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Author: Robert Jordan
Published: May 1996
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Series: The Wheel Of Time #7
880 pages

Seven down, seven more to go. (Okay, six more to go really, because the last one isn’t published yet). I am going to warn you right now this ‘review’ is more of a collection of thoughts, and is a bit all over the place.

A Crown of Swords begins pretty much right after the final events of the previous book, Lord of Chaos. To be honest, I don’t feel a whole lot actually happens in this book, and what did happen certainly did not require 880 pages to tell. Rand is trying to keep control and stability in Cairhein, and also tries to convince the Sea Folk that he is the Coramoor of their Prophecies. It’s all very political and all the discussing and arguing occurs at a snail’s pace; frankly, not very interesting to me. Egwene sends Nynavae and Elayne off to find the Bowl of the Winds, and doesn’t really pop up after that. Nynavae and Elayne’s chapters were fairly interesting, but their search progresses so slowly. And then there’s like a couple chapters regarding Morgase and whatever’s up with her, and her chapters inched by as well. I guess what I’m trying to say is, the entire plot moved very, very slow.

Then suddenly at the end, it’s like the entire story realized it was moving at a slow speed and it decided to fast forward the last handful of scenes! (Spoiler, highlight to read: The reason it feels this way is that all of a sudden, Rand just pops up in Illian and takes down Sammael. Seriously. It happened so freaking fast, I was like, “Isn’t Sammael supposed to be super strong or something? How did Rand kill him so easily?” Then again, Rand is not 100% sure he killed Sammael … ) So I was not very satisfied with the ending. It was too sudden and abrupt.

Character-wise, I’d say everyone is pretty much the same, though there is a few developments. Like Nynavae.  Spoiler: She marries Lan and now, suddenly, she’s trying to be all nice and perfect. It’s a bit weird. I never really cared about Nynavae — she’s actually my least favourite character, because I find her way too bitchy and angry, but I guess such events change women … maybe …

Also, there is a surprising amount of sex in this book. Not that I have a problem with reading sex (and it’s always off-camera and/or suggested, so it’s not like anything was described in detail), it’s just that the previous books had none, or very little, and then suddenly in this book, everyone’s hooking up! Okay, not everyone, but it sure feels like it. It’s not really a complaint, more of an observation.

Speaking of which: Min and Rand. Min has always been a practical, down to earth kind of girl but around Rand, she’s become this huge flirt. It’s weird! I mean, I know this isn’t unusual behaviour, for girls to act a bit more flirty and girly around the guy she likes, but it feels like almost too big of a personality shift. Then again, I don’t think Min really ever had a solid, concrete personality like Nynavae.

There’s also a new character introduced in this book, Cadsuane. She is a very old, highly respected Aes Sedai and it sort of feels like she’s come in to take Moiraine’s place. Certainly she is trying to “teach him manners”. I am not sure how I feel about her yet. Her role in the story is not really defined at all, I don’t really know why she suddenly decided to appear. All it was said was that she finds such events like the Dragon Reborn interesting. Regardless, I am a little intrigued by her presence and I have a hunch she’ll have a much larger role in future books, but I really hope she wasn’t written in to be the new Moiraine. Moiraine is my favourite character, no one can take her place!

Not going to complain about the lengthy clothing descriptions or Jordan’s female character I’ve been over that. It’s still present in the series.

Overall, I think I have mixed feelings towards this book. It was slow, but the events that did happen were fairly interesting and I enjoyed reading the book when the plot decided to actually progress, though not all plot progressions were satisfying. I am a little wary of the books to follow in the series, because I have been warned by several friends that the plot continues to slow down more and more — possibly to milk the series — so we shall see.

My Rating:

Author: Robert Jordan
Published: October 1994
Publisher: Tor Books
Series: The Wheel of Time #6
1011 pages (mass market paperback)

I give this book a 4, but I think it’s really more like a 3.7 or 3.8 … However, I’m not going to get into decimals, heh, so I rounded.

Continuing on with The Wheel of Time series, I finally finished reading book six! This one was quite long, hence the lack of updates around the blog while I was trying to get though this phonebook-sized novel …

So what happens in book six? Well, truth to be told, I cannot remember much that happened in the first 500 pages or so — it felt like nothing much was going on and it was difficult to get through. I just didn’t care about Rand’s problems, or Morgase, or even Mat in this book. And I usually love Mat! I think it’s because those characters’ parts of the stories are becoming increasingly political, which normally isn’t really my cup of tea. But the last half of the book was amazing to read, and I was so hooked. Especially all the Aes Sedai stuff. I love the concept of Aes Sedai in this story, it’s one of my favourite things about the series. There are a lot of very important plot points that happen in Lord Of Chaos, events that I am sure are going to play very large roles in future installments.

It’s very difficult to write synopsis for books in a series without spoiling what happens in previous books (so skip this paragraph if you’re worried). The White Tower, as established in the previous book, has split, which is not a good thing at all. The White Tower (or, Elaida, the Amyrlin who usurped Siuan) sends emissaries to Rand, the Dragon Reborn, at the same time as the Hall of the Tower (the Aes Sedai in Salidar). Rand is basically confronted with two schools of Aes Sedai, each wanting him to be on their side — but the truth is, the Aes Sedai need Rand more than Rand needs them. Not to mention the fact that Rand feels he can’t trust any Aes Sedai anymore. That’s the major plotline of this book, I believe. There are lots of other very important events though, such as Rand founding his school (the “Black Tower”, the students affectionately call it, haha, I love it!) and Egwene, Nynavae and Elayne and their becoming Aes Sedai. Egwene, in particular, has something tremendously exciting happen to her that I don’t want to spoil, but I was quite shocked when it happened!

The ending was really great too, it reminded me of the endings from books one and two, where something large and profound happens that forever changes the story world. Definitely makes me want to start book seven right away.

I get the impression that as the series goes on, each individual book becomes hit-or-miss for many readers. I totally understand;  for me, this book was mainly a hit, though a belated one. Like I said before, the first half of this book was quite long and boring, and it really felt it could have been pared down considerably. It’s just that, nothing much happens in the first half. I can’t even remember what I read in the first half. The prologue alone used up 70 pages! I would not be surprised to hear that people just give up this book in the middle … which would be a real shame, because the last half is so not worth missing out on.

Also there is a lot of repetition in the series which I am sure readers (who are not die hard fans, and thus, less likely to overlook) may be sick of. I’m a little sick of it myself, but I guess since I am what you would call a fan of the series, I am more willing to forgive it. You know, the constant description of everyone‘s clothes (really?); certain phrases like ‘good Two Rivers woolens’; necklines on dresses and, if they are low, how their boobs are popping out; Rand, Mat and Perrin constantly thinking each other are expert on women; the women constantly thinking men are all ‘woolheaded’; the men constantly thinking women are all confusing; Nynavae and her damn braid-tugging … If you’ve read books in this series, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

But like I said — I do like this series and I am determined to finish it. And as much as I complain about the occasional lack of plot or repetition, I’m fan enough of the series to ignore it. I do completely understand readers who cannot finish the book (or any other book in this series) because of said cons though. I do agree that this book felt stretched out. In fact, some of the previous books felt that way as well. However, there is something about the series that still has me hooked onto it. It simply hasn’t failed in delivering epic-ness yet. Granted, it’s not a continous or even distribution of epic-ness, but I am still loving this series, and this book’s last half was truly fun and amazing to read — so much that I think it makes up for the beginning half’s lack of story.

My Rating:

Author: Robert Jordan
Published: September 1992
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Series: The Wheel of Time #4
699 pages (hardcover)

Four books down now, ten more to go in the series!

In this noticeably lengthier installment of the series, the story begins with more or less all of the major characters in the city of Tear, after Rand has claimed the sword Callandor, but this does not last for long as all the characters set out on different paths. It’s not exactly safe for all of them to be gathered in one place, especially all three ta’varen, as they create “bubbles” in the Pattern (of time, fates, destiny), causing all sorts of dangerous things to happen to themselves and the people around them. The separation of the characters create roughly three major plotlines in this book. Rand decides to follow the People of the Dragon, or the Aiel, to their homeland and hopefully fulfill their prophecies of uniting the Aiel clans. He is followed by Moiraine, Egwene and Mat.

Perrin, having heard about troubles back in their small village at Two Rivers, travels back in hopes of somehow helping them. He is followed by Faile (who he met from the previous book), Loial and Gaul, an Aiel. He eventually meets up with two Aes Sedai, Verin and Alanna. The group helps the Two Rivers with their war against the Trollocs that are trying to invade, all the while Perrin is trying to keep the Children of the Light away from him, who want to capture him as they believe he is a Darkfriend.

Nynavae and Elayne travel to Tanchico, still hot on the trail of the Black Ajah, still trying to figure out what they’re up to. They are accompanied by Thom and Juilin (from the previous book).

Lastly, Min returns to the White Tower in Tar Valon to deliver Moiraine’s message to the Siuan, the Amyrlin, but ends up having to remain in the White Tower at Siuan’s request. Elaida Sedai senses there is something fishy going on between Siuan, Min, Moiraine and this Dragon Reborn business and more or less causes mutiny. This last plotline is not as prominently focused on as the above-mentioned three, but I thought it was the most interesting and exciting.

Whew. So, what did I think? Overall, it was good, but I just wasn’t as into the book as I was when I read one, two and three. The beginning of the book, about the first 200 pages or so, was rather dull. I had become accustomed to the fast paced action in the first three books, so the beginning of book four felt a bit like running over a high speed bump and having to slow way down. After the first 200 pages, it was alright — the exciting parts seemed to come randomly, in spurts. It wasn’t one consistently exciting story, if you know what I mean.

Sometimes I felt like I was reading more description than story as well. This is a really long book, and I feel that it could have been edited and parred down so that the narrative is “tighter”, if that makes sense. But overall, my thoughts are that this is a good book, but to me, slightly disappointing compared to the first three books of the series.

One thing I noticed, particularly the first 200 pages of the story where nothing much seemed to be happening, was that there was a focus on the romantic aspects of relationships Rand and Perrin had with the ladies. I mean, it’s always been there, but the relationships suddenly changed, and it was surprising to me. Egwene suddenly decides she’s going to stop liking Rand so that her friend Elayne can get with him, for one. And Rand just … goes with it! Elayne and Rand are pretty much described as making out all over the place! That was a bit sudden. Also Faile and Perrin become totally in love in this book, which was odd because last book left off with Perrin finding Faile quite annoying. Oh there were hints, I admit, but I thought they were more like kids with a crush on one another, rather than this undying devotion I witnessed.

This is the first book in the series so far that I have read where all their individual plotlines didn’t join up at the end. I had thought that was the going to be the standard in this series but now that it didn’t happen, I’m wondering what is going to happen next.

Anyway, I will definitely be reading book five. I mean, I can’t expect to find every single book in this series exciting on equal levels. As a whole, the series is very enjoyable.

My Rating:

 Author: Robert Jordan
Published: 1991
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Series: The Wheel of Time #3
674 pages (mass market paperback)

Long time no update! With final exams and personal life related stuff finally settling done, I found time to continue my reading endeavors, specifically with the Wheel of Time series. It’s been a long time since I read book two, but luckily I seem to have no trouble remembering what happened in previous installments of the series.

In the last book, Rand is proclaimed the Dragon Reborn and has to deal with knowing he is a man who can channel the Power. Men who can channel the Power are often thought to go mad, and Rand becomes pretty unstable in mood and even in personality, because sometimes the Power gets to him, and he is afraid to become mad. Rand eventually starts getting dreams about the sword Callandor which is located in the Stone of Tear. Prophecy says only the Dragon Reborn can hold that sword. Wanting to know if he is truly the Dragon Reborn, or simply a man going mad with the ability to channel, Rand escapes from his party towards Tear, prompting Moiraine, Lan, Perrin and Loial to chase after him.

In the meantime, Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne travel with the Aes Sedai Verin back to Tar Valon with an extremely weak Mat, who is slowly but surely dying from the cursed dagger he carries with him. The three girls are informed by the Amyrlin that while they were “away”, Liandrin — the Aes Sedai who “sold” them in book two — is actually of the Black Ajah, and has run away along with twelve of their Sisters (who are Black Ajah as well) and a bunch of stolen items. Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne are then given the task to reveal any more Black Ajah hiding amongst them in Tar Valon. Their mission eventually leads the three girls to Tear as well.

For a book titled “The Dragon Reborn”, Rand has a surprisingly small amount of chapters dedicated to him. Not that I really cared (as Rand is not a favourite character of mine or anything), or that it affected the story badly, but just something interesting to note, since he was the main character in the previous two books and I guess I assumed he would continue to be the main character in later book; however, I can see the series heading in more of the style of A Song of Ice and Fire, where there’s a bunch of main characters each with their own plotlines happening at once. Of course, Rand will always remain the one character whose presence is the most important! Well, we’ll see how it goes.

Oh, by the way, I am so happy that Mat has a bigger role in this book! I didn’t mention it when I was summarizing the plot, but Mat has a little bit of his own separate plotline as well in this book where he travels away from Tar Valon after being Healed by the Aes Sedai and anyway, long story short (because you should read this yourself!) he also ends up in Tear, where the climax of the story takes place. I’m really digging the whole idea of Mat being a gambler with Lady Luck on his side, haha.

Anyway, if you are reading this series, you will most certainly enjoy this book as well. I actually don’t have that much to say about this particular book besides just saying that I really enjoyed it and that I look forward to reading book four and seeing what the characters will do now, considering how this novel ended. I think with series books, it is much easier to talk about a series as a whole than individual books, but that’s just me.

My Rating