I can not yet rate this series since it has not yet competed, I am currently reading book 13 in the series and there are to be a total of 15 books, including the prequel, but so far the series is pretty darn good.

The writing in this series is phenomenal, I have read books 1 – 10 several times and I have even read the prequel.  The story itself is really complex and includes many characters and story lines. This is one of the best good versus evil fantasy series around.  It certainly is in the same league as the Lord of the Rings series, and somewhat based on some of the premises, although not the same style.

This series has magic in the form of The One Power which flows from the True Source, which is composed of the Male and Female side of the One Power.  However, the male side of the One Power is corrupted and it causes men who use  it to become insane.  This corruption occurred 3 thousand years ago, after the dragon (Lews Therin Telamon) defeated the Dark One and resealed him and the forsaken back in their prison at Shayol Ghul. This in turn caused the breaking of the world, because all the male Aes Sedais went mad and in the process unleashed the one power in the world which essentially tore up and destroyed the world as it was, probably half the people alive at that time died and it caused an advanced society to become once again a very simple society.

The One Power is only available to a very limited number of people.  There are no elves, dwarfs, goblins, but there are evil people, Trollocs (similar to Orcs,)  Myrddraal (similiar to Nazgûl,) and the Dark One (the antithesis of the Creator, Similar to the Dark Lord in Lord of the Rings.)

Each book starts with a reference to the Wheel of Time turning, which has 7 spokes, each spoke representing an age and as the wheel turns these ages come and go with various events occuring and people being born and re-born.

The most pivot people are Rand al’Thor, who is the main protagonist, and his friends Mat Cauthon, Perrin Aybara and Egwene al’Vere and Nynaeve al’Meara.  Of course there are many more people and characters both good and bad.

The basis of the story is the growth and adventures of the characters on the path toward the final battle of good (Rand as the dragon reborn) and evil (The Dark One.)

I was really disappointed with book 11 as I did not feel it made any progress in the story.  The book itself was still interesting though.

When I discovered that James Oliver Rigney, Jr., (Pen name Robert Jordon) had  passed away in 2007 I was really sad that such a great author had passed, and also disappointed in that the Wheel of Tim series was not yet complete and wondering where he had planned on going with the series. It is great news that Brandon Sanderson ( Who wrote the Mistborn series, a very enjoyable read,) agreed to complete the series using Robert Jordan’s many notes, outlines, completed scenes and dictated explanations.

Prequel: New Spring,
Book 1: The Eye of the World,
Book 2: The Great Hunt,
Book 3: The Dragon Reborn,
Book 4: The Shadow Rising,
Book 5: The Fires of Heaven,
Book 6: Lord of Chaos,
Book 7: A Crown of Swords,
Book 8: The Path of Daggers,
Book 9: Winter’s Heart,
Book 10: Crossroads of Twilight,
Book 11: Knife of Dreams,
Book 12: The Gathering Storm,
Book 13: Towers of Midnight,
Book 14: A Memory of Light.