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Wheel of Time Reread #2
Wheel of Time Reread: Books 5-6
The Wheel of Time Reread on Tor.com is an extensive analysis of Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series, covering the material chapter by chapter. Join Leigh Butler as she summarizes the chapters and comments on the ongoing mysteries of the series, gender issues, politics, history, and the many Crowning Moments of Awesome.
Volume 2 of the collected Tor.com Wheel of Time Reread covers books 5 and 6 of The Wheel of Time: The Fires of Heaven and Lord of Chaos.
Volume 2 of the collected Tor.com Wheel of Time Reread covers books 5 and 6 of The Wheel of Time: The Fires of Heaven and Lord of Chaos.
- GenresFantasy
32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 15, 2013
34 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 6, 2022
Be forewarned – this is not a novel, but a collection of essays written by Tor’s website staff writer, Leigh Butler, back in the late 2000’s on Robert Jordan’s epic “Wheel of Time” fantasy series.
Each essay captures a chapter or multiple chapters in each book starting from the beginning to the end of the series. The structure of each essay is first, a summary of the chapter, and second, an analytical commentary of the storylines, mysteries, character development, and major themes.
Her comments include discussions on history, politics, gender issues, and Shakespearian themes that the fans have been discussing for decades. Volume 2 covers books five (“The Fires of Heaven”) and six (“The Lord of Chaos”) and provide a great companion to your reading of the series, especially if it is a re-read.
I am re-reading the Wheel of Time and decided to read this in conjunction with that. For example, I read book five – ”The Eye of the World” – and then read her summaries and analysis of the first book. Then I did the same with the each of the next five books and it has been a great joy. I absolutely appreciate Butler’s approach to discussing the series and love her insight into the characters and plotline developments. As the series increases in complexity in books five and six, her analysis was especially helpful in noting some things that I missed in my reading. I must also add that I thoroughly enjoy her personal sarcastic sense of humor and wit.
My only comment is (as others have already pointed out) that you will want to read this until you've finished the series or are doing a re-read. I don’t recommend doing it during your first time reading the series because Butler tends to drop hints and spoilers that refer to books later in the series. If you’ve already read the series once, these are generally minor, but if you are reading it for the first time, you will find out some things earlier than you want to and that could ruin your reading experience.
Otherwise, I am thoroughly enjoying this as it helps me catch some of the small things I miss along the way before they become big things. Thank you Leigh!
Each essay captures a chapter or multiple chapters in each book starting from the beginning to the end of the series. The structure of each essay is first, a summary of the chapter, and second, an analytical commentary of the storylines, mysteries, character development, and major themes.
Her comments include discussions on history, politics, gender issues, and Shakespearian themes that the fans have been discussing for decades. Volume 2 covers books five (“The Fires of Heaven”) and six (“The Lord of Chaos”) and provide a great companion to your reading of the series, especially if it is a re-read.
I am re-reading the Wheel of Time and decided to read this in conjunction with that. For example, I read book five – ”The Eye of the World” – and then read her summaries and analysis of the first book. Then I did the same with the each of the next five books and it has been a great joy. I absolutely appreciate Butler’s approach to discussing the series and love her insight into the characters and plotline developments. As the series increases in complexity in books five and six, her analysis was especially helpful in noting some things that I missed in my reading. I must also add that I thoroughly enjoy her personal sarcastic sense of humor and wit.
My only comment is (as others have already pointed out) that you will want to read this until you've finished the series or are doing a re-read. I don’t recommend doing it during your first time reading the series because Butler tends to drop hints and spoilers that refer to books later in the series. If you’ve already read the series once, these are generally minor, but if you are reading it for the first time, you will find out some things earlier than you want to and that could ruin your reading experience.
Otherwise, I am thoroughly enjoying this as it helps me catch some of the small things I miss along the way before they become big things. Thank you Leigh!
April 8, 2018
Books 5 and 6 of the Wheel of Time series are some of my favorites, so it was no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading them in this summarized format. Leigh Butler does an excellent job of summarizing the WOT books in her Wheel of Time Reread series (originally a Blog series on the TOR website). I save a ton of time not having to re-read each book from cover-to-cover (which I've already done several times and totally lose steam by the time I finally get to book 8, which is as far as I've read in full), and yet I still feel like I've re-read each book from cover to cover. Butler summarizes each chapter of the book in great detail, quoting significant passages. Funny parts of the books still make me laugh. Emotional parts of the book still have an impact.
Butler then follows each chapter summary with a bit of commentary on that chapter. I'm not as much a fan of the commentary, mostly because of her use of leetspeak/blog slang. And her propensity for *headdesk*ing. Some of the commentary offers insights into things a normal (non-website trawling) reader wouldn't necessarily catch onto, such as stuff about the Eelfinn and Aelfinn, and sightings of Slayer, etc. But, unfortunately because the original publication of these chapter entries were in blog format complete with a very active blog commenting community, Butler often leaves discussion of certain topics "to the comments". Which means us reading it as a published collection, later, feel totally left out. I wish someone had decided to also include a third section for each chapter containing the best/most informative comments for each blog post. I think that addition would have really made these reread collections complete.
Butler then follows each chapter summary with a bit of commentary on that chapter. I'm not as much a fan of the commentary, mostly because of her use of leetspeak/blog slang. And her propensity for *headdesk*ing. Some of the commentary offers insights into things a normal (non-website trawling) reader wouldn't necessarily catch onto, such as stuff about the Eelfinn and Aelfinn, and sightings of Slayer, etc. But, unfortunately because the original publication of these chapter entries were in blog format complete with a very active blog commenting community, Butler often leaves discussion of certain topics "to the comments". Which means us reading it as a published collection, later, feel totally left out. I wish someone had decided to also include a third section for each chapter containing the best/most informative comments for each blog post. I think that addition would have really made these reread collections complete.
November 26, 2016
Leigh is stellar.
May 21, 2018
Leigh Butler's rereads are concise summaries of the gargantuan Wheel of Time books. In this case, concise is subjective, as her summaries will still take you some time to get through; that's to be expected with 800-1,000 page books, though.
After each chapter, she writes her opinions about the story line, character development, and plot twists. Be warned, there are some spoilers in her opinions. Most were obtuse enough and referencing events far enough into the future of the series that they didn't bother me. By the time I got to what she was revealing, I'd long since forgotten her remarks.
I highly recommend these rereads for either revisiting the series in a more manageable manner OR in lieu of books 6-11, which are looooooooooong on pages and short on plot movement.
After each chapter, she writes her opinions about the story line, character development, and plot twists. Be warned, there are some spoilers in her opinions. Most were obtuse enough and referencing events far enough into the future of the series that they didn't bother me. By the time I got to what she was revealing, I'd long since forgotten her remarks.
I highly recommend these rereads for either revisiting the series in a more manageable manner OR in lieu of books 6-11, which are looooooooooong on pages and short on plot movement.
September 8, 2013
I really enjoy the rereads. This one was easier to get through because this is where the series came together for me. Butler is able to discuss the series in both a serious way but still retain the fangirl moments. These rereads have brought a lot to my understanding of the series.
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December 7, 2015Great
I love the summaries but sometimes gives away to much in the commentaries section, assumes the reader is already caught up to book 11.
I love the summaries but sometimes gives away to much in the commentaries section, assumes the reader is already caught up to book 11.
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February 17, 2016I love her "voice"
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews