Customer Reviews
just hold out! - By: J. Colclough, 30 Aug 2008 
the first half of the book is a necassary slow which you have to read to understand goings-ons laterin 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 & thanks again!
Brilliant Book - By: , 01 Nov 2005 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 & all who use it are destined to go mad. it is Rand's to save the world & then destroy it.
Moraine has Disappeared after a battle with Lanfear. Egwene is summoned to the Rebel White Tower & Min reaches Rand. Perrin feels the tug of ta'vern pulling him to Rand & an Embassy is sent to Rand.
An Fantasy Epic - By: M. C. Evans, 19 Mar 2004 The sixth bookin the wheel of time series is an excellent addition to the series but it is also the first bookin the seriesin 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 & have to wait for another to be published. Despite this the story remains very interesting. Eventsin 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 & is what really brings this book together.
Fairly slow, but with a spectacular payoff. - By: A. Whitehead, 08 Mar 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 booksin the series, with fans praising its deeper exploration of ideas & intrigue, whilst critics bemoan the slow pace of the book compared to earlier volumes.
The kingdoms of Cairhien, Mayene & Tear are now sworn to the Dragon Reborn, & 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 & Rand's successes look like they will continue unabated. In the south, he is assembling a vast army to send against the Forsaken Sammaelin 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 & die, wreaking havoc as they go, & some of his enemies are prepared to move against him before that can be allowed to happen.
The theme of the sixth bookin 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 himin Andor & Cairhien underway & an outright rebellion going onin 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, & Egwene, Elayne & 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 overcomein both his own ranks & 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 & lots of talk. Characters sitting around talking about the plot, about what has already happened & what they think might happenin the future. That's when they are not engagedin increasingly tedious & infantile discussions about male-female relations, which by this volume are starting to get a mite repetitive. The politicking & intrigue is fine as far as it goes (although fans of GRRM or Bakker may find it a bit on the shallow & simplistic side), but you do need a bit more to spice the book up. There's some fine, atmospheric interludesin the book, such as Rand taking a brief sojournin the desolate, cursed city of Shadar Logoth, but overall the novel has serious pacing issues. Simply put, this is a 1,000-page bookin 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 & some of the most surprising eventsin the entire series take place, culminatingin a massive battle at the spring of Dumai's Wellsin which Jordan's sometimes-variable skills at depicting action, drama & the ability to tie together disparate storylines are put to their best effect. This late burst of action sequences & confrontations is extremely effective, & 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 succeedin laying the groundwork for the spectacular & 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 availablein the UK from Orbit &in the USA from Tor.
Has Jordan lost the plot? - By: Gavin Wilkinson, 21 Jul 2003 
I have read all previous booksin 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 & recap; only useful for people who have jumped into the series half way through.
Thankfully it's redeemedin the final 3rd, by heart-pounding pace & 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 & trepidation. Don't let me down Robert!
