful read for diehard Wheel of Time fans filling in time before the next release. Otherwise I'd suggest reading the main books or something else completely.

I really wasn't into fantasy that much until I read Robert Jordan's books, The Wheel of Time series. I totally loved them. When I read the books, I can picture myself in their place. And although the illustrations aren't the best, he describes them, so you can use you imagination and picture what they are like in your head. I seriously hope that he will make a new one soon!!!!

Robert Jordan has excelled yet again with this essential addition to the Wheel of Time series. Written from the perspective of a near period historian, the book offers an in-depth of the amazingly descriptive world Robert Jordan has created.
Including several full page color portraits and maps, The World of Robert Jordan's wheel of time allows those who have followed his series from The Eye of the World through A Crown of Swords to review in one well-organized work, all that has been described. Fans of the series will not be dissapointed for the delay the writing of this book may have created for Jordan's next novel in the series.

This book, which reads like a stalling tactic on the part of Mr. Jordan's publishers, is too meager in fresh insights to warrant its' hefty price or even its' existence. The illustrations are largely unimaginative, and much of the contained information has been presented in much more effective settings. Despite this, a fan of the author does not come away wholly unsatisfied. Some of the details of the Age of Legends are juicy, especially the descriptions of the Forsaken. Unfortunately, the rest would already be familiar to anyone who would be remotely interested in this book. As a casual fan I hoped for a lot more from this volume.

I have read the entire series so far, and have never been disapointed in the content of his books. He provides a rich and animated world of calibur not seen since Tolkien's famous works. This is not your average rehash of dwarves and elves, or any other fantasy epic. Well, there is a prophesy spoiler, given in the first book. This in my opinion spoils the ending of the book series, leaving the reader with a soap opera style epic. For fantasy readers looking for something new and original, this is it.
As for the artwork, well, I usually put post-it notes covering them up. Since my time in art school, looking at pathetic artwork sends shooting pains behind my eyeballs.

This has to be the worst case of reader exploitation I havecome across. This book, supposedly a guide to the WOT world simplyrehashes what has already appeared in the first 7 books and contributes precious little that is new. On the plus side, at long last we finally get to see maps of the entire World; Seanchan in slightly better detail, Shara is a largely blank slate and the Isle of the Fisherfolk is not much better. There also appears an Isle of Madmen to the south which makes me fear additional complications to come. I suppose one should be grateful for these maps, despite their paucity of detail, considering that none of the series books contains anything but the same wretched map of the immediate world and pathetic city maps. If at all the book has any new information, it lies in the biographical sketches of the Forsaken, outlining their background and motivation. But the motivations themselves frequently seem to contradict the delineation of the characters in the series, especially Asmodean, and are totally out of sync with the Aes Sedai concept. Shallow is the word that describes these sketches in fact, as also the brief histories of the Seanchan and the other peoples. Bad proof reading is compounded by some of the worst illustrations I have even seen. The artist has obviously not read the books, so blatant are the contradictions. Look at the pciture of Lanfear and tell me if this is the most beautiful woman ever! Or the caricatures (I can't call these illustrations) of Galad, Lan or Aviendha for instance and match them with their characters. And would you believe that Min, who plays such a key role in the series, is not even mentioned anywhere! Some Guide indeed. Or perhaps we should be grateful there is no illustration of Min at least. This "book" is nothing but a bare faced attemnpt by the publisher to (get) money from fans who are hooked onto the series. Do not fall for it. I think TOR and RJ owe an apology and a refund to anyone who bought this (book). I am giving it 1 star because the system does not permit anything less. END

I have been looking forward 2 this book for 4 or so months and I fanaly got it today, and I love it. Some of the art work to this guide is less than impresive, but there are some good pictures. But this is NOT a picture book, and hey WoT was never ment to be. What this does have is VERRY good info, and a GREAT layout, that I really like. If you are a Robert Jordan fan get this, it is 40.00 but i think it is WELL worth it, i would love to awnser any questions at [email protected]

For those who liked The Silmarillion best of all Tolkien's works- who really enjoy history and geography, even if it's fictional- this is for you. Jordan provides the history, culture, philosophy, xenology, and geography to his world, with many extra bonuses that you won't find (yet) in any of the novels. For a series that has dragged on way too long, with some 7,000 pages, it is really hard to keep track of who is doing what, and who is who. This very encompassing work gives you the background you need to remember whenever that new Jordan novel comes out. And it is amazing to discover secret tidbits that you can't find anywhere else, like a large continent to the South of the main two, populated by madmen, where the anarchy and lasse faire attitudes towards the One Power rain supreme. You got to check out this book to find out more about this place, and many others.

I was a big RJ fan until the money starting rushing instead of trickling out of my pocket for a continuing decline of quality. The Guide was one of the worst wastes of money I have been guilty of-and without any pleasure. The Guide only expands a bit on information that is already available in the series or can be extrapolated easily. I read that there will be another guide at the end of the series(if that ever happens). If you are thinking about getting this-wait. Get the true *complete* Guide.

Artwork has nothing to do with the book. I create all the picturs in my mind anyway. If I want to buy a book for pictures I'll buy a comic book. This book however was great. In the large elaborate world of this series a guide is almost a necessity. I know it takes from some of the intrigue of the book. But there are so many characters that directly relate to the plot that I think some of the facts covered in this book will never see print in the series. I highly recommend this to all true fans. I have read the series almost as many times as there are book in the series. Maybe even more. I am unsure. But I still like the information presented here. Artwork is never as good as the pictures in my head anyway.

Do not buy this book. Seriously. It contains almost no new information at all.

[i]The World Of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time[/i] purports to be a guide to the series and it does that fairly well, but it is quite simply not woth it because it is almost entirely a repitition of what has already been said in the main books. Indeed, some parts were simply copied and pasted from the glossaries.

To be fair, this book does present a lot about the Forsaken, the War of the Shadow, the Trolloc Wars, and the rise of Artur Hawkwing. Some might say that it also gives us stuff about the Age of Legends and Hawkwing's empire, but if you read carefully, you see that it is all just gushing about how great they were. In a pathetic attempt to provide new information, the author presents us with a list of every Amyrlin Seat ever. Word of advice - nobody cares.

On the other hand, the Topless Towers of Cairhien (which are said to be famous, by the way), are only mentioned in one sentence, and that is just to say that they were destroyed. This is a pity, because I had been curious about them.

So Mr. Jordan, if you ever decide to commission a new guidebook, here are some suggestions:

1: If you must rehash information, at least try and re-word it. Consider the description of the Sea Folk hierarchy and the Sharan political system to see what I mean.

2: What's up with the Topless Towers? Where did they get their name from? When were they built? Who built them and why?

3: What happened to the False Dragons Raolin Darksbane, Yurian Stonebow, and Davian?

4: We know what the Red Shields, Stone Dogs, and Maidens of the Spear do, and can work out what the Water Seekers do, but what about the others? What's special about the Brothers of the Eagle, the Black Eyes, or the Knife Hands?

5: How did the Aiel Warrior societies come into being?

6: Are there any other places in Andor, other than The Two Rivers, that are not properly controlled by Caemlyn? What about other nations?

7: How did the Aiel find out that Laman cut down [i]Avendoraldera[/i]

So, Robert, and time you're ready, perhaps you could answer the above questions. Thye are the ones people actually care about, along with who killed Asmodean.

This book is very informative, especially good for those who want to know a bit more about WoT. I would recommend that you read the entire series before reading this book, as it does contain some spoilers.

The info in this book is great! Details on the Age of Legends, Artur Hawking, Shara, Seancean, and the Sea Folk, among other things. One complaint: the artist's rendering of the characters portraits is horrible. For instance, they made Elayne a brunnette when she is actually blonde. Also, They all look basically the same. It makes me question whther the artist really read the book. But besides that, this is a great reference to those interested in the background of the WoT.

The companion book to the he wheel of time is a great help for a readers of WOT. No, it won't help you figure out the aiel clans and septs (what could?) but it will give you a great idea of life before and after the breaking, and all the wars. It is a good resource guide should you ever get lost. Yes, the drawings are bad (Verin does _not_ look like a mouse!), but there are also some illustrations that can help. I would tell any true WOT addicts to read this book and fast!

in many circles this book is refered to as the Big Book of Bad Art (BBoBA)

If I rated this book soley on the art it would get a 1 but for a fan of the series who wants to be able to look somthing up quickly its a great resource I used to play the RPG and this book was a lifsaver. even if it is outdated now I would love to see a new version of the book that would include some of the new stuff seen but I am more than satisfied with this book I would however suggest you try and grab one used if you want one as its not great.

I have read many a fantasy and this series is among the best (rates up there with J.R. Tolkien and Stephen King Dark Tower Series). This is still an ongoing series with two more novels to be completed for 2010 and 2011. I was so excited about the 2009 novel, that I have started reading the novels all over again, starting with the Prequel. The ONLY DISAPPOINTED I have is that KINDLE DX has not proceeded to enter them into the electronic world. I received the Kindle DX for a birthday gift and was quite excited.....until I found out that the series I am presently reading (which will take another year or so to complete) is not on Kindle. I sure hope that you can help me out. Sincerely, a HUGE, AVID READER OF ROBERT JORDAN AND IS WHEEL OF TIME. Thanks for your consideration.

This was a very good book, whatever the other reviewers said. The text part was very good and told a lot of cool background stuff. The pictures weren't that bad, except Lan, who seemed to have an excessively big head, Loail, who was just plain UGLY, and Verin, whose eyes weren't evenly spaced. But the pictures of the Myraddral and the Draggkhar were awesome. Aa great book!

I really must add my voice to this only because I am a loyal fan who was very disappointed that this book was published. I only flipped through the book before I ran away in fear. I must say that we as loyal fans should not be dogging out Mr. Jordan. After all, we really don't know whether or not he just put his name on it or if he did have something to do with this travesty. Loyal fans stay away from this book and please urge Mr. Jordan to finish book 8 and the series.

As a major fan of the WoT series, I was very excited when I finally got this book. It answered a great many questions that I had. It's rather like reading the Book of Genesis. I mean it explained what the world was like before the breaking, and how things came to be. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read or is starting to read Jordon's series. The illustrations are good too.

This book is very good at describing the distant past of Randland. I really enjoyed the part about the AoL. The artwork was dissapointing, though. Perrin looked like an alien, and Lan just looked downright scary! If you really wish you knew more about the WoT series, you should really check this book out - it's very helpful. There are lots of nice maps and discriptions of far-off places that are very good.

The book does have some typos and discrepencies with the series, but keep in mind that this book was probably(?) rushed. It was not completely written by Jordan either. And the info in the book has supposedly been passed down from generation 2 generation. The guide was written by the 'omnipotent' one. I am still waiting for the Path of Daggers, god-speed to the pen of Robert Jordan

I was really excited when I heard this was coming out, but unfortunately didn't get to see the inside before I bought it. It provides great information, so I would probably have bought it anyway, but the art is terrible. For example: Lan is supposed to have a hard-planed face like a rock, not a face that is a rock. Would have been a lot better if there had been a different artist.

This book was extreamely helpful in explaining the complex history of The Wheel of Time. However, the artwork is poorly done. For example Egwene looks like she should be one of the Forsaken, and Lan like an ax murderer! It makes you wonder wether the artist ever read the books.(Though the maps are very well done.) Good for anyone who's confused on the history, If you ignore most of the artwork.

The book is very well done and an excellent compliment to the series. It helps clarify the history of the world and expands in many cases, such as one of my favorite sections on the Seanchan.
However, the artwork is rather poor. Not all of the pictures well match the descriptions. I suppose if you want to see good artwork of the series you should look into the game.

This book explains alot of things you might have missed in full detail. It also explains things that you would never know about. Beautiful artwork and detailed explanations make this book a neccesity. Full details about Aiel, Forsaken, the Bore, and much more make this a great companion guide. Though you should not read it until you have finished A Crown of Swords.

I can't believe I bought this book. The artwork is SO bad, that I can't even open the book just to read it. Did they hire a 3-year-old to do the art? What was Robert Jordan thinking???

I've seen better looking artwork at the bottom of a toilet bowl!

This review was only meant to cover the pictures in the book and not the written word...

If you could get over the bad art, and you're a huge Jordan fan, you might like this book.

Let's Make this Quick. 1. Interesting information about the world that Jordan has created, but I personally think it is more fun to find out these things from the books themselves. 2. Terrible art. Bad bad bad bad. This really ruined this book for me. I could't stand how the artist portrayed almost every character and everything else he drew.
That about sums it up.

Great marketing idea that has been done before on hugely successful fantasy series. Even more information to feed to the die hard fanatics of this is series of books. But the problem still remains that it is not furthering the series at all. It is in fact slowing it down, the author is rereleasing his earlier books and doing prequil books before finnishing the story at hand. I personally love this story but either Mr. Jordan is milking this for all its worth or he has a serious case of A.D.D.

I love the wheel of time series and this is a great guide to it. True is doesn't tell you that much new information, but actually i found that it did widen my knowledge. The info in the books is spread out and often lost, because they are complicated books, but this is all together and helps you to understand the world and creatures etc. of the books.
I'm still amazed at Robert Jordan's imagination, that he could come up with such wonderful things is unbelievable. He really is talented and this book only made me marvel at him more.
I would recommend this guide, because it's helped me to become more addicted to the series and gain a deeper understanding of the world in which the characters live in.
Careful though, don't buy this unless you're a few books into the series, because it does tell you some things that haven't happened in the earlier books (such as what happens to a couple of the Forsaken, although not in detail).

This book is a very detailed book giving you insight into the world of the Wheel of Time. However, I found it dissapointing in some respects. 1) Where is Min? one of the most important charecters is not mentiond ANYWHERE in this book! 2) I found a typo in the flag for the Aes Sedi. they are missing the brown stripe i think.

I found the art work in this book to be very poor. The novels describe scenery and characters in such vivid detail, that I was insulted by the high school art class illustrations. The information in the book is quite good but after seeing the art I put it down and doubt I will pick it up again.

This 'guide' has less detail than I expected of a writer who can write entire chapters describing every piece of clothing in a character's personal wardrobe (both small clothes and accessories included).

The artwork in this series is very strage, and this is more of Tor's fault than Mr. Jordan's. Some books in the series make you think the setting is around the time period of the Old West in America, while others seem more akin to Elizabethan England complete with hose and surcoats. These time periods are not exactly mutually inclusive. The artwork in this book falls to new lows - there is a picture of Moiraine that completely ruined my image of her.

Also, minor inaccuracies occur much too often for my taste. Only someone who has an eye for detail can really pick these out from the general presentation, but they do exist.

Understandably, since Ms. Teresa Patterson was actually responsible for writing much of the text, it can be forgiven. However, similiar to what happened to the creators of the 'Wheel of Time' computer game, she indicates on the Tor website that she 'was sometimes forced to make up material herself when Jordan refused to answer specific inquiries'. Strange. Apparently, Mr. Jordan wanted the book to reflect the historical inaccuracies that a historian in Randland might be exposed to. There is a clear difference between a book in a series, and a guidebook. A guidebook should generally offer a detailed look at information the characters might not (nor ever) be made aware of.

A guidebook should be written from the point of view of the fictional setting for exactly that reason. It is my belief, that when you purchase a guidebook, you do so for reasons of clarity. This might indicate that misinformation is also present in the actual series, which complicates the problem of what is accurate and what is not.

Finally, and most damning (in my humble opinion), there is no detailed guide for the extensive list of minor characters that are now present in the series. Though this guide was published well in advance of the most current book in the saga, a list and description for each may have been helpful.

Unfortunately, taking this book for what it is, it clearly does not hold even a match flame against the Tolkien estate guidebooks. If one recalls the 'Lord of the Rings' guidebooks, they offer answers to many questions held by readers. The result is that the reader of the LoTR guidebooks is confident that the information given reflects a well developed fictional world.

The 'Wheel of Time Guidebook' is simply too inaccurate to give a helpful description of the world Rand and his companions live in.

While reading through the series, I found it hard to remember all the extra info abotu everything. This book is a good way to reference that information. The art was awful though. Avienda is supposed to be hot, and she wasnt. Same with Elayne and Lanfear. I was disappointed. :(

This book gives great background history for Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time Series. It has lots of information that you won't find just reading the novels. This book is a must read for any true WoT fan!

I really enjoy the Wheel of Time series . Robert Jordan has a uniqe imagination . This book is very helpful because it gives you more info on the world before Rand al`Thor was born . But you could have done better on the artwork .

These books are the best books I have read in a long time! They are fantastic. I like to give them two thumbs way up. These books keep your intrest all the way through, and best known as books you never want to put down.

I wish to thank the store for helping "the readers" decide by printing real readers reviews. I will not buy this book because of what I have read. Michael Jordan should be ashamed of himself to try to capitalize more money on this series, especially when he hasn't FINISHED the series for publication or hint of date of the finale.. Authors, take heed, we readers will take note on this type of fluff. We tire of the delays many authors exhibit. We may hesitate on any future "series" as a result. Again thank you to the store for printing the good and the bad. I hope authors take note and begin to respect us "the readers".