When comparing The Lord of the Rings vs The Wheel of Time, the Slant community recommends The Lord of the Rings for most people. In the question“What are the best books you've ever read?” The Lord of the Rings is ranked 1st while The Wheel of Time is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose The Lord of the Rings is:
The Lord of the Rings is home to a great many memorable characters, but the names of Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, and Aragorn are known far and above the rest.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Some of the most memorable characters in literature
The Lord of the Rings is home to a great many memorable characters, but the names of Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, and Aragorn are known far and above the rest.
Pro It's got an incredibly deep, detailed backstory
Lord of the Rings boasts one of the most detailed backstories of any series in the world. Supplementary books have been released that detail thousands of years of stories that all lead up to the events of The Lord of the Rings series.
Pro The books are filled with songs and poems
Tolkien was a great writer, and that wasn't limited to books. His works are filled with a host of wonderful songs, poems, and riddles for you to enjoy.
Pro Incredible storytelling
Tolkien is one of the all-time masters of story telling, and Lord of the Rings is his masterpiece. You enter the realm of Middle Earth, where men are joined by elves, dwarves, orcs, and other fantastic creatures, in a battle for the fate of the very world.
Pro J. R. R. Tolkien created 5 new languages for the whole story
One of the most amazing things about The Hobbit & The Lord Of The Rings is the different languages for different race. It is incredible to think that Tolkien created new languages for his story. A language of the Elves, a language of the Dwarves, a language of the Ents, The Black Speech, and 3 languages of men. No other fantasy writer did that.
Pro A diverse cast of main and side characters bring the world to life
Starting with the main character, Rand, and his two friends, Matt and Perrin, the cast of this series continues to grow throughout the books as the events of the story have far-reaching effects. All of these characters are written very well, with deep personalities and realistic flaws, and feel like real people.
Pro Incredibly detailed world building
Across 14 books author Robert Jordon builds an amazing world full of interesting places, people, and events.
Cons
Con It may be too slow for a casual reader
The Lord of the Rings has a very slow narrative pace to begin with, and all the incredibly detailed descriptions of the environment don't help with that very much.
Con Wheel of Time is a very long series
With 14 books, many long in their own right, this is a very long series and the middle books in the series can get a bit dry as the politics of this world take a front seat in the build up to the finale.
