Saturday Dad Reads Week of June 14

One long read, 100 million visualized and some thoughts on our furry friends

June 14, 2025

Welcome to this week’s edition! Here’s what we’ve got lined up:

  • 📕 This week’s Book Summary and Review: The Fires of Heaven

  • 🧑‍🦰 Author Bio: Robert Jordan

  • 💣️ Dad’s Knowledge Bomb: 100 million by the Numbers

  • 🎮️ This week’s Dad Rant: Leave Your Pets at Home

 Summary

The Fires of Heaven is Robert Jordan’s 5th novel set in the massive fantasy epic, The Wheel of Time. In the series, Jordan weaves a hero’s quest, a messianic figure, magic, clashes of armies, and political intrigue together to create a tale that is immediately familiar to fantasy fans, yet carries its own uniquely distinct flavor.

In this installment of the series, we pick up the trail of Rand al-Thor, the main protagonist, as he leaves the Aiel Waste with an army in tow, bent on defeating more of the Forsaken before the taint of Saidin takes over his faculties and causes him to go insane. Rand and his army lumber ever closer towards The Last Battle where he will be forced to confront The Dark One and bring about the destruction of the world. His other compatriots, namely Nynaeve al-Maera and Elayne al-Vere, struggle with being Aes Sedai and channeling the One Power as they attempt to make their way back to Tar Valon, the home of the Aes Sedai order.

📕 Review 

If you’ve read the summary above and have no idea what I’m talking about, let me fill you in a little bit.

The Wheel of Time is an absolute beast of a fantasy series with each installment being its own massive tome of 600+ pages. For those uninitiated with the series, it follows the lives of multiple everyday people who, in Robert Jordan’s terms, are Ta’veren. In other words, they are people who fate and destiny (the Wheel of Time) have selected to be “prime movers” and “causes” of world events. In this case, Rand al-Thor, the story’s main character is to be the Dragon Reborn, the individual tasked with defeating evil and bringing about the end of days. Additionally, and central to the storyline is the One Power, a “Force-like” element that allows the wielder to heal, conjure and control the elements among other things. Men are not able to channel for too long because they will be driven insane. Women, on the other hand, can channel without losing their faculties, but not all women can channel the One Power. Those who can become part of an order of sorceresses called the Aes Sedai. The main plot of the series concerns itself with Rand coming to terms with being the Dragon Reborn, learning to control the One Power at the expense of his sanity, and having to cause the destruction of the world in a cataclysmic final battle with evil.

That was a lot.

But, each book in the series has been a lot. Enjoyable, yes. But a lot. As with many series that I’ve encountered, I’ve taken breaks in between each one. When I say that reading this series has been a 20-year labor, it has and I still have 8 books to go. I’d like to complete it, but I don’t know that I ever will.

In the mid-1990s, I remember my uncle showing up to Thanksgiving dinner with one of the Wheel of Time books in tow. He was reading the second book in the series, The Great Hunt, and I remember him describing the hunt for the Horn of Valere and how if/when it was found, sounding the horn would resurrect the ancient heroes. He also told me about the Trollocs, the bloodthirsty creatures that inhabited the world in which the series was set. My young, impressionable mind thought this sounded great and the next time I visited the Waldenbooks at my local mall, the Wheel of Time series was on display throughout the store. So I did the logical thing and bought the first book, The Eye of the World.

In addition to the fact that I loved my uncle’s description of the series, what also first drew me to these books was the cover art. It’s fantastic. Take a look at some of these gems below. For my money, they’re phenomenal and scream epic fantasy.

However, while the cover art was great, when I started reading the books, I was too young to appreciate the world that Robert Jordan had created. Now, I’m too far gone to go back and re-read previous installments. I’ve just decided to forge ahead and lean on the glossary that Jordan includes at the end of each book to fill in any missing pieces.

Forge ahead I have, getting both a hard copy of The Fires of Heaven from the library and listening to the Audible version. Had I not done that, I don’t think I would’ve made it. In reading that last sentence, you might think I’m getting ready to drop negativity all over this one. I’m not. The fault here is my own, not that of Robert Jordan.

This book, in my opinion, is a springboard book. It’s 600+ pages of set up for things that have to happen later on down the line. There is a lot of maneuvering and explanation that, given the time I took in between each novel, was lost on me because I couldn’t remember what was going on in previous books and if it was important to the plot or not. Now, there were points at which I was hooked and invested such as when Nynaeve and Elayne were moving through villages looking for the “eyes and ears” of the Aes Sedai (a spy network) and when Mat Cauthin led a contingent of Rand’s army against the Cairheinin host near the end of the book. Those parts were excellent and well-written, but everything else just fell flat for me. Again, my fault on this one. Not Robert Jordan’s.

However, I would like to note two additional items I found intriguing. I do like how Robert Jordan blends so many different cultural and religious elements together into something new and unique, but also familiar. I also continue to be intrigued with Jordan’s take on the hero’s quest. In particular, his take on how someone comes to terms with being the savior of mankind (not of their choosing) and must lose his faculties and destroy the world as a result.

For me, this one was rough, but if you’re invested in the series get ready to sink some time into The Fires of Heaven.
Rating: ☕️☕️☕️

🧑‍🦰 Author Spotlight: Robert Jordan

The lodestar of Robert Jordan’s career as a writer was the Wheel of Time series which combined has sold over 100 million copies. As with many writers of epic fantasy and science fiction, the worlds they create last well after their passing. Those worlds have become so all-encompassing with so much detail that the main story remains unfinished. Jordan is no different. The last 3 books in the series were finished by highly-regarded fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson.

Nevertheless, Robert Jordan is one hell of an interesting character. Firstly, “Robert Jordan” is the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. He taught himself to read a very young age and would later receive a degree in Physics from The Citadel in South Carolina and worked as a nuclear engineer. Lesser known about Jordan is that he was decorated helicopter gunner in the Vietnam War, serving for 2 years from 1968-1970.

In 2007, Jordan was stilling in the process of concluding his opus, The Wheel of Time series, when he passed away tragically after a battle with illness.

💣️ Dad’s Knowledge Bombs:

Although Robert Jordan passed in 2007, his Wheel of Time series continues to sell. As of 2023, the series had sold over 100 million copies worldwide. With this massive number, I thought it would be interesting to see what other things in popular culture have sold 100 million or more units in their lifetimes:

  1. The Nintendo Switch, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Playstation 4, Original Playstation, and Nintendo Wii all sold over 100 million units worldwide. The all time best selling video game console is the Playstation 2 with over 160 million units sold.

  2. Minecraft is the best selling video game of all time thus far, with 300 million units.

  3. The Lord of the Rings series by JRR Tolkien is estimated to have sold 150 million copies. While Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has sold 107 million units and The Hobbit has an estimated 100 million copies sold.

  4. Michael Jackson’s Thriller album has sold over 100 million copies worldwide.

  5. The Motorola RAZR V3 has sold 130 million units.

  6. The all-time best selling book is Don Quixote, coming in a a whopping 500 million copies.

🎮️ Dad Rant: Leave Your Pets at Home

Since my wife and I have been together, we’ve always had a dog. When my oldest daughter, who is now 17, was 3, we adopted Brownie, a German Shepherd/Pitbull mix. She had been abused by previous owners and did not do well with other dogs. She gave us a lot of headaches, but we loved her all the same.

We now own a 100+ pound Great Dane named Franco. His elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top and he costs too much to kennel for vacation (meaning I stay home with him). However, I’ll take his bark and mannerisms over anything Simplifsafe makes as the best home defense system in the world. He’s also great with my kids. My son and him have a unique bond because they grew up together as a baby/puppy.

I’m giving you all of this context because a.) I love my dog and b.) there’s one thing that I’ve never done and never will do: take my dog shopping with me.

I’ll start with what is, for me, the obvious. Stores like Home Depot and really any other retail establishment are built to lure in the consumer and maximize the retailer’s profit margin. They aren’t built for Connor and Bryce to bring their Golden Doodle along for the ride while they shop for the perfect window treatment and pick out paint colors for the breakfast nook. That’s why they make crates and dog parks. The dog really can’t give any input on your decisions so just leave him at home and take him to play later.

Also, its a safety concern. Dogs are creatures of habit and don’t tend to do well in unfamiliar environments, getting bombarded by millions of new sights and smells. Given that, even the best trained dogs could struggle and/or completely flip their lids, especially if they’re stressed and they see another dog that they may not like at first glance. So when the family’s Rottweiler and the recently-divorced dog-mom’s 2 Bichon’s have it out in the deli at BJ’s Wholesale Club, like they’re training to spend a week at Michael Vick’s Paws Hotel, both parties are in the wrong. You wouldn’t both be calling Morgan and Morgan and getting your BJs Membership Card revoked had you just left the damn dogs at home.

Lastly, I just find the practice flat out annoying. You’re not making a statement and you’re not being cool, hip, and edgy because you bring out your dog and show how well-behaved they are. Now, obviously, service animals are the exception as they have been for years and should be in perpetuity. The service animal has undergone intensive training and has an intense bond with its handler, and serves a very important purpose for the person who benefits from their service.

Quite frankly, even if an establishment deems itself dog-friendly, leave your fur babies at home. It’s just a recipe for disaster.

Saturday Dad’s Rating System

I’m not a published author. Therefore, I’m never going to shit all over something that someone poured themselves into. That being said, each book review will be rated on a scale of 3-5 coffees. Here’s what that means:

☕️ ☕️ ☕️ - You’re going to want to get comfortable and fill that cup up 3 times. This one’s solid!

☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ - You’re going to want to give yourself a few hours of alone time. Fill that bad boy up 4 times and buckle up.

☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ - Send the kids to grandma’s house and call off work. You’re not going to be able to put this one down. Make a whole pot and settle in for the long haul!