This review relates to season 1

I should start by saying that I have not read any of the books of the Wheel of Time series, so I have no idea how the TV-show compares to the books. I was really looking forward to diving into a good fantasy series, but I’m afraid I did not enjoy it very much.

Almost all of the main characters are either extremely annoying, or just rather boring. Rand is definitely the worst of them: he acts like a spoilt five-year old throughout the entire season. His girlfriend Egwene is less annoying but not very interesting as a character, and I was not very convinced by the attraction between them. Nynaeve’s insistence on being both uncooperative and unpleasant makes her seem like a sulky toddler, and while Perrin suffers a major trauma early on this hardly gets addressed in later episodes. Mat is also quite an ass, but in his case at least it seems to be a deliberate choice.

The only slightly redeemable characters are Moraine and al’Lan, although the last of those two hardly even says a word (some of the other characters should take note). Combined with some pretty mediocre worldbuilding and a quite predictable plot, there was simply not enough there to make the show even remotely interesting.

As I said, I haven’t read the books so I don’t know if I would have felt the same way about them, or if these issues were caused by the adaption. At the moment I mostly feel that with the kind of budget Amazon undoubtedly spent on this show, there could have been so many more original and interesting stories to tell. I personally will not continue with the second season, unless I hear some incredible reviews from people who’s opinion I fully trust.