Book Review: A New Spring by Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan and Louder Than Hell by Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I’m trying to read a book each month this year. I’m happy to report that I’m now on track for this goal, having finished three books so far this year. Below is a brief look at what I’ve read (or listened to on audiobook).

A New Spring – Robert Jordan (Fantasy)

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This is the prequel novel to the Wheel of Time series. It’s about half the length of other books in the series at 26 chapters and over 300 pages - though I’ve been listening to the audiobook version. Overall, it’s a pretty good introduction to Robert Jordan’s universe.

The Eye of the World – Robert Jordan (Fantasy)

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This is the first novel in the Wheel of Time series. Again, I’ve listened to the audiobook version, mainly because the narration is fantastic.

Louder Than Hell – Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman (Non-fiction, Music history)

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This book describes itself as ‘the definitive oral history of metal’, and for the most part it’s pretty on the money. In a similar tack to Sam Dunn’s ‘Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey’ film documentary, the book traces the roots of metal from early heavy bands through the different genres of metal today. The difference between this and A Headbanger’s Journey is that it touches more on the band’s own stories than the evolution of metal itself. It very much taps into the ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ narrative which most have become familiar with, but it also taps into some pretty personal topics for band members like deaths in bands  (Cliff Burton, Dimebag Darrell etc.), sexual preferences and religion.

What I found interesting about the book was that it failed to mention sub-genres of metal like Power Metal, Melodic Metal, Folk Metal or Progressive Metal and barely mentioned any Extreme Metal or Technical Death Metal. Further, although the book contained chapters on the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ and Norwegian Black Metal, it was otherwise almost exclusively North American-centric. That being said, the book already stands at over 650 pages so the inclusion of any more content may have been difficult.

Overall, I found it to be a very good read – it was sometimes light-hearted and funny, sometimes dark and macabre, sometimes violent and aggressive which very much matched the style of its subject.