Where to Start with Robert Jordan: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time — how to begin with The Eye of the World and what to expect from the 14-book series. A complete guide.
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) was the American fantasy novelist who created the Wheel of Time — fourteen novels (plus a prequel) spanning approximately four million words, set across a richly imagined world with one of fantasy’s most original magic systems and one of the genre’s most ambitious female ensembles. He began the series in 1990 and wrote eleven books before his death from a rare blood disease in 2007; Brandon Sanderson completed the series from Jordan’s extensive notes and outlines, publishing the final three volumes between 2009 and 2013. The Wheel of Time is among the best-selling fantasy series in history and is considered one of the defining achievements of secondary-world epic fantasy.
Where to Start: The Eye of the World (1990)
The only starting point — and the foundation of one of the greatest epic fantasy series ever written. Three young men from the village of Emond’s Field — Rand al’Thor, Matrim Cauthon, and Perrin Aybara — are driven from their homes when dark forces come hunting for one of them. Guided by Moiraine Damodred, an Aes Sedai (a channeller of the One Power), and her Warder Lan, they flee across the world toward the Eye of the World and the confrontation that awaits there.
The opening is deliberately Tolkienesque — the rural village, the departure, the dark riders — but Jordan was building the foundation for something much more original. The magic system (saidin and saidar, the male and female aspects of the One Power), the mythology, and the world’s history are all present in embryo; the series develops these into an extraordinarily detailed and internally consistent whole. The beginning of one of the greatest reading commitments in genre fiction.
The Great Hunt (1990)
The second book — and the one where the Wheel of Time’s own distinct voice fully emerges. The hunt for the Horn of Valere, a legendary artefact that can call the dead heroes of the ages back to battle, drives the plot; Rand’s identity as the Dragon Reborn becomes harder to deny; the world expands significantly, particularly toward the east. Jordan’s world-building accelerates, and the series leaves behind its Tolkien roots to become something genuinely its own.
Best read immediately after the first book.
The Shadow Rising (1992)
Generally regarded as the first great book of the series and the point at which it reaches its full power. The fourth volume expands the world significantly — particularly the Aiel Waste, the culture of the warrior people whose history is central to the prophecies surrounding Rand — and contains some of the most celebrated sequences in the series. Many readers find it the best single volume.
Lord of Chaos (1994)
The sixth book — often cited as one of the series’ most important and most dramatically concentrated volumes. The political conflict between the different factions claiming authority over the Dragon Reborn reaches its crisis point; the climax is one of the most celebrated in the series. The point at which the full ambition of Jordan’s world-building is most fully on display.
Reading Robert Jordan
The Wheel of Time rewards its readers with one of the most fully imagined secondary worlds in the history of fantasy — a magic system of genuine originality, a mythology of extraordinary depth, and a cast of dozens of characters whose development across fourteen books constitutes one of the great sustained reading experiences available in genre fiction. The investment is significant; the books slow in their middle sections and Jordan’s prose is often more functional than elegant. The rewards, for readers who commit, are extraordinary. Begin at the beginning — there is no other starting point — and trust that the series becomes fully its own by The Shadow Rising at the latest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Robert Jordan?
The Eye of the World (1990) is the only starting point — the first book of the Wheel of Time, one of the greatest and most ambitious series in epic fantasy history. Three young men from the isolated village of Emond's Field are driven from their homes by dark forces and drawn into a world-spanning conflict, in the opening of a fourteen-book series that took twenty years to complete (finished by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan's death in 2007). The opening is deliberately Tolkienesque, but the series develops its own distinct identity — particularly around its magic system and its unusually prominent female characters.
What is the Wheel of Time about?
The Wheel of Time is set in a world where time is cyclical — the Wheel turns through Ages, the same events repeating in altered form — and where a cosmic conflict between the Light and the Dark One shapes the pattern of history. The series follows Rand al'Thor, a farmboy from Emond's Field who is revealed to be the Dragon Reborn — the prophesied hero of the Age, reincarnated to face the Dark One in the Last Battle. The series is as much about the political, social, and personal consequences of this revelation as about the conflict itself; the magic system (channelling the One Power, with separate male and female aspects) is central to its world-building.
How long is the Wheel of Time series?
The Wheel of Time consists of fourteen novels plus a prequel novella, spanning approximately four million words — making it one of the longest fantasy series ever written. Robert Jordan wrote the first eleven books before his death in 2007; Brandon Sanderson completed the series from Jordan's extensive notes, writing the final three books (The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, A Memory of Light) and one earlier collaboration (Knife of Dreams, which Jordan partially wrote). Most readers recommend the full series as a single experience, though some find the pacing uneven in the middle books (9-10) before the Sanderson volumes bring it to a more energetic conclusion.
Is the Wheel of Time slow to start?
The Eye of the World opens with several hundred pages that are deliberately reminiscent of Tolkien — a cozy rural village, a flight from dark forces, a journey through the wilderness — before the series' own distinct voice and world fully emerge. Many readers find the opening slow and the Tolkien resemblance derivative; most who persevere find the series becomes fully its own thing by the middle of the first book or early in the second. The Shadow Rising (Book 4) is often cited as the point where the series reaches its full power. The Amazon Prime adaptation (2021) provides a useful visual orientation to the world.
