“Unlike some of the authors of mega-sagas, Jordan chooses his words with care, creating people and events that have earned him an enormous readership. For sheer imagination and storytelling skill . . . The Wheel of Time now rivals Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Jordan succeeds in carrying forward his stunning world-building in this detailed story of a struggle between good and evil. The story continues with its myriad threads and subplots, carrying the reader inexorably toward an unpredictable conclusion.”
—SF Site
“The battle scenes have the breathless urgency of firsthand experience, and the . . . evil laced into the forces of good, the dangers latent in any promised salvation, the sense of the unavoidable onslaught of unpredictable events bear the marks of American national experience during the last three de cades.”
—The New York Times
“His writing is distinguished . . . by the richness of its fabric, with all the charm and naiveté of the Brothers Grimm and the social/moral commentary of Huxley’s Brave New World. With his well-fleshed-out characters, dark imagery, comic relief, vivid landscapes, and a fascinating sense of timelessness, Jordan has created a complex literature with a language and reality all its own.”
—Brewster Milton Robertson, BookPage
“Throughout Jordan’s preeminent high-fantasy saga . . . the characters (minor as well as major), the world, and the source of powers have remained remarkably rich and consistent—no mean feat. . . . Amid all the Sturm und Drang, however, is a finely tuned comic strain that both leavens the story and adds to its development. A major fantasy epic.”
—Booklist
“Truth is not only stranger, it’s richer than fiction, but Jordan’s fictional universe approaches the variety and complexity of the real. . . . Plotlines [are] strummed with resonating long-wave rhythms something like Beethoven’s Eroica.”
—Robert Knox, MPG Newspapers
“Adventure and mystery and dark things that move in the night—a combination of Robin Hood and Stephen King that is hard to resist . . . Furthermore, Jordan makes the reader . . . put down the book regretting the wait for the next title in the series.”
—Milwaukee Sentinel
“The Wheel of Time [is] rapidly becoming the definitive American fantasy saga. It is a fantasy tale seldom equaled and still less often surpassed in English.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“Can’t recommend starting anywhere but at the beginning, but the volumes only get richer as they go along.”
—Locus
“In the decades since J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was published, many fantasy writers have tried to capture the spirit of that seminal work. While many have been able to imitate the style, develop a similarly swift and complex plot, and create convincing characters, none had captured the spirit of small men and mighty, struggling against a force of overwhelming evil. Robert Jordan has.”
—Ottawa Citizen
“Magic and pacing and detail and human involvement, with a certain subtlety of presentation and a grand central vision. Robert Jordan . . . is a lot of writer!”
—Piers Anthony
“Jordan has a powerful vision of good and evil—but what strikes me as most pleasurable . . . is all the fascinating people moving through a rich and interesting world.”
—Orson Scott Card
“Jordan’s characters [are] fleshed out with the strengths and weaknesses of real men and women. . . . Invokes the end-of-the-world milieu of Stephen King’s The Stand.”
—The Post and Courier (Charleston, South Carolina)
“Jordan writes with the stark vision of light and darkness, and sometimes childlike sense of wonder, that permeates J. R. R. Tolkien’s works. His style is undebatably his own.”
—The Pittsburgh Press
“Jordan’s multivolume epic continues to live up to its high ambitions. Complex plotting, an array of strong characters, lavish detail, and a panoramic scope make this series a feast for fantasy aficionados. . . . Richly detailed and vividly imagined.”
—Library Journal
“Jordan’s writing is clear and his vision is fascinating, as are the philosophies that run his characters. And speaking of characters, a more interesting bunch I would be hard put to name.”
—Science Fiction Review
“The complex philosophy behind The Wheel of Time series is expounded so simply the reader often gives a start of surprise at returning to the real world. Rand’s adventures are not finished and neither is this thinking-person’s fantasy series.”
—Brunswick Sentinel (Australia)
“Robert Jordan can write one hell of a story. . . . [He] keeps the suspense acute and the surprises and invention beautifully paced. Compelling. An exhilarating experience.”
—Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine