And we're finally here. We've reached book fourteen (of an originally planned six) and the end of the epic saga of The Wheel of Time. The Last Battle, Tarmon Gai'don, has arrived. There is no more time for posturing or positioning. The fate of time itself rests in the balance.

Towers of Midnight is our final “breather” instalment. As the Last Battle begins, our characters get one final chance to wrap up their business and get everything ready for the climax. But as they do, we must deal with the narrative snarl Jordan left Sanderson to clear up.

And so we come the the final push. Part 4 of The Wheel of Time. The Final Battle, Tarmon Gai’don approaches. And, along with everything else, a new author to take up the mantle of the fallen.

With “Knife of Dreams” not only do we wrap up Part 3 of The Wheel of Time, we find a welcome return for form for Robert Jordan’s final novel.

As I said in my review of Winter's Heart, I was ready for Crossroads of Twilight to be one of the worst entries in the series. But I have to admit that it's not nearly as bad as I remembered.

In my last post, I talked about the series entering The Slump, the section of The Wheel of Time where everything drags for a few books. But then, of course, Winter's Heart comes along and perks things right back up again.

The Path of Daggers isn't the worst entry in The Wheel of Time series, but it lacks the drive and excitement of the ones we've had up to now. Instead, it feels like Jordan is getting the characters in place for what is coming next. 

A Crown of Thorns has a lot to live up to, coming as it does after the literally explosive finale to Lord of Chaos. We have a lot of momentum going, and this next instalment does not disappoint.

Book six done, and we’re almost halfway through the series. In the last book, The Fires of Heaven, it felt to me as if Jordan was taking a breath before setting up the next round of story arcs. Now, with Lord of Chaos, things start to get moving again.

We’re done with book five, and we’re really getting into the initial upward curve of the series. However, while The Fires of Heaven keeps up the pace and doesn’t have any significant issues, unlike The Shadow Rising I don’t think there are any significant stand out series highlight moments here. Until the end, that is.

Isolation. Lockdown. It’s not a great time right now. There’s a lot going down, and we’re all dealing with issues ranging from actually dealing with the problems the world is facing to being locked away from it all. But what is it useful for? Watching those films you never have time to see otherwise.

With The Shadow Rising the series has really hit its stride. Now we’re through the initial “trilogy”, as I discussed in my last post, we’re able to get into the story proper.

I think The Dragon Reborn is where The Wheel of Time really starts to get good. The premise is set, we know the main characters, and have a grasp of the world as a whole. The foundation is in place, and we're ready to really open things up.

I first read The Eye of the World by the pool in a hotel in Spain, having picked it up on a whim from the airport bookshop. If I remember correctly, the quote on the front cover said something along the lines of it being better than Tolkien. So I figured, if I were to be able to properly mock such a boastful claim, I needed to have read the book in question. When I got home, I immediately ordered Book Two.

New Spring is a slight oddity. It’s a prequel. A prequel that annoyed a lot of fans who wanted Jordan to focus on completing the main story. Because while seeing how a couple of the main characters met and began their journey at the time of publication, what we wanted was the next chapter in the main story!