| Lord of Chaos (Wheel of Time) |  | Author: Robert Jordan
Publisher: Orbit
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 4409
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 1056
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 4.3 x 1.9
ISBN: 185723300X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781857233001
ASIN: 185723300X
Publication Date: August 10, 1995
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 15 | | NEXT » |
 just hold out! August 30, 2008
the first half of the book is a necassary slow which you have to read to understand goings-ons later in the book! but seriously, just hold out because the last half of the book is spectacular which is why i've given this a five star!
RIP Jordan and thanks again!
Brilliant Book November 1, 2005
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
This is a brilliant book. Rand is the dragon reborn fated to fight Shai'tan(the dark one) at the last battle. He is the reincarnated spirit of Lews Therrin Telamon(the Dragon) who was a male Aes Sedai that could wield the male half of the one power, Sadin, in the age of Legends.
Now Sadin is tainted by the dark one and all who use it are destined to go mad. it is Rand's to save the world and then destroy it.
Moraine has Disappeared after a battle with Lanfear. Egwene is summoned to the Rebel White Tower and Min reaches Rand. Perrin feels the tug of ta'vern pulling him to Rand and an Embassy is sent to Rand.
An Fantasy Epic March 19, 2004
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
The sixth book in the wheel of time series is an excellent addition to the series but it is also the first book in the series in which the major plot lines fail to reach a suitable end point. Right through to book 10 the major plot lines are now out of sync with the length of a book, which is most unsatifying when you finish a book and have to wait for another to be published. Despite this the story remains very interesting. Events in book 6 begin to expand the epic, telling the story of a number of increasingly important supporting characters. This contributes to the size of this book, diluting some staggering events with slower tempo passages. However, the ending is simply one of the best scenes within the Wheel of time and is what really brings this book together.
 Fairly slow, but with a spectacular payoff. March 8, 2004
The sixth book of The Wheel of Time takes us deep into the second act of this massive story, with the transition to a more political-oriented narrative continuing apace. Lord of Chaos is one of the more divisive books in the series, with fans praising its deeper exploration of ideas and intrigue, whilst critics bemoan the slow pace of the book compared to earlier volumes.
The kingdoms of Cairhien, Mayene and Tear are now sworn to the Dragon Reborn, and a successful raid on Caemlyn, capital of Andor, has seen that city fall to his forces as well. Several of the Forsaken, the most powerful servants of the Dark One, have been slain and Rand's successes look like they will continue unabated. In the south, he is assembling a vast army to send against the Forsaken Sammael in his stronghold of Illian, whilst the Aes Sedai remain divided on how to proceed with him. However, Rand's announcement of an amnesty for men who can channel has shocked the world, for all male channellers of the One Power are doomed to go mad and die, wreaking havoc as they go, and some of his enemies are prepared to move against him before that can be allowed to happen.
The theme of the sixth book in The Wheel of Time is consolidation. Rand's forces have absorbed vast amounts of territory, but before he can resume his campaign he must secure that which he holds already. With scheming against him in Andor and Cairhien underway and an outright rebellion going on in Tear, this proves a difficult task. Rand also has to find a way of dealing with both factions of the Aes Sedai, an undertaking fraught with peril. His companions also have their own problems to deal with: Perrin must prove his worthiness to his wife's parents, Mat has to deal with the issues of becoming a general, and Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve have complex currents to negotiate amongst the rebel Aes Sedai. Even Pedron Niall, commander of the Children of the Light, has significant problems he has to overcome in both his own ranks and his dealings with the displaced Queen of Andor, whilst the surviving Forsaken scheme incessantly against one another.
The problem with this kind of stock-taking is that it is hard to work up a dramatic story about it. Instead, you end up with lots and lots of talk. Characters sitting around talking about the plot, about what has already happened and what they think might happen in the future. That's when they are not engaged in increasingly tedious and infantile discussions about male-female relations, which by this volume are starting to get a mite repetitive. The politicking and intrigue is fine as far as it goes (although fans of GRRM or Bakker may find it a bit on the shallow and simplistic side), but you do need a bit more to spice the book up. There's some fine, atmospheric interludes in the book, such as Rand taking a brief sojourn in the desolate, cursed city of Shadar Logoth, but overall the novel has serious pacing issues. Simply put, this is a 1,000-page book in which not a lot happens for the first three-quarters of it.
Towards the end, however, the pace starts to lift quite noticeably as Rand's attempts to play the two Aes Sedai factions off against one another backfire spectacularly and some of the most surprising events in the entire series take place, culminating in a massive battle at the spring of Dumai's Wells in which Jordan's sometimes-variable skills at depicting action, drama and the ability to tie together disparate storylines are put to their best effect. This late burst of action sequences and confrontations is extremely effective, and Dumai's Wells often tops readers' polls as the most satisfying moment of the entire series to date, with some fine moments right at the end of the book which hint at much greater things to come.
Lord of Chaos (****) is a sedentary novel where events unfold slowly, but do succeed in laying the groundwork for the spectacular and satisfying concluding section of the book. I suspect many readers will be put off by the slow pace, but I found the payoff to be more than worth it. The novel is available in the UK from Orbit and in the USA from Tor.
 Has Jordan lost the plot? July 21, 2003
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have read all previous books in the series at a feverish rate, truly impressed by the quality of the story-telling.
Book 6 is a huge let-down, with most of it given over to pointless scene-setting and recap; only useful for people who have jumped into the series half way through.
Thankfully it's redeemed in the final 3rd, by heart-pounding pace and style that reminded me why I'd stuck with the rest of the book.
I've not given up yet, but I'll move onto Book 7 with both hope and trepidation. Don't let me down Robert!
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