Teresa Patterson

A COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW

Despite having read the entire series, this book sheds light on things I didn’t know about the world of Wheel of Time.

The parts must enjoyable—to me at least—are the background information provided on the Age of Legends, the Breaking of the World, and the time of Arthur Hawkwing.

I wouldn’t recommend reading this book before or during a first read-through of the series, as it contains spoilers. But obtaining a better understanding of the setting may increase the quality of a reread.

Definitely worth checking out for a fan.… (plus d'informations)

Fondly (or at least accurately) known as the Big Book of Bad Art in Wheel of Time fanatic circles. The text is fine - a bit dry, mostly superceded (this was published barely halfway through the series, before quite a few mysteries were settled) but generally interesting, at least to completist nerds like me. The internet is a better resource for nerdery, though, which would make the only major virtue of the book the art.

And the art, she is bad. Sloppy, poorly-proportioned, irrelevant, generally contextless, and charmless. The maps are lovely - and there are quite a few reproduced here - but they are reprints of maps from the hardcovers. The full-page spreads of the covers are nice enough, I suppose - the advantage to the book being published only halfway through the series is that none of the really appalling Darrel K Sweet covers were out yet. But the original art is just terrible.

Which makes me sad, because if Tor put out a post-series version of this, with some of the spectacular ebook covers they've recently commissioned and just a few pieces original to the book (and, of course, with updated text) I would snap it up in a heartbeat. I am a sucker for art books, and I am still grumpy that this one, only a sucker would buy.… (plus d'informations)