Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

You probably already know that Robert Jordan passed away a few days ago from a rare blood disease. He had been battling it for quite a while.

 My reading of Robert Jordan’s work goes back quite a ways and I was first introduced to him by a promotional copy of a portion of his first wheel of time book. This was a mini book (274 pages) that was actually only the first part of the first novel.  This book isn’t something that was for sale. It was some kind of a promotional thing that somebody managed to get for me.

Anyway, the back cover of the book says: “This introduction to THE WHEEL OF TIME will take you into a world of wonder that is one of the finest in fantasy. It is a world that you’ll hate to leave.”

You know what? That blurb on the back was right. I was hooked and over the years I made it through the next six wheel of time books. And I must confess that I never read beyond those six. But my memories of the world that Robert Jordan built are still strong and I did hate to leave it.

This brings me to the point of this blog post. Isn’t it quite an amazing thing when a person creates a world for us to experience? Tolkien did it very well and Jordan did it well too. It makes you wonder about what goes on inside their minds. They say that Tolkien decided never to finish his work on Middle Earth because he couldn’t end it. As long as it was still a work in progress it was still alive. If he finished it with a final period it would become a thing of the past. And this was true with Jordan too I would imagine.

His work was famous, even criticized, for being unusually deep and complex. It was truly a very complex and rich world that he had built and I am sure ala Tolkien there was a part of him that never wanted to put a final period on it. This is ok with me because it was his world to do whatever he wanted to do with. I just think that it is a shame that there will be no other adventures of Rand al’Thor or any of the other memorable characters he created.

Jordan was actually working on what was called the final installment of the WOT series called “A MEMORY OF LIGHT”.

My advice to you if you want to read some Robert Jordan.

The Wheel of Time series is wonderful but extraordinarily long. I didn’t make it through the whole series and if you want to read some Jordan without that kind of commitment I have the perfect recommendation for you. (I consider it to be his best book)

It is NEW SPRING (2004)and it is a prequel to the WOT, and it is a stand along complete work so you get a full story from beginning to end and you get an introduction to the world of the Wheel of Time. And another interesting thing about New Spring is that even though it is typical Jordan with plenty of action and adventure in a remarkable world, when you pare it down it is actually a love story - plain and simple. I found it to be a wonderful almost powerful read. And a delicate departure from the rest of his work. Available at Amazon.com: New Spring: The Novel (Wheel of Time)

Thankyou Robert for the wonderful world that you built. I, like so many others, really enjoy it.  And my deepest condolences to your family.

Here is a list of the books in the Wheel of Time series on the Epic Fantasy website: The Wheel of Time

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