Monday, September 17, 2007

and the Wheel of Time Turns

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning."


I am more than a little bummed out. The world of fantasy literature lost one of its best the last Sunday. Robert Jordan lost his battle with cardiac amyloidosis, a build up of protien in the heart muscle that causes the heart to harden and lose the ability to pump blood. While his books frustrated me to no end, it was the kind of frustration that came from the fact that there never seemed to be enough time to read them with the kind of attention I felt they deserved.

It is odd to me that the death of someone I've never met should move me so much. Perhaps it is that I felt some familiarity to him through his writing, and a bit of grief over the story that will never be finished. He was also quite a remarkable individual. So it is with a saddness in my heart and a small lump in my throat that I say good bye.

Tole



Robert Jordan
Oct 17,1947 - Sept 16,2007

2 comments:

Brandon said...

I felt the same way when I learned that Jim Wight (James Herriot) had died. It was like I'd lost a friend, and going back and reading his books is like going home for a visit.

Anonymous said...

What makes this even more frustrating was the glacial pace of the plot in the second half of the series. Great events were coming to pass...very slowly. If he had thinned down the last two books a little more...

With luck someone else will take up the notes and the manuscript and try to finish the novel. A good example lately is the work tht Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert have done with a Dune manuscript that was lost for decades.

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