> From: Erik Reuter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > On Tue, Sep 18, 2001 at 07:11:49AM -0500, The Fool wrote: > > Jordan: > > There are a number of themes that run through the series. There's the > > good old basic struggle between good and evil, with an emphasis on the > > difficulty in recognising what is good and what is evil. > > ... > > > Another recurring theme is lack of information, and the mutability of > > information. No one knows everything. > > Interesting that this is coming from Jordan. I was never terribly > impressed by his writing. > > On the other hand, this sounds like a perfect description of George > R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, which is probably the best > fantasy I've ever read. Most of the characters are quite gray (neither > black nor white), and some of the most 3 dimensional characters I've > ever read, in SF or mainstream. And Martin does a wonderful job of > keeping track of each character's POV and what info they know and do not > know and letting us see through their eyes. Some people complain that it > is too graphic or that they don't understand why a character they liked > was killed off. I call this Realism in Fantasy (tm). How far have you read in WOT? After some point in the story it becomes clear that almost any character is suspicious. The only characters that can be definitively classified as having good/evil motives are the ones whoose pov you get to read. And of these, most fall into these grey areas. Jordan uses all kinds of subleties and reference that are hard to see on the initial read. There is even a tie in to the current happenings. There are all kinds of 'darkfriend' cells everywhere. These operate in much the same way as terrorist cells, except more evil.
