Robert Jordan v. George R.R. Martin

The title of this post is a little misleading, as I don't intend to do a full-scale comparison between these two authors. Although they are both authors of very long and detailed epic fantasy series, there are many differences in their respective styles and sub-genres. Though both writers' most well-known works, Jordan's The Wheel of Time and Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, are both hugely popular fantasy series, the two authors have very distinct voices and explore different themes in their works. Mainly, the title of this post merely reflects the automatic connection I make between two writer's whose work has occupied so much of my time.

However, just for the record, I hold A Song of Ice and Fire to be far superior to Jordan's epic, as The Wheel of Time has become a little too bloated and bogged down for my taste. Still, as I have recently finished Martin's latest book, and would like to read Robert Jordan's newest entry in his series (once I finish re-reading the previous books), both stories are fresh in my mind.

Since I'm currently in the middle of re-reading The Wheel of Time, I'll concentrate (briefly) on Robert Jordan.

Having not read these books in years, all I remember is how frustrated and disappointed I had been with the last few books in the series.The first 5 or 6 books in the series were so good, so engrossing, that the decline of Jordan's storytelling in the latter books was a huge disappointment. When The Knife of Dreams, the supposedly penultimate book in the series, came out to fairly positive reviews, I let my hopes rise up a bit. I decided to bring myself back up to speed by starting at the beginning. And I have to say, the beginning is really, really good.

I'd forgotten what a great job Jordan does of creating a vibrant, detailed world with incredible amounts of backstory. Much like Martin, he litters his story with little nuggets of history and backstory that are as intriguing as the present storyline. In fact, although he admitted that the first book in The Wheel of Time was intended to have a "Tolkienesque" feel to it, I am surprised at how closely his story mirrors many elements of the Lord of the Rings. At first.

What's impressive is that he does such a good job of peopling his world and writing his story in such a way that it feels fresh and interesting despite the intentional parallels with Tolkien's work. By the time the second book begins, you quicky realize that this story cannot be told in three or four volumes, but will take much, much longer. And that is both a blessing and a curse.

It is a blessing because Jordan takes the time to develop his characters and storylines, while continuing to introduce mysterious subplots. He has an amazing ability to casually drop tiny hints of what's to come early in his story, which the reader doesn't recognize until two or three books later and goes "Holy Shit! That's what that was!" He has so many plotlines spinning at once that at times, the reader feels as confused and overwhelmed as the heroes of his tales. Going back over the series after such a long break from it, but still remembering the many twists and revelations, has really made me appreciate the incredible scope of his many plots within plots.

Unfortunately, this same breadth of information and storytelling is what leads the series to its eventual crawl of a pace.

For the moment, however, I'm still lost in the early pages of this epic adventure, and I'm enjoying the chance to revisit Jordan's world. Hopefully, any frustration I feel later on will be tempered by a return to his original storytelling form in The Knife of Dreams. Until then, though, I'm just enjoying the ride.

Maybe after I read a few more of the books, I'll feel frustrated/excited/irritated/stoked enough to look at a few of the differences between these two epics in more detail.

Maybe.