The Wheel of Time Companion: The People, Places, and History of the Bestselling Series

If you are a WoT superfan, you should feel free to get this book. It's basically a glossary of the entire series, plus useful back story that never made its way into the books. It should be a good cheat sheet when you need it during rereads.If you aren't a superfan, this book is certainly not necessary for your understanding. (And if you're on your first read, definitely don't touch this: entries largely cover the entire series arc of their topic.)Much of this book retreads what is actually in the books. But there are also a considerable number of fresh nuggets not previously known.Some new information is of a more systematic nature. Entries on channelers usually give quantified measures of their strengths. (Albeit, with a measure of uncertainty -- deriving as these measures are from sometimes-inconsistent authorial notes.) Aes Sedai entries tend to include year of birth and duration of time as novice and Accepted (presumably because Jordan had to nail these things down to write consistent with the Aes Sedai pecking order). The Old Tongue entry contains several pages of definitions and some discussion of language modifiers. There's an entry completely devoted to Lini's sayings.Other new information appears incidental to the topic at hand. Cadsuane's entry describes in detail every one of her hair ornaments, as well as the actual (brief) truth behind the legend of numerous rumors about her career. The entry on the Chair of Remorse reveals its true nature and purpose. And more beyond -- I've spent at this point a few hours somewhat aimlessly flipping through to see what I find, and to follow up on topics with potential lingering questions that might be answered (and to answer questions I didn't always know I had), and I'm sure I haven't found all the fascinating details yet.This book is not narrative. Aside from character entries, there is little storytelling in this. Presumably someone will carefully read this start to finish, but it's hard for me to imagine doing it. (And I've invested enough time in the books to have read the series multiple times, spent hours on Internet forums, and flown to the final book's release party in Provo.) Do not pick this up if you're just looking for a good story to read."Companion" is almost certainly the more marketable name, but I think "Reference" would have been the better term. It probably isn't something you're going to get "friendly" with, the way the name "companion" likely implies.This book is worth five stars if you like getting into details and lore of the entire Wheel of Time -- as long as you're aware that you're getting a fairly clinical treatment of everything, in encyclopedic non-narrative form. If that's not your thing, you will probably be disappointed.

Admittedly, I didn't read the description at all before I bought it. I saw that there was a Wheel of Time Companion book that I didn't have, and I bought it. So, it is a HUGE book (far larger than I was expecting), rivaling the main series books in length. I wasn't expecting that. Also, it is literally a glossary of every person and place in the series. Unlike the "The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time Series" book, which seemed to be more a narrative of different subjects in the series, introducing different places or objects or points of history and providing more details than the series had, this book starts at A and goes to Z and just lists people and places, etc. and describes them. I was a little disappointed at first, that it wasn't categorized or more narrative or something (I was expecting an updated version of the "World of" book), but I think if it had been, I would also have been disappointed that there wasn't a complete glossary of everything. Many of the glossary entries provide pages of detail about their subjects, so the information is there, but you have to know what you're looking for because there is no real context. As the title ("Companion") suggests, it is likely best suited to having beside you while you read to remind you who people are or what has happened. Without any context for each entry, it would be a struggle to read it straight through from cover to cover like a regular book. If I tried to just read it, I would find that I had no idea when the more minor characters had appeared or what their role in the story was at the time they appeared, and so the information would be useless without the context of the series.As a side note, the cover of the book I received was a little worn just down one line of an edge, so I think moving around in the box in shipping caused that. A little disappointing, but nothing I wanted to return it and have it replaced for... dust jackets get worn over time anyway, and I want the book to actually use it and read it, not to look pretty and pristine on a shelf.

The Wheel of Time books have been a part of my life since I read The Eye of the World while I was in Junior High. I've read each of the books several times over the years, but reading the entire series with my copy of The Wheel of Time Companion handy was an entirely new and rich reading experience. I believe that Harriet McDougal and the rest of the group that worked on this book succeeded in their effort to provide a reference book that is useful to WoT fans in a number of ways. Personally, I enjoyed how this reference helped to connect the dots on certain topics, how I could refer to it as I read to help recognize some of the foreshadowing in the series, how the astounding breadth of Robert Jordan’s world-building is highlighted by the contents of this book, and how the new artwork enhanced my mental images of the characters and places in the series. The detailed explanation of some topics that had previously been left to the reader to figure out is a wonderful provision, while at the same time Robert Jordan's desire for some things to still be left up to the reader to decide for themselves is supported by the fact that not everything has been given away, wrapped up, or fully explained.This book is a must have for any true fan of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. It is worth its weight in Andoran Gold Crowns :-)