Review: Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan

Well let me say one thing, if nothing else, Robert Jordan loves the set up. Once again the pace has been a dead crawl for at least 3/4's of the book. Actually in this book its at a pretty steady but slow pace until the last 100 pages really. And this is a loooong book. However, I do like how things happen at the slow pace. Lots of great Forsaken drama going on in this one. There's more character development and chatter at the differences between men and women. There's the battle for power in Rand Al'Thor's head between him and the mad Lews Therin. And there are some other fairly interesting developments that I do not want to spoil.

But by the time you get to the oh, I don't know 800th page, you start to wonder, is this the book where no big huge thing happens at the end? Which is pretty much how all the books have been, though the first 3 had a lot more going on during the bulk of the book then the second 3. But, no disappointment once again Robert Jordan hits you with some pretty nutty occurrences. I won't go into detail, but know that crazy shit happens at the end.

So, just to talk a little about Robert Jordan's writing style, I'd like to bring up his pacing. This is one of the things that has bothered so many people who have read his books. This is the reason many people I know have never made it to the end of the series. I guess the issue is, that to call the climax of Robert Jordan's books a crescendo I think would not be correct. Instead they're more like an abrupt accelerando or tempo change. And the worst part is, by the way the books are written through the beginning, they make you think that it will go on at that pace for the rest of the series. Which is why I understand discouragement. At the same time, for me, the occurrences at the ends of the books are quite jarring. This may have been his intention, but at the same time it almost feels more like he was biding his time. Surely you don't want the important things to happen too quickly, but at the same time, you wonder why there's only one in each book. I guess I'm coming to the question "of are all the books necessary?"

Dangerous grounds surely. And it is his series not mine. Like I said, it may very well have been his intention. And I also admitted to enjoying much of the slow parts, even if some just seem like milling around. They do set up a lot of things and offer flavor and context. But the pacing manages to throw me off every damn time. Anyway, on to the next one "A Crown of Swords." We'll see how this one unfolds.