The World of Robert Jordan's: The Wheel of Time - Review

The World of Robert Jordan’s: The Wheel of Time is a fantastic companion book to The Wheel of Time series which is filled with additional world-building, histories, lore and includes several illustrations of maps. I loved that this book was a sort of in-universe history book as it’s written from the perspective of multiple scholars from this world and they informed the reader that all the information in this book was compiled from the earliest available records starting from the Age of Legends all the way through to the current New Era. It adds an interesting dynamic because the scholars know a lot of secrets that we the reader don’t know, but at the same time, the scholar also doesn’t know certain information (such as information on the White Tower and Aes Sedai), which we the reader know because we learned them from Egwene or Siuan’s POV chapters in the main series. This will be a spoiler review (since this book was written around halfway through the main series) and it will be more of a free-flowing review rather than having a set format that I usually have for my reviews.

Image: The Wheel of Time Map.

This book is structured very well, starting with an introduction to the main aspects of The Wheel of Time series which is the Wheel itself, the Pattern of Ages and the One Power. The 2nd section delves into the Age of Legends (my personal favorite chapter of the book), the War of Power, and a breakdown of all the Forsaken and Shadowspawn. The 3rd section covers the Breaking of the World and events after the Breaking such as the founding of the White Tower, the rise and fall of the Ten Nations, the reign of Artur Hawkwing, etc. The first 3 sections talk about the backstory and the major events preceding The Wheel of Time series but the 4th sections goes in-depth into the world itself, but specifically the exotic/lesser-known lands such as the land of the Seanchan, Shara, the Sea Folk Islands, the Aiel Waste and it also talks about their culture, political hierarchy, and some neat tidbits/facts that were previously unknown. The 5th and final section talks about the local nations on the main land such as Andor, Tar Valon (and the White Tower), Cairhien, Illian, Tear, the Borderland nations, and so on.

There are so many awesome pieces of information you learn when reading this book, such as learning all of the Forsaken’s real names, what their occupations were during the Age of Legends and the reasoning as to why they turned to the Shadow. It also gives exclusive information on the Forsaken that the main series doesn’t cover such as what each of the Forsaken were doing right after reawakening from their deep sleep caused by the Seals on the Dark One’s prison. What also makes this book a must-read is learning the little details that are so mind-boggling, like learning that the Crystal Throne itself was actually a Ter’angreal that causes anyone who approaches it to feel an immense sense of awe and wonder, or the fact that not only did Artur Hawkwing send his son west to conquer Seanchan (which was already known), but he also sent his daughter east to conquer Shara (but ultimately failed).

It was great to learn more about Artur Hawkwing and the Second Dragon, Guaire Amalasan. I also liked that this book gave more details on Shara. I was fascinated by all the secrecy of Shara and the locals of Shara purposely lying to outsiders and merchants. There’s a great conspiracy that the Ayyad channelers actually rule Shara, and not their traditional monarch (Sh’boan/Sh’botay). There was also some great facts on the Aiel such as a cool story on why the Aiel started wearing veils before they killed, and the cut of the Cadin’sor uniform that the Aiel wear is actually slightly different for each clan and sept, but the differences are so subtle that no one other than an Aiel can truly notice.

Image: An Aiel.

There was also so much new information on the Seanchan. This book explains why the Seanchan have their odd stance on leashing Aes Sedai: because the Aes Sedai in the continent of Seanchan were much different from regular Aes Sedai. The Seanchan Aes Sedai freely used the One Power as a military weapon and were vicious and manipulating. I found it fascinating to learn that the Seanchan beasts are not actually from Seanchan but were the offspring of beasts brought back from parallel worlds via the Portal Stones. They were presumably brought in for aid against Shadowspawn during the years after the Breaking. It was great to learn more in-depth on each of these Seanchan beasts/exotics, which includes a brief physical description and also talks about their abilities, strengths, weaknesses, other unique attributes, and how the Seanchan use them in their military strategies. This book is also the only source that shows an actual map of the continent of Seanchan, its nations and major cities.

There’s also some cool origin stories on certain aspects of the main series, such as the origin of the Waygates and what the Ways originally looked like without the taint and corruption of Machin Shin aka the Black Wind, the origins of why Tarabon and Arad Doman fight over Almoth Plain, the origins and material used to make the Warder’s color-shifting cloaks (which was commonly used in the Age of Legends) and the origin of the Sea Folk since the Breaking.

Image: Semirhage.

[Final Thoughts & Rating]:

This was a fantastic read and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes world-building/histories and also for the hardcore fans of The Wheel of Time series. I found so much additional context and exclusive details that couldn’t be found anywhere else, so it will definitely enhance my re-read of this series when I get to it at some point in the future. It really does change the way I look at several aspects of the main series, especially the Seanchan and the Forsaken. It also answers a few of the mysteries that were set up in the main series, so there’s that as an added bonus as well. Overall, it was a very quick and fun read.

Rating: 7/10

My Book Rankings: https://jaytargaryen.blogspot.com/p/b...


*My Rating System*

5 Stars (9-10): Amazing
4 Stars (7-9): Really Good to Great
3 Stars (5-7): Average to Good
2 Stars (3-5): Bad to Mediocre
1 Star (1-3): Terrible 

 

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