Author

As I mentioned in my review of The Dragon Reborn, the first three books in the Wheel of Time series are bit different in style and scope than the books that follow. At almost four hundred thousand words The Shadow Rising is the first of three most massive books in this series (not counting A Memory of Light, which by all reports promises to be enormous). Where the first three books are relatively self-contained stories, in this book the story branches out in several directions. It is where the book where Jordan’s saga becomes a true epic. It is the point where he starts loosing readers, but also where the series becomes more than a standard fantasy tale. There is something to the criticism that this book is overwritten. My mass market paperback is over a thousand pages, perhaps a slight indulgence on the author’s part. Despite that, it is still one of the better books in the series in my opinion.

At the end of The Dragon Reborn almost all of the main characters have gathered in Tear. Rand has drawn Callandor and fulfilled one of the prophecies surrounding the Dragon Reborn. There is no going back now, Rand has announced for the entire would he is the one that will break the world anew and save it in the Final Battle. That battle however, has not yet come. In the mean time he has a country to run and plans to make. Moiraine is still insistent he confides in her and tries to get him to take the initiative. Rand feels the forsaken look over his shoulder. He must act in some way they won’t expect and he must act soon. But who can he trust?

In the end Rand hesitates too long and the Stone is attacked by shadowspawn. After consulting the Aelfin ter’angreal in the holds of the Stone of Tear Rand decides to travel to the Aiel waste and try to fulfil their prophecies as well. Mat, having consulted the Aelfinn as well, decides to travel with him. Egwene has been summoned to the waste as well, by Aiel Wise Ones who have found out about her Talent for Dreaming. And of course Moiraine sticks to Rand like glue.

Perrin chooses a different path. Disturbing rumours of Whitecloaks in the Two Rivers have reached his ears. They can only mean one thing, the Whitecloaks are still looking for him. Perrin, Loaial, Faile, Gaul, Chiad and Bain travel to the Two Rivers to settle the matter. Perrin intends to let himself be arrested by the Whitecloaks so as not to endanger his family. When he arrives he find that matters have already gone to far for that to be an options. Even if Faile would have allowed it.

Nynaeve and Elayne decide to continue the mission the Amyrlin Seat has given them without Egwene. After having interrogated the two sisters they have captured in the Stone they are more determined than ever to find the remaining Black sisters. It seems they have moved to Tanchico to dig up an artefact that could be dangerous to Rand. Bot Lan and Rand, both of them romantically entangled by now, are worried about their safety and send Thom Merrilin and Juilin Sandar with them. Something Nynaeve and Elayne do not appreciate.

I said all the main characters were in Tear at the end of The Dragon Reborn. That is not quite true. Min is still in Tar Valon and Siuan has no intention of letting her go after Rand. Her visions are too useful. While Min walks the tower grounds pretending to be the girly, empty-headed Elmindreda, a young woman seeking sanctuary in the tower from two hotheaded suitors, she sees matters in the tower destabilize.

The Shadow Rising may be a big book, there is also an awful lot going on. As usual with Wheel of Time books, a lot of it won’t be important until later books though. Mat for instance, has his encounters with the Aelfinn and Eelfinn. These encounters completely turn him into the gambler, trickster and general in the later book. Some of it seems to have surfaced as early as The Eye of the World, where his old blood sings when he encounters Trollocs for the first time, but the encounter with the Eelfinn completes the transformation. Apart form the memories of other men, it has been speculated they are his ancestors, these encounters also provides him with his power-wrought weapon, his foxhead medallion and the prophecies he is to marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons. All these things prepare him to step out of Rand’s shadow. The waves created by these encounters travel throughout the later books, the Daughter of the Nine Moons for instance, won’t show up until Winter’s Heart.

“Go!” the man shouted. “You have had your answers. You must go before it is too late!”
Abruptly a dozen of the yellow-clad men were around Mat, seeming to appear out of the air, trying to pull him toward the door. He fought with fists, elbows, knees. “What fate? Burn your hearts, what fate?” It was the room itself that pealed, the walls and floor quivering, nearly taking Mat and his attackers off their feet. “What fate?”
The three were on their feet atop the pedestals, and he could not tell which shrieked which answer.
“To marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons!”
“To die and live again, and live once more a part of what was!”
“To give up half the light of the world to save the world!”
Together they howled like steam escaping under pressure. “Go to Rhuidean, son of battles! Go to Rhuidean, trickster! Go, gambler! Go!”

Mat and the Aelfinn – Chapter 15: Into the Doorway

In a way, Rand makes even greater strides. He finds out the history of his people and the story of his parents in this book. The scene in which he enters Rhuidean is a great bit of writing. Through the eyes of Rand’s ancestors we explore the origins of the Aiel, the mysterious Jenn Aiel, the Tinkers, the history of Rhuidean, hints on the guardian of the Eye of the World and the origins of the Aiel War. His experiences in Rhuidean shape Rand’s relationship with to a large extend. It is one of those passages that will probably make more sense during a second reading.

Perrin simply kicks ass in this novel. His rallying of the Two Rivers to rise up to the challenges the region hasn’t faced in centuries is one of probably Perrin’s finest hour in the series (unless he manages to surprise me in A Memory of Light). It will also get him in an awful lot of trouble, but that is a discussion for Lord of Chaos. With Mat, Rand and Perrin all being very prominent in the book there is less emphasis on the female main characters. This will change in The Fires of Heaven where both the ladies will be much more influential. Unfortunately that also means the already… odd… relationship between the genders will be put more on edge in that book. In fact, The Shadow Rising is the last book where it didn’t annoy me that much. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a fair bit of snorting, sniffing, and braid-tugging is this book though.

A number of Forsaken have have shown up in The Dragon Reborn. In this book we get to see a few of those still missing. Although they still are not all accounted for. In later books the Forsaken spend nearly as much time trying to finish each other off as they do trying to make sure Rand won’t fight the last battle for the light. In this book their plots are still rather straightforward. Moghedien in lurking, Lanfear is trying to seduce Rand and Rhavin and Sammael are playing at being Lords of the land. Asmodean shows up as well, setting the stage for one of the most debated questions in the Wheel of Time series. But that riddle is something for later books to look at. Asmodean is odd for one of the Forsaken. Most of them at least go out in a blaze of glory but he just screws up. All things considered he is quite pathetic.

Even with all this action the question whether The Shadow Rising is too long remains. I don’t really think so, or not by much anyway. Jordan manages to weave the four main storylines into a good novel as far as I am concerned. Although not as fast paced as the earlier book he makes good progress in each of them, which is more than can be said for some of the later books. Jordan has shown himself quite capable of handling the four main storylines in this book. The beginning of the novel is a bit slow though, Rand hesitates too long. But then, that was Jordan’s point. This book is a change in direction for Jordan. If you do not like where he is taking it, there really is no point in continuing with the series, if anything, the story becomes even more sprawling than it already is. Still, I think this book shows Jordan is capable of more than he has shown us in the previous entries in the series. Maybe the series, and Jordan’s world-building in particular, is becoming too  ambitious. If it is, it doesn’t show in The Shadow Rings. All things considered, it is a very satisfying read for people who enjoy epic (and yes, that implies it is long) fantasy.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon

Author

Being the third book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. Jordan is still writing at a fast pace at this stage, The Dragon Reborn is published only eleven months after The Great Hunt. I have always felt that the first three are somewhat different from the books that follow. Starting in The Shadow Rising, the storylines become so sprawling and complex that he leaves a lot of them dangling until the next book, or the book after that. The Dragon Reborn is the last book that very clearly contains it’s own story arc and where all the main characters end up in the same place at the end of it.

The opening of the books finds Rand in his makeshift camp somewhere in the Mountains of Mist. He has proclaimed himself the Dragon Reborn, word of his battle with Ba’alzamon in the skies over Falme is spreading quickly. Many have already proclaimed themselves Dragonsworn and more fighting has broken out on the already troubled Almoth Plain. Rand spends most of his time arguing with Moiraine over what to do and trying to control his ability with the One Power. After a raid on the camp by Trollocs during which he can’t control the One Power well enough to be useful Rand decides to set out on his own. Being hounded by Darkfriends Rand is driven to Tear and manipulated into trying to fulfill one of the prophecies of the Dragon. Take Callandor, the sword-that-is-not-a-sword.

After Rand’s disappearance Perrin and Loial join Moiraine and Lan in pursuit of him. Perrin is still coming to terms with his own new-found abilities. His relationship with Moiraine is almost as poor as Rand’s, and deteriorating. Most of Perrin’s adventures in this book seem to be linked to Min’s predictions, the most important being the hawk and falcon one, but also the caged Aiel prophecy. A storyline that is the beginning of the love story between Gaul and Chiad (and Bain I suppose). Jordan seems to have a thing for multiple wife’s stories. It isn’t limited to The Wheel of Time either. There’s another fine example in Cheyenne Raiders. There’s quite bit of the Cheyenne in the Aiel actually.

But back to the plot of The Dragon Reborn, Mat, Egwene, Nyneave and Elayne have returned to Tar Valon under Verin’s guidance. Mat’s health has deteriorated some much Nynaeve fears he is close to death. Upon their arrival the girls find out how much trouble they are in for leaving the tower without permission. The Amyrlin Seat herself sets their punishment, which includes a raising to accepted for Egwene and Elayne. Disobedient they may be, they are also useful for the Amyrlin. Not knowing who she can trust in her own sisterhood she sets the three of them on the trail of the thirteen sisters that revealed themselves the be Black Ajah. It soon becomes apparent the trail leads to Tear.

The Aes Sedai see to Mat’s healing almost as soon as he arrives in the Tower. Since he is the only one of the three t’avern Moiraine discovered still firmly in control of the White Tower, the Amyrlin means to keep it that way. With the excuse he may still be dangerous to his surroundings he is not allowed out of the city. Something Mat doesn’t like at all. Egwene, Nyneave and Elayne are willing to help him escape however, if he will deliver a message to Elyane’s mother, the Queen of Andor.

Jordan again introduces quite a few new elements in his story, if not quite as many as in the previous book. We briefly met the Aiel in The Great Hunt but what they are doing on the wrong side of the Dragonwall remains unclear until this book. There’s hints that the Seafolk are upset, suspicion is unsettling the daily life in the White Tower and in several nations we see the rise of previously unknown lords, Gaebril in Caemlyn, Brend in Illian and Samon in Tear. All things that will become important in later books. The Dragon Reborn is mostly focussed on Rand’s attempt to claim Callandor.

The-sword-that-is-not-a-sword, now that we are on the subject, is one of the most unfortunate descriptions in modern fantasy. Granted, there is no shortage of phallic symbols in the series, if you care to look for them, and most Wheel of Time fans I had the pleasure of meeting in real life a bunch of perverts (yes, I fit right in) but come on, even Jordan must have seen this one coming. The-sword-that-is-not-a-sword drawn by he-who-comes-with-the-dawn. *wince* Ah well, it is an endless source for bawdy jokes I suppose.

The Dragon Reborn is the first book in which Mat gets his point of view. Both Perrin and Rand had quite a few point of view chapters already in the previous two books. Rand receives comparatively little attention in this book but Mat’s character is developed more in the coming books. I suppose that after his exposure to the Shadar Logoth dagger in The Eye of the World Mat was not all that interesting a character. On the other hand a look into the mind of paranoid Mat might have been interesting.

Most sources mention Jordan had a six book series in mind when he started on the project. I have always wondered about that. Arrange things a little differently, have Rand face the Dark One at the end of this book, and you have a very nice fantasy trilogy. It could have been done. Perhaps at one point Jordan thought so too. Maybe that is part of the reason why the later books have a different feel to them. Although part of that no doubt has to do with Jordan’s development as a writer.

I must admit I like the feel of the next book, The Shadow Rising more. And that of The Great Hunt too. The pacing of this book is a lot better than the first two books. Take for instance clumsy climax of The Eye of the World or the middle part of The Great Hunt that drags too much for any but the die hard Wheel of Time fans to really appreciate. The Dragon Reborn keeps a good pace all though the book and delivers a good finale when the characters meet at the Stone. Perhaps a little bit predictable, but then, a lot of people don’t read epic fantasy because they want to be surprised. Somehow this book never quite captivated me though. It is a good read but also a light one. It doesn’t have the many beginnings that make The Great Hunt such a good book to reread, nor does it have the complexity of one of the later novels. So a good entertaining read but Jordan has written better books.

Read/Post Comments

Buy it now on Amazon!

One of the nice things about Modesitt’s long running Recluce series, there are currently 15 books (and there may be a 16th in 2010) is that once you are familiar with the time line you can more or less reread the books in any order you please. No main character has more than two books and they are usually separated by several generations. A reread in a more chronological order than the publication order gives the reader new insights in the overall history of the world of Recluce. Fall of Angels is the sixth book in the publication order but the third in chronological order. It deals with the founding of the state of Westwind, from which the refugees that would found the island nation of Recluce will flee some five centuries later. An event described in The Towers of the Sunset, book two in the publication order.

The book opens in a different universe where a great galactic war between, in terms of the people from the world of Recluce, angels and demons. During one of their frantic battles, using the local equivalents of Order and Chaos, the ship of the main character Nylan, there will be a city on Recluce named after him, is somehow displaced in space and forced to make an emergency landing on the planet. On board are two squads of marines and six officers. Only three of them men. Most of the crafts crew originate from a much colder climate than the word they are about to land on, so they choose a landing site high in the mountains. A region known as the roof of the world.

The local lord and ruler of the city state of Lornth, who claims this territory the angels now occupy, soon finds out about their presence. Not only does he intend to do something about the angels’ trespassing, he also has a fondness for exotic women. The ensuing battle is swift and brutal. The locals are no match for the advanced technology of the angels. Their technology will not last however and they have made an enemy. Ryba, the leader of the angels realizes this. There is no place to run for them, most of the angels could not survive on the lower altitudes. Nylan sets about building the low-tech infrastructure needed to survive in this world, while Ryba attempts to create a new society from scratch. One based on the on the world of Recluce unheard of combinations of feminism and militarism.

Nylan soon finds out he is sensitive to the local order fields, or in terms the Recluce reader may be more familiar with, he is developing the talents of an order mage. The increasing levels of violence the angels need to maintain their foothold clashes with his sense of order. Yet Ryba, cursed by a talent for foresight, insists it is the only way for their new nation to survive. Although Ryba appears to be right Nylan is increasingly uncomfortable under Ryba’s dictatorial rule.

Mixing epic fantasy and hard science fiction is usually a recipe for disaster. To me, there is nothing more annoying than a introducing advanced technology in an otherwise low-tech setting. It usually damages the credibility of the story. Modesitt proves they are not entirely mutually exclusive, he handles this aspect of the story very well. The technological advantage of the angels proves to be hard to maintain. There are hints that both wielders of order and chaos have descended from the stars (or in the case of the angels, crashed) and that both brought technology with them. Modesitt’s order/chaos system puts a big brake the usefulness of powerful machinery though, and on technological development in general. In a way that is a bit of a shame, the series spans so much time that it would have added an extra dimension to see the technological advance in the overall storyline. On the other hand Modesitt is very consistent is his approach, never any quick fixes.

Feminism, or the oppression of women is a frequent theme in Modesitt’s work. It is a bit more outspoken in this novel than in most of his other books I’ve read (close to thirty by now). The way Ryba goes about establishing a society ruled by women does not put it in a particularly flattering light though. Modesitt uses the male/female struggle between Westwind and Lorth (as a proxy of most of the continent of Candar) as a parallel for the struggle between order and chaos, where an in an increasingly polarized conflict more and more force is used but the parties to try and overcome the other. Balance is the key, as Nylan and much of the continent will find out in The Chaos Balance, the next book in the series.

The mages might think of themselves as black and white but the story certainly isn’t. As usual the ethical underpinning of the novel are complex and impressive. One of the lesser aspects of the novel is Nylan’s character development. He admits to one of the other angels, Arylyn, that he is slow to reach conclusions. That is an understatement. Nylan puts up with a lot more than we can reasonably expect him to because of this. Personally I think in the two books with him as the main character there is only one book worth of character development for him. It’s the world building that is the strength of this series.

My issues with Nylan’s character development notwithstanding, Fall of Angels is one of the better books in the series. I have read it several times now, and in my latest reread I still found new details linking this book to the others in the series. According to hints the author has dropped about the next Recluce book, it is going to be linked quite closely to the tale of the angels. Apparently he isn’t done with Westwind’s early years. You’d think that after fifteen books the author would be done with the series but from what I have read of it the next Recluce book looks promising.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon

Author

Published only ten months after The Eye of the World this book is the second entry in Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. I always found it hard to pick a favourite but if I had to, it would probably be The Great Hunt. Jordan lets go of the Lord of the Rings approach he took in The Eye of the World and starts to fully explore his creation in this book. It is the beginning of a great many story lines that will be with us for most of the series. While Jordan spends quite a lot of time building the story and characters he does keep an eye of the coherency of the book itself. I think the climax to The Great Hunt is one of the best endings of a Wheel of Time novel in.

There will be some spoilers for The Eye of the World from this point on. A few minor spoilers to The Great Hunt may creep up in the text below as well.

The Great Hunt begins a few weeks after the events in The Eye of the World. Rand and company are still the guest of Lord Agelmar in Fal Dara. Rand is beginning to accept that he can channel and will most likely go mad before dying a miserable death. He is determined not to end up as a False Dragon in the hands of Aes Sedai though. To protect his friends he is considering leaving everybody and going out into the vast sparsely populated areas between the nations. There at least he can do no damage. Something is keeping him in Fal Dara though and by the time he is finally read to leave he is trapped in the city by the imminent arrival of the Siuan Sanche, Amyrlin Seat herself. An unannounced visit by the head of the Aes Sedai is unheard of, the city is in uproar.

The Amyrlin does not announce the reason of her visit but to Rand it is clear why she is in Shienar. Before the Amyrlin can get to the bottom of Moiriaine’s actions however, and Rand’s part in recent events,  the keep is attacked by Shadowspawn. In the confusion Padan Fain manages to escape and steal the Horn of Valere and the dagger Mat is still linked to. He leaves a cryptic message for Rand written on the wall of the dungeon he was locked in, daring Rand to pursue. With the Amyrlin’s blessing Rand, Mat, Perrin and Loial accompany a group of Shienarans on an expedition to reclaim the horn and dagger. Rand hopes he has finally cut the strings Moiraine has tied to him by leaving Fal Dara. As is turns out, he is more firmly tied to their plots than he imagined.

Egwene and Nynaeve accompany the Aes Sedai back to Tar Valon to begin their training to become Aes Sedai. In the Tower Egwene becomes friends with Elayne, the Daughter-Heir of Andor and meets the Barleon stable hand Min again. Both Nynaeve and Egwene learn quickly and even though Nyneave has to be angry to be able to channel at all, she is raised to Accepted as soon as she enters the tower. Discipine is harsh but both are determined to learn. The sisters in the tower seem on edge. News from the outside world trickles in and it is nothing but war and false dragons. During one of their sparse free days Nynaeve and Elayne are approached by Liandrin and told Rand, Mat and Perrin are in trouble. They are to prepare for a journey to Toman Head to come to their aid. Elayne and Min have overheard the entire thing and decide to join uninvited.

I marked a specific scene in this book, something I rarely do. Every time I read it, it reminds me of the summer of 1999 and the first time I read The Great Hunt.

She was all in white, her dress divided for riding and belted in silver, and her boots, peeking out from under her hems, were tooled in silver, too. Even her saddle was white, and silver-mounted. Her snowy mare, with its arched neck and dainty step, was almost as tall as Rand’s bay. But it was the woman herself — she was perhaps Nynaeve’s age, he thought — who held his eyes. She was tall, for one thing; a hand taller and she could almost look him in the eyes. For another, she was beautiful, ivory-pale skin contrasting sharply with long, night-dark hair and black eyes. He had seen beautiful women. Moiraine was beautiful, if cool, and so was Nynaeve, when her temper did not get the better of her. Egwene, and Elayne, the Daughter-Heir of Andor, were each enough to take a man’s breath. But this woman … His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth; he felt his heart start beating again.
“Your retainers, my Lord?”
Startled, he looked around. Hurin and Loial had joined them. Hurin was staring the way Rand knew he had been, and even the Ogier seemed fascinated. “My friends,” he said. “Loial, and Hurin. My name is Rand. Rand al’Thor.”
“I have never thought of it before,” Loial said abruptly, sounding as if he were talking to himself, “but if there is such a thing as perfect human beauty, in face and form, then you —”
“Loial!” Rand shouted. The Ogier’s ears stiffened in embarrassment. Rand’s own ears were red; Loial’s words had been too close to what he himself was thinking.
The woman laughed musically, but the next instant she was all regal formality, like a queen on her throne. “I am called Selene,” she said.

Rand meets Selene, Chapter 16 – In the Mirror of Darkness

I had a summer job at a mobile phone company that year. Rather boring administrative work. It was made a whole lot more pleasant by Celine, the girl sitting at the desk next to me. She was a student of international law, conversational in French, Spanish and English and very pretty. Oh boy was I in love. So was she, but unfortunately for me with a Spanish law student who would be joining her for a vacation later that summer. I marked that bit for her and let her read it. It made her smile but looking back on it, I suspect she thought the book was rubbish. Almost 10 years on this is a good memory, although at the time I saw it differently of course.

I didn’t catch the reference back during that first reading but Selene is of course a reference an ancient Goddess of the the moon. An obvious clue to the true identity of Selene. The Daughter of the Moon, a particularly nasty piece of work known as Lanfear, one of the Forsaken. In hindsight it may be better Celine didn’t read fantasy.

Apart from fond memories there are other reasons having more to do with the writing why I like this book. For one thing this book is one you can keep reading and rereading. Jordan put so many hints and minor things that will turn out to be important later on in this book that I would advise everybody to go back to it at least once after having finished the series. To give you an example from to prologue of the book:

The man who called himself Bors shivered in spite of himself. Hastily he undid the seals and buckles of his saddlebags and pulled out his usual cloak. In the back of his mind a small voice wondered if the promised power, even the immortality, was worth another meeting like this, but he laughed it down immediately. For that much power, I would praise the Great Lord of the Dark under the Dome of Truth. Remembering the commands given him by Ba’alzamon, he fingered the golden, flaring sun worked on the breast of the white cloak, and the red shepherd’s crook behind the sun, symbol of his office in the world of men, and he almost laughed. There was work, great work, to be done in Tarabon, and on Almoth Plain.

Bors at a gathering of Darkfriends, Prologue – In the Shadow

Although it is clear Bors is a Whitecloak Questioner, we won’t learn Bors’ true identity until the next book. Jordan will follow Bors’ rather painful career as a Darkfriend all the way until The Path of Daggers. There’s number of other beginnings in this book too. The origin of Masema’s obsession with Rand for instance. Rand looses sight of him in The Dragon Reborn but rumours of his deeds can be found in several books. Rumours that make Rand decide to send Perrin to collect him in A Crown of Swords. It the book where Bayle Domon and Egeanin meet each other, the book where Birigitte makes her first appearance, the book where the Aeil and He Who Comes With the Dawn are first mentioned, the book where Rand starts collecting the marks that name him the Dragon Reborn etc. etc. etc.

It is also the book that contains one of my favourite scenes from the entire series, the conversation in which Moiraine confronts Lan with his changing loyalties.

After this, you test me?”
“Not a test, Lan. I spoke plainly, not twisting, and I have done as I said. But at Fal Dara, I began to wonder if you were still wholly with me.” A wariness entered his eyes. Lan, forgive me. I would not have cracked the walls you hold so hard, but I must know. “Why did you do as you did with Rand?” He blinked; it was obviously not what he expected. She knew what he had thought was coming, and she would not let up now that he was off balance. “You brought him to the Amyrlin speaking and acting as a Border lord and a soldier born. It fit, in a way, with what I planned for him, but you and I never spoke of teaching him any of that. Why, Lan?”

Lan and Moiraine, Chapter 22 – Watchers

This scene is probably the seed of the story told in New Spring, in part the story of how Lan and Moiraine met. It exposes the nature of the bond between Warder and Aes Sedai and the precaution Moiraine took turns out to be quite important in The Fires of Heaven.

No book is all good of course and one of the few things that didn’t work for me in this book is Jordan’s time line. In the later books he keeps track of what happens when to whom very well as his cast scatters across the nations. In the earlier books it is a bit of a mess sometimes. In The Eye of the World for instance the scenes taking place between the crossing of the Taren and their arrival in Barleon seems to suggest a week has seven days. In the later books it is ten (some fans are quite fanatical about the Wheel of Time chronology). In The Great Hunt some story lines fast outpace others and to make everybody arrive on time for the climax of the book Jordan skips a few months in one of the story lines (Rand using the Portal Stone). It is probably the biggest leap in the narrative in the entire series and it always felt strange to me. Another thing that didn’t work for me is the cover. I added it to the top section of the article. Have a look, I don’t think I really need to say anything of this subject.

Jordan makes up for it by a great climax, the events at Falme send ripples though the world that will lead Pedron Niall to overreach and entice Elaida to rash actions. Ripples that can be felt throughout the later books in the series. Where Jordan followed in Tolkien’s footsteps in The Eye of the World he is taking off on a journey of his own in The Great Hunt. Much more than the first book in the series does Jordan make the scope of his project clear. From this book on the reader should settle in for the long haul. I suppose for quite a few people this poses a problem. Although The Great Hunt does contain a complete and satisfying story arc, Jordan leaves an awful lot of loose ends in this book to be pursued later on. Especially during the first reading the number of new elements Jordan introduces strikes some readers as too much of a good thing. I certainly appreciated it more after a second reading.

All in all I consider this book to be quite an improvement over The Eye of the World. If that book didn’t convince you to stick with this series The Great Hunt certainly should. It combines the great scope and detailed world of Jordan with the fast pace of the earlier books. Jordan grows as a writer throughout this huge project. Perhaps technically some of the later books are better. For me this is the book where he had me absolutely hooked though. I have a few other books to review first but I will be rereading The Dragon Reborn as soon as I can manage. Look for a review of the third book of the series sometime next month.

Read/Post Comments

Buy it now on Amazon!

Author

The Eye of the World is the first book in Jordan’s hugely successful Wheel of Time series. I don’t know of any other book that has gets so many “this book got me into fantasy” comments as this one. This isn’t true for me. I had already read Tolkien, Feist and Hobb by the time I arrived at Jordan’s work. He had me hooked right from the prologue though and I keep coming back to this book in particular. I must have read this book half a dozen times now. My ever expanding library has put it’s qualities a different perspective over the years, for such a hugely influential work The Eye of the World is a surprisingly mediocre book. But I love it anyway.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

Thus Jordan introduces us to the Wheel of Time and the Two Rivers. The Two Rivers area is a very isolated corner of the world. It is nominally part of the Kingdom of Andor but that nation, like so many others, cannot control the territory it claims on the map. Two Rivers folk have looked after themselves for generations now. Many of them do not know they have a Queen. On the evening before the festival of Bel Tine, the spring festival in the Two Rivers. Rand al’Thor and his father Tam are travelling to the village of Emond’s Field to deliver apple brandy to the local in. Spring may officially be beginning but winter’s hand still lies heavy on the land. It has been a very hard winter and Rand is looking forward to the festival.

Before they reach the village Rand spots a rider cloaked in black behind them on the road. He vanishes when Rand alerts his father. Rand doubts whether the rider was actually there but when they arrive in the village his friends Mat Cauthon and Perrin Aybara have also seen the rider in the past few days. And there is more news, a mysterious lady by the name of Moiraine has arrived, accompanied by the warrior Lan. A Gleeman has also made an appearance at the inn in Emond’s field. And to top it all off the peddler Paddan Fain has arrived with disturbing news from outside the Two Rivers. All of this makes Tam uneasy. They decide to go back to their farm and return to the village for the festival the day after.

That night the farm is attacked by Trollocs, creatures of the dark who have not been seen so far south in millennia. Rand thought them stories only. Both Rand and Tam survive but Tam is wounded and unable to travel. Rand manages to get him to the village only to find it in ruins as well. The Trollocs have raided it too. During the attack Moiraine has revealed herself to be an Aes Sedai, a wielder of the One Power, the force that drives the Wheel of Time. For Moiraine it is clear what the Trollocs were after, Rand, Perrin and Mat. Aes Sedai are much feared and mistrusted throughout the land but she manages to convince the boys the only way to prevent the Trollocs from returning and completely destroying the village is leaving the Two Rivers. She plans to take them to the city that houses the White Tower, Tar Valon, the seat of Aes Sedai power and one of the most beautiful cities west of the Spine of the World.

Tam gives Rand his blessing and in the night a party consisting of Rand, Perrin, Mat, Lan, Moiraine and the innkeeper’s daughter Egwene al’Vere set out for Tar Valon. The gleeman, Thom Merrilin decides to travel with them, for a while at least. During their flight from the Two Rivers they are hunted by Trollocs and worse. When they ford the river Taren, the only place into the Two Rivers they seem save for a while. The boys and Egwene know very little about the outside world but going back does not appear to be an option. In fact their journey has just begun. Meanwhile, the village Wisdom of Emond’s Field will not stand by idly while the four youngsters are being taken away. Nyneave al’Meara sets out in pursuit and thus begins a long journey of her own.

If you read The Eye of the World carefully you will notice large part of the novel are basically a retelling of The Felllowship of the Ring. There are the hobbits (Emond’s Field youngsters), Gandalf (Moiraine), the uncrowned king Aragorn (Lan), the Black Riders (Fades) and even, although not immediately apparent, a Gollum. Jordan never denied this, he set the beginning of his tale in familiar territory for fantasy readers before branching out into his own world. In a way this is an understandable choice. Jordan sets out to tell a highly complex tale, he needs to get his readers on board before really taking off. In another epic fantasy series I like, Steven Erikson’s Malazan books, the author throws you right in the middle of the story and leaves you to piece things together on your own. Erikson’s books are very rewarding but a lot of readers will not make the effort required to get into the book. On the whole I think I prefer Erikson’s approach. Jordan doesn’t really leave familiar territory for the first 300 or so pages of the book. Not until the party (or should I say fellowship) splits up does the story get really interesting.

Of course there’s still a few rough spots further along in the book. Rand and Mat’s adventures travelling down the road to Caemlyn are narrated in what is basically a big flashback. It has been known to confuse readers. Especially the bit right before they reach the city. Personally I think the climax of the book isn’t a marvel of clarity either. After reading a couple Wheel of Time book it starts to make more sense but Jordan’s world and it’s history is so complex that at a first reading it’s pretty hard to grasp the significance of what happens at the Eye of the World.

Jordan has the prologue going for him though. He’s written one of the most intriguing prologues in fantasy (I am referring to the original prologue here, not the Ravens prologue added in the YA edition of The Eye of the World). It deals with Lews Therin Tellamon’s last moments and the creation of the Dragonmount. It’s this prologue and not so much the first part of the book that had me hooked from the very beginning. It hints at a lot of things we’ll learn about in subsequent novels. It’s also the only bit of writing in the entire series to be set well before the main story. It’s one of those bits of writing where you can already see that Jordan is going to take the story far beyond the trilogy format.

In later books it becomes obvious the story has grown way beyond what Jordan planned, originally it was supposed to be six books, now it looks like book 12 is going to be so big it has to be split up in two volumes. The seeds of this expansion are sown in The Eye of the World. I don’t think I noticed it so much in previous reads but Jordan does leave an awful lot of questions unanswered. Apart from introducing us to a number of main characters Jordan also mentions a lot an awful lot of back story and hints at things that will become important later in the books. To give you an example:

“I will give you justice then, Rand al’Thor,” she said. “First, because I have the advantage of Elaida and Gareth in having heard Two Rivers speech when I was young. You have not the look, but if a dim memory can serve me you have the Two Rivers on your tongue.”

Morgase passing judgement on Rand’s trespassing of the Royal gardens, chapter 40.

The only person we know of who has left the Two Rivers before Rand is Tam al’Thor. In later books it becomes clear Tam had quite an adventure during the Aiel War. So there is a possibility Morgase and Tam met. Whether or not they have is still not cleared but I am pretty sure Jordan meant to pursue this at one point or another in his story. Both Morgase and Tam are in Perrin’s company in Knife of Dreams. Maybe we will find out. On the other hand, Jordan could have meant to use it in one of the prequels he intended to write.

Another example:

“Breyan fled with her infant son Isam, and was run down by Trollocs as she rode south with him. No one knows their fate of a certainty, but it can be guessed. I can find pity only for the boy.”

Lord Agelmar telling Lan’s story, chapter 47

We still don’t know Isam’s fate for a certainty but there have been hints (in The Great Hunt in particular). Death in the conventional meaning of the world can be ruled out I guess. It is another one of the riddles Sanderson should shed some light on in A Memory of Light. It has been said that the story grew too large for Jordan to handle because he kept adding characters and story lines. I would argue that a lot of what makes the story branch out so much has it’s roots in the first two books in the series. It’s what makes rereading the early Wheel of Time books so much fun. You keep noticing these little things that will become important in later books.

The Eye of the World is not the best Wheel of Time book in my opinion, but it is the beginning of an epic journey. A journey that, despite all the critism of Jordan’s later books, is still one of the biggest achievements in modern fantasy. After half a dozen reads this book doesn’t bore me and I very much doubt it will after half a dozen more. All things considered it is remarkable how this book, that uses a lot of standard fantasy themes and has a few flaws in the writing, grew to be so popular. I think the of the scope of Jordan’s vision has something to with that. This book makes it clear there is a lot more to discover, this sense of anticipation appeals to me, and most likely to a lot of other people as well. Even though I have read and reread the next couple of books, I still look forward to watching the story unfold again. On to the next book it is! I will be rereading The Great Hunt shortly.

Post Comments Here!

Buy Now At Amazon!

The eleventh book in Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, a series much criticized for unnecessarily dragging the story out. Especially after the last book Crossroads of Twilight, where all progress in the plot seems to grind to a halt. Jordan had already made it clear he intended to finish the series in two more books. Knife of Dreams is definitely take big steps in wrapping up some of the major story lines. On the other hand there’s so many of them that even after this book many people doubted it could be done in just one more. Still, for all those who were disappointed by the slow pace in Crossroads of Twilight, this book is quite something else. I even felt Jordan was rushing some parts of the story.

So, what is everybody up to? Most of the major characters in the series show up in this book. The focus is mostly on Mat and Perrin’s stories but just about the entire cast makes an appearance. I’ll do a quick recap, as usual I will assume you have read up to Crossroads of Twilight, if not there will be spoilers beyond this point.

In an attempt to turn the chains that close Tar Valon’s two harbours into unbreakable cuendillar, effectively sealing the city from the outside world, Egwene has been captured by the Aes Sedai faction lead by Elaida. A prisoner in the Tower, she’s kept dosed with forkroot and has been demoted to novice in order to break the spirit of the rebellion. Egwene’s talent in the world of dreams still enable her to stay in though with her faction though. Determined to reunite the tower, Egwene forbids any rescue attempts. She will try and destabilize Elaida’s rule from within Tar Valon while her army maintains the siege. A plan with painful consequences to those involved, not in the least Egwene herself.

Perrin is still hunting for the Aiel that captured his wife. He has found the Shaido camp and it is quite clear that he is heavily outnumbered. In order to have any chance of success he needs help. The only help available is a Seanchan army located in the area. Perrin is prepared to make a pact with the devil to get Faile out, but even with Seanchan aid, their plan is risky at best. Faile in the mean time, is still determined to escape and prevent Perrin from getting killed in a rescue attempt. While Perrin closes in on the Shaido, her own plans for escape fall into place.

Still travelling with Luca’s circus, Mat is trying to get Tuon and a number of women capable of channelling to safety. He is also still courting Tuon, so far with little success. After a visit to one of the towns the circus passes through, ends in a street fight with a number of dead, Mat decides it is time to leave Luca. After turning away from the main road, Mat’s party soon runs into the Band of the Red Hand. Tuon soon learns there is a lot more to Mat than being Tylin’s Toy. He quickly devises a strategy to deal with the Seanchan forces looking for them.

In Caemlyn, Elayne’s struggle to gain the Lion throne is nearing it’s conclusion. Attacks on the city walls are frequent but so far Elayne has managed to keep control of the city. She still lacks the support of a number of great houses to be crowned queen though. On top of that issue things are far from quite in the city itself. It has been clear for some time now that spies and darkfriends are active in the city as well as the palace. When an opportunity to eliminate some of them arises Elayne can’t resist. A decision that turns out to have far-reaching consequences.

Rand’s company is still staying at a manor house outside Tear, waiting for his deal with the Seanchan to fall into place. Although his presence there is not widely known both Loial’s mother (there will be no more running from his future wife for him) and a large band of Trollocs manage to track him there. In the ensuing battle Lews Therin manages to get hold of the source and afterwards he has trouble concealing that fact. After the battle Nynaeve and Lan decide to split up for the time being. She takes him to the Borderlands and, against his wishes, rallies Malkieri support for his cause. In the mean time Rand’s company prepares to meet the Daughter of the Nine moons and finalize the negotiations. Although they suspect a trap, Rand is unaware of the fact the Daughter of the Nine Moons has gone missing and the Seanchan officials have no idea where she might be.

Without giving away too much of the book, major progress is being made in all important story lines. Mat’s search for the Daughter of the Nine Moons for instance, has been going on since The Shadow Rising. Perrin has been hunting for Faile since The Path of Daggers, the Rebellion against Elaida has been going on since The Fires of Heaven, which is also the book in which Andor looses it’s queen. Not all of these are concluded of course but it is quite clear everybody is getting ready for the Final Battle. With Rand, Perrin, Mat and Elayne all involved in major battles, there’s a lot more action than in previous books.

This push to get things resolved goes at the expense of some detail of course. Where in previous books Jordan took the time to let rumours of the wider world filter though in various story lines, the characters are too busy with their immediate problems to think on this. If you enjoy the plotting and manoeuvring of the previous books, this one may be a bit of a disappointment. It is much more straightforward than the previous book. Personally I thought the emphasis on military action was refreshing after Crossroads of Twilight. I do feel Jordan rushed Rand’s and Mat’s story lines a bit. On the other hand Knife of Dreams is one of the bigger books in the series. I don’t think Jordan was looking to write something as massive as Lord of Chaos or The Shadow Rising again. For a book well over 700 pages it reads quickly.

One detail that caught my attention when I first read this book in 2005 was the fact that Loial gets a (brief) point of view. He’s not one of the main characters perhaps, but certainly an important secondary character. And yet, not once since scaring Rand half to death in the middle of The Eye of the World, has he gotten a point of view. It doesn’t reveal a whole lot about him we didn’t know already but still. I always wondered why Jordan never gave us a Loial point of view before when the number of characters with a point of view in the series must approach triple digits, including a number of characters that can’t even be called secondary.

Despite Loial’s efforts Mat and Egwene are the stars of this book however. Egwene’s composure and determination to undermining Elaida’s rule is some of the best writing Jordan has done in my opinion. It’s only one chapter in the book but it was a highlight for me. Leadership has not turned Egwene into a very likeable character, it is probably a good thing she is freed from the bickering of the rebel Aes Sedai camp for a while. Mat’s story line probably makes the most progress of all major characters. It involves his way with women, the gunpowder riddle, the Aelfinn and Eelfinn mystery and of course quite a bit of fighting. In short many of the things that have made him one of the most popular characters in Jordan’s books. Some of this is seen from the point of view of a number of other characters, adding some interesting insights to his story line.

All in all Knife of Dreams delivers what Crossroads of Twilight lacks. Action, progress in the story, a decent pace. He also hints that the resolving of another few riddles is near. Most prominently the question of whether Moraine is dead or not and if Mazrim Taim is a darkfriend. I wouldn’t call this book the best in the series but Jordan got himself back on track. It may actually be possible to reach a satisfying conclusion in book A Memory of Light. It was a very sad day when I found out Jordan was not going to finish this story himself but this reread has made me look forward to the conclusion none the less. I guess there is nothing for it but to wait and see how well Sanderson handles the material Jordan left behind.

View/post Comments

Buy it from Amazon!

The tenth book in Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. By this point, even when Jordan stated book twelve would be the final one, many readers have given up on the seemingly never ending series. That didn’t prevent Crossroads of Twilight from topping the bestseller lists though. It was published in January 2003, with 26 month wait between Winter’s Heart and Crossroads of Twilight and even in the eyes of many die-hard fans this book was something of a disappointment. Jordan’s verbosity reaches new heights and the progress in the story seems to grind to a complete halt. I always considered Crossroads of Twilight something of an experiment by Jordan. One that did not turn out too well.

On a more personal level the book annoyed me tremendously when the cover almost fell off after one reading. I had a friend get me a signed copy and paid for it to be shipped here. As such it is pretty difficult to replace should it fall apart completely. I’ve had a number of Tor hardcovers which were substandard in quality of the binding but almost falling apart after one reading is ridiculous. But that’s besides the point, let’s stay focussed on the books. A quick recap of what everybody is up to, as usual this contains spoilers up to book nine.

Mat is camped with Luca’s circus outside Ebou Dar, trying to keep his channelling women hidden from the Seanchan and trying to recover from the fact that he has accidentally kidnapped his prophesied bride, the daughter of the nine moons, who happens to be heir to the Seanchan throne. A thread in the pattern that first appeared in The Shadow Rising. The company leaves Ebou Dar behind and sets out at a snail’s pace in the direction of Luggard. On the way Mat finds out about the unusual courtship customs of the Seanchan.

Perrin is still chasing the Shaido who captured Faile. At the moment he is riding through Altara. They have tracked down the Shaido but they appear to vastly outnumber Perrin’s band. Force of arms is not going to free her. While resupplying in the town of So Harbor Perrin encounters another of the bubbles of evil that have recently risen to the surface. So Harbor will have to deal with it’s own problems though, Perrin’s priorities are clear. Faile in the mean time is trying to plan her escape from the Shaido camp. This turns out to be a formidable challenge even with the Shaido’s divisions amongst themselves. She is aware of the number of Shaido however, escape is necessary. Anything to stop Perrin from reckless actions.

Elayne and Aviendha are still trying to secure Elayne’s bid for the throne as well as not undermine Egwene’s position by revealing the bargain with the Seafolk. Outside the city wall a large army of her opponent has gathered but with the channellers being able to let supplies in by Gateway, the city is in no danger of falling any time soon. The throne on the other hand is still far from secure. Her pregnancy (due to Rand’s brief visit in Winter’s Heart) is also causing her problems, interfering with the use of the One Power.

Egewene’s army has arrived at Tar Valon, laying a siege on the city. They are not able to close the city’s harbours though, which means starving the city to surrender is not an option. Egwene is determined to avoid bloodshed however. Action will have to be taken quickly, the tension in the camp is rising and matters don’t improve when Aes Sedai start being murdered with the One Power.

Rand and Nynaeve are largely absent from the book. It has quite a bit of overlap with Winter’s Heart, at the end of which they are busy cleansing the male half of the One Power. In the brief glimpse we get of what Rand is up to after that feat, he sends Bashere to propose a truce with the Seanchan. Rand has been struggling with the problem of how to deal with the Seanchan since first encountering them in The Great Hunt, this change of attitude may well be the most important thing that happens in this novel.

The overlap with Winter’s Heart is probably why this novel doesn’t work very well. Jordan let each of the main plot lines in the book begin on the day Rand and Nynaeve cleanse the male half of the source. A bit of channelling that can be felt all over the world. In doing so he restricts himself and the time frame of the book. Which is not necessarily a bad thing if most of the characters where not busy doing dreadfully boring things. Perrin is going shopping, Egwene is busy exchanging icy glares with Aes Sedai while preparations are being made to take the city of Tar Valon, Elayne is trying to lay the foundation of her rule, in other words meeting with lots of more or less important Andorans and exchanging pleasantries. Even Mat, usually good for some excitement, mostly travels around trying not to be noticed by the Seanchan.

Jordan is obviously setting the stage for the final two books in the series. A lot of what he describes needs to happen, the question is, do you need to write a book about it? Jordan spends chapters on things other authors would handle in a paragraph. That would be bearable if there was some plot movement elsewhere in the novel. There isn’t. Jordan spends well over 600 pages on getting the stage set for the grand finale of the Wheel of Time series. I suppose that you could say we are in the eye of the hurricane here. Or you could say Jordan completely stalled.

Unfortunately the trouble doesn’t stop there, the usual annoyances with Jordan’s work are still present. Foremost of them is juvenile treatment of the relationship between the sexes, as well as the prevailing attitude among many of the world’s inhabitants that anyone who doesn’t agree with them is witless or a primitive. To top it all off Jordan leaves us with a huge cliffhanger, and while I must admit it leads to the strongest part in the next volume, Knife of Dreams, I most certainly did not appreciate it during my first read right after the book was published.

All of that certainly sounds like I didn’t like this book at all. Perhaps that is overstating matters a bit. It is still The Wheel of Time, Jordan does know how to tell a story and his world is a marvel of detail. There are a few specific things in this book I found interesting. Even though he is a minor character, I am curious to see if Rodel Ituralde’s plan actually works. He is the last of the great captains mentioned in the books to make an appearance. Knife of Dreams does not reveal al that much more but one can hope for A Memory of Light. Jordan also introduces the most interesting riddle since the death of Asmodan, is Noal actually Jain Farstrider? Well, actually the question arises in Winter’s Heart but there is no escaping it in this book.

These things are not enough to carry the book of course. This reread was not as hard as the first reading but Crossroads of Twilight is still a book that only the real fans will want to read. After nine books, with the end of the story in sight, there really is no giving up now but Jordan certainly does not make it easy on his readers. All I can say to encourage you to stick with this series is that the story will get back on track in Knife of Dreams.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon!

Since Modesitt writes most of these in pairs I decided to dive straight into the next Recluce novel. The 15th in the overall series and a direct sequel to Natural Ordermage. Like Natural Ordermage Modesitt does not radically change his approach to the series in this novel. In fact, while his choice of main character and setting are interesting give the series a certain new momentum in book 14, I feel he looses some with this novel. Perhaps a bit too much attention for the military campaign. It is still a solid entry into the series though, a bit above average for a Recluce novel.

Rahl, under the tutelage of former triad and experienced Ordermage Taryl, embarks on a campaign to end the rebellion that has sprung up in Meroway. While Rahl was busy surviving the iron mines of Luba and training to become a Mage-Guard the older brother of the emperor has raised an army to seize the throne. Although removed in disgrace as a triad some time ago, Taryl is not about to let that happen. He has plans to stop this rebellion and Rahl is an important part of these plans. He is not about to tell Rahl what they might be though, but given the state Rahl was in when Taryl found him there seems little choice but to follow his lead. Soon Rahl finds his order abilities tested to the very limit in preparation of a military campaign.

Because of the special nature of Rahl’s order talents he often has to learn things the hard way. Where Taryl was once a gentle master, now there don’t seem to be enough hours in a day to fulfil all the tasks Taryl sets him. Even his successes never seem quite enough. With each progressively more challenging obstacle on the way to the final confrontation with the rebellious imperial brother Rahl’s powers grow. But so does his frustration at the increasingly high price the men around him are paying for his education.

As I mentioned in my review of Natural Ordermage, Rahl is an unusual hero of the Recluce books. Unlike most he has something of a mentor to guide him. Not there is much to guide Rahl in, despite growing up he still must find out a lot of things the hard way. Without a doubt Taryl is one of the most interesting supporting characters in the series. He has changes quite a bit by the end of the book. His motives remain unclear until the last moment, adding a bit of mystery to the book. In fact, you could say some of his back story isn’t revealed at all. I liked Taryl quite a bit. Unfortunately he also brings some of Rahl’s less endearing qualities to the surface.

By the end of book 14 I hadn’t quite made up my mind if Rahl would grow up to be someone likeable. I don’t think he has. Taryl mercilessly exposes Rahl’s weaknesses at the end of the book I don’t have the feeling he has quite overcome them. Perhaps that is one of the reasons he ends up where he does. A flawed hero as opposed to a modest one, as we more often see in Modesitt’s work. A lot of people feel Modesitt repeats himself in his novels. He certainly uses and reuses certain themes in his books but he took it in a different direction. Something driven home by the connection with Lorn, the main character in Magi’i of Cyador and Scion of Cyador, Modesitt makes at the end of the book. Rahl does not quite measure up to that standard.

Quite a bit of attention throughout the novel is devoted to Rahl’s love interest Deybri, a healer from Nylan with a thorough disliking of Hamor. Their relationship is complicated to say the least. One of Modesitt’s peculiarities is that he does not write explicit sex scenes ever. At least I have never read any and I have read close to thirty of his books. After the first kiss the camera always discretely fade to black. Most of the romances he describes are a very deep connection with two people that often crosses oceans and overcomes years of separation. While we all like to believe in love like that it was rather refreshing to have a character in the books who is not above getting horny. It keeps this romance at least as being as sickly sweet as the one between Justin and his druid in The Order War. A book I consider a low in the overall series.

One area where this novel hits an absolute low is the cover art (although the cover of The Death of Chaos is a good second). I am not a huge fan of Darrell K. Sweet’s covers, although I did mention the cover of Winter’s Heart favourably. This one however is simply an eyesore. Sweet likes using very bright colours but the green of the grass and the purple clash. At least to my eyes. And that is without getting into the artistic quality of the image itself. One of the worst fantasy covers I have seen in a great while.

Don’t let the cover discourage you however. Mage-Guard of Hamor is a satisfying conclusion to Rahl’s story. It adds some interesting titbits on Cyanor’s influence on the development of the Hamorian empire. I am not aware of any plans to write more Recluce novels but Modesitt certainly leaves himself some options. After a rather weak two books on Karl, Rahl’s unusual qualities managed to renew my interest in this series.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon

Natural Ordermage is the 14th novel in Modesitt’s best know series, the Recluce Saga. The Recluce Saga is somewhat unusual because it published well out of chronological order, with the first novel The Magic of Recluce being the second to last chronologically. The author insists they are to be read in order of publication and I agree with him. At least until you have read the series once. Another unusual aspect of this series is that is shows both sides of the conflict. Modesitt write from the point of view of both order and chaos wielders, elevating the series above the standard good versus evil story. Natural Ordermage and the immediate sequel Mage-Guard of Hamor are chronologically between Colors of Chaos and The Order War. Even if you do not wish to follow the publication order when reading this series Natural Ordermage is not a good point to enter. You’ll quickly get confused in the history of the world and the conflict between order and chaos.

This conflict is the basic theme for all the Recluce novels. Although the origins of the conflict are shrouded in mystery the story seems to start about a century and a half before the events in Magi’i of Cyador, to date the first book chronologically with the founding of the chaos driven empire of Cyador, later to be balanced/oposed by order based nations such as Westwind and Recluse. Order and chaos are carefully balanced and cancel each other out when the free chaos and free order collide. The magic of Recluce seems to be inspired by a number of physical phenomena, one of the more obvious ones being the duality of light, but don’t quite follow the rules of physics as we know them. Any use, or overuse in order results in more free chaos being available for those who are attuned to that kind of magic and vice versa. The balance ensures that the use of order or chaos must be carefully weighed against the consequences of upsetting the balance. Spectacular uses of either power usually results in an equally spectacular backlash.

Some six centuries have passed since the founding of the state of Recluce, a haven for those who follow order. It has become something of a power in the word, especially after the founding of Nylan as related in The Magical Engineer. A council mages carefully sees to it that those who show chaotic tendencies or who misuse order as exiled. Rahl is a young scrivener’s apprentice who is very aware of the fact he has certain order talents. He is very careful to hide them so as not to attract the attention of the council wizards though. Still, he finds his talents useful in being more successful with the local girls and that is what gets him in trouble. He gets one of the young women he has his eyes on pregnant and her family demands they marry. Events soon start to turn heated and after a fight in which Rahl uses his order abilities to defend himself he finds himself facing the council. The verdict is exile to Nylan. In the port city of Recluce’s engineers they handle order differently. Maybe he’ll fit in there.

Rahl soon finds out that he cannot be taught to master his order abilities satisfactory at Nylan either. He is what the mages call a Natural Ordermage. His talents are intuitive, he can do things that takes other mages years of study to accomplish without really understanding what he is doing. This lack of understanding makes him unpredictable. The mages even consider him a danger to his surroundings. All efforts to teach him seem to be futile and after an incident involving a rather big explosion the rules of Nylan order his exile form the port city. He will be sent to Hamor.The powerful, continent spanning Hamorian empire has quite a different view on order and chaos. But again Rahl manages to get into serious trouble. This time it may cost him his life.

The Recluce series has had it’s ups and downs, there’s a couple of good books in this series and a few I didn’t enjoy so much. After the 12th and 13th book in the series, Ordermaster and Wellspring of Chaos, both dealing with the Ordermage Karl, I thought Modesitt didn’t have much more to add to his overall history of Recluce. He explored some continents we hadn’t visited yet but Karl doesn’t seem to have been involved in one of the defining moments in the history of Recluse. In this book we get a few interesting hints though.The story of Rahl seems to be connected to a comment made by the Ordermage Cassius in The Magic of Recluce (the same Cassius as in the story included in Viewpoints Critical). I’ll have to read the next book to be sure but he appears to be referring to the same rebellion mentioned in Natural Ordermage. There are also some hint of a connection between Hamor and the ancient Cydoran empire toppled by Nylan in The Chaos Balance. Hamor is proving to be much more interesting than Nordla and Austra.

The main character of this book and the next, Modesitt has written a lot of the Recluce books in pairs, is somewhat unusual choice for Modesitt. Most of them are somewhat likeable. Not Rahl though, at the opening of the book he is the type that is too clever to lie but cannot to be trusted anyway. If your teenage daughter brought him home you’d try the cleaning-your-shotgun-while-having-a-nice-chat routine on him. If you let him in at all. Rahl grows throughout the novel though. As I mentioned above Rahl is very difficult to teach. He has to find things out for himself, usually the hard way. It shapes his character. I’m not sure if I like him at the end of Natural Ordermage but he certainly did grow up.

When I read the synopsis of Natural Ordermage a while ago I was a bit disappointed that Modesitt chose to write another Recluse book from the point of view of an Ordermage. Only four of the 15 books in the series are written from the chaos point of view. Which leaves a lot of the history of that side of magic unexplored. Both the founding of the White Order and that of Cyador remain a mystery for instance. I enjoyed the chaos books quite a lot so I had hoped Modesitt would add a chapter to those. That being said Natural Ordermage didn’t disappoint me in the least. Unlike the previous two books, which gave me the impression Modesitt was done with the Recluce books, this book is a solid entry into the series. I can think of a number of Recluce novels I enjoyed more and it certainly doesn’t contain any surprises in style, choice of subject or main character, it does add some interesting things to the overall story and sets us up for what could be a very interesting continuation of Rahl’s story. Mage-Guard of Hamor has been released last month in hardcover. I will try to get it reviewed as soon as I get my hands on it.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon!

The ninth book in the Wheel of Time series. Where The Path of Daggers was a disappointment to many readers and definitely not my favourite, thing look a little better in Winter’s Heart. I liked this book a lot. It is a bit faster paced and for a miracle it actually contains a storyline that begins and ends in the same book. With Rand’s story line as the backbone of the book it works a lot better as a novel than The Path of Daggers did. And Mat is back, what more could a Wheel of Time reader ask for?

A quit recap of what everybody is up to. As usual I will assume you have read The Path of Daggers. If not, there will be spoilers beyond this point.

The book opens with Perrin fining out his wife has been taken by the Shaido Aiel. Their timing couldn’t be worse since he was about to turn back east to bring the Prophet to Rand. Instead he ends up chasing the Aiel with his mixed army of Aeil, Mayeners, Cairhienin, Two Rivers’ men, Ghealdinin and the Prophet’s men. An unstable mixed and what is worse, vastly outnumbered by the Aiel. Faile in the mean time, finds out the Shaido have peculiar ways of dealing with their prisoners.

Elayne in the mean time is trying to gain the throne of Andor. In ordinary times the ascension of the Daughter-Heir would have been a formality but Rhavin’s visit to Caemlyn has done a lot of damage (see The Fires of Heaven). Opposition promises to be fierce. She is also distracted by the process of becoming First-Sister to Aviendha in a ceremony that involves nudity and slapping, this book really is off to a good start. To make matters even more complicated the group of channellers she brought with her from Ebou Dar is still in the palace and Rand, whom she hasn’t seen since leaving the Stone of Tear in The Shadow Rising, decides to drop in for a visit.

Mat is still recovering from his injuries sustained during the Seanchan invasion of Ebou Dar at the end of A Crown of Swords. The Seanchan have taken firm control of Ebou Dar despite the beating they received from Rand in the hills east of the city. Mat very much wants to leave but there are complications. Tylin for one, who seems to have adopted the Seanchan ways. He has responsibilities to his people too and even more people needing an exit from Ebou Dar show up when her runs into some old acquaintances. It is time for Mat to cast the dice and when they stop tumbling he runs into the Daughter of the Nine Moons.

Rand is very busy in this book. After the attempt on his life that ruined his apartment in the Sun Palace at the end of The Path or Daggers Rand decides the Asha’man responsible must be killed. Taking only Min he travels to Caemlyn to pick up Lan and Nynaeve and finally face all three women he loves, before setting off for Far Madding. This city is in the possession of a ter’angreal that makes it impossible to channel there for both men and women. A very dangerous place for Rand to be. He hopes to lure his would be Asha’man assassins there to finish them off before implementing his plans to cleanse the male half of the True Source. Cadsuane is in hot pursuit as soon as she finds out where he went.

Egwene is largely absent from this book, preparing to take her army to Tar Valon by gateway. She makes a brief appearance in Elayne’s dreams though.

I won’t say this book is the best in the series but I do think it is slightly unappreciated. Perhaps because it is hemmed in by two of the least popular books in the series. I pretty much like this book from the very beginning. I even like the cover. Darrell K. Sweet’s covers are the reason for much controversy among Wheel of Time fans. Personally I don’t like most of them. He seems to like using too bright colours and the characters are usually in awkward poses. I have no idea what kind of creature inhabits the cover of The Great Hunt for instance, but it certainly isn’t an Ogier as Jordan describes them. The cover of Winter’s Heart is something of an exception though. I depicts Perrin, Annoura, Balwer and Gaul in pursuit of the Shaido. One of the better ones he has produced.

The story itself picks up a little speed again after slowing down significantly in A Crown of Swords and The Path of Daggers. It is not as fast as some of the earlier books but it still moves along at a pleasant pace. Winter’s Heart isn’t overly long either. It is only slightly longer than book 8, the shortest in the series. Jordan gets things done in this book. Rand story line especially manages to give to book the structure that A Path of Daggers lacked. He also resolves a number of things that had been dragging for several books. He even provides a true climax to the books, even if that final scene does leave is us with a number of riddles.

Winter’s Heart is not without it’s flaws though. Perrin’s story line drags. He’s been riding though Prophet and Aiel ravaged lands since A Crown of Swords now and will continue to do so for another two books at least. Berelain making Perrin uncomfortable is only entertaining for so long. Perrin’s story line is the one that makes the least progress in this book but there are several others that don’t progress a lot.

The tensions between the various groups of channellers reach improbably heigts as well. Suspicion is understandable for groups who have jealously guarded their secrets for ages but since everybody seems to believe the Final Battle is indeed approaching one would expect a bit more willingness to cooperate. Winter’s Heart is not particularly heavy on the braid-tugging and icy stares thankfully, but it is grating in some places none the less.

Some readers will find the absence of Egwene a disappointment I suppose. I think Jordan was right to leave her out though. In The Path of Daggers she clearly indicates that she plans to remain for a month at her current location before moving her army to Tar Valon. I don’t think anybody would enjoyed chapters on her struggles with the hall and the logistics of a military campaign.

All in all Winter’s Heart is a more coherent book than Jordan’s previous entry in the Wheel of Time series. I enjoyed reading it when it was published a few years back and this reread confirmed my first impression. This book is a satisfying read for the Wheel of Time fan. It is unfortunate that Jordan doesn’t manage to keep the momentum going in Crossroads of Twilight.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon!

The eight book in the Wheel of Time series. Published in 1998, this book is often mentioned as one of the least favourite among the Wheel of Time fans. By this point both progression in the story and Jordan’s productivity have dropped considerably. There has been a two and a half year gap between A Crown of Swords and The Path of Daggers and it would be another two years before book nine, Winter’s Heart was published. Another disappointment for many fans was that Mat does not appear in this book. Although I do not quite agree with the much heard criticism that nothing happens in this book, I don’t believe I ever read a book in which nothing happens, I can’t say it is a particularly satisfying read.

As with the previous reviews I am going to assume you have read the first seven books and give you an overview of what everybody is up. Which at this point in the story is rather complicated so don’t expect a comprehensive summary.

Anyway, book 1 – 7 spoilers ahead.

Elayne, Nyneave and Aviendha leading a group of Seafolk Windfinders, a group of the Kin and a number of Aes Sedai, escape Ebou Dar just ahead of the Seanchan invasion and travel to the Kin farm some miles outside the city. The Seafolk are eager to fulfil their end of the bargain that has been struck in the previous book and the group sets about changing the unseasonably hot the weather.Their massive use of the One Power attracts the Seanchan and the group has to flee again to escape being leashed. This time an even larger group travels to Andor by gateway where Elayne finally sets about claiming the Lion throne.

Perrin and Faile, with a mixed band of Aiel, Two Rivers men and Mayeners (including Berelain) as well as a number of Aes Sedai and Asha’man, are travelling through Ghealdan in search of the Prophet. Berelain, much the Faile’s chagrin, manages to convince Queen Alliandre of Ghealdan to swear fealty to Perrin, bringing his resurrection of the ancient state of Manatheren one step closer. The Prophet appears to be in Amadicia though so the party travels on to put an end to Masema’s destruction in the name of the Lord Dragon.They find more than the bargained for in Amadicia though. While Perrin is bringing Masema to heel his party runs into one of the scattered bands of Shaido.

Rand in the mean time is settling affairs in Illian. The King Illian has been missing for some time and Rand has accepted the Laurel Crown, or the Crown of Swords as it is know from now on. Apparently wearing it is just as uncomfortable as sitting on the Iron Throne, for those of you who are familiar with Martin. One tends to get cut.
While cleaning up in Illian Rand learns of the Seanchan invasion near Ebou Dar and plans to drive them back again. With a small army of his least loyal subjects, Bashere and a number of Shienaran lancers and several dozen Asha’man Rand departs for the mountain range that separates Illian and Altara and systematically drives the Seanchan. Although Bashere advices against it Rand tries to make a final push for Ebou Dar and for the first time since The Dragon Reborn employs Calandor, the Sword that is not a Sword, to achieve this aim. The result is noting short of disastrous.

Egwene is still struggling to get the Salidar Aes Sedai to accept her as their leader. Their army is still moving at a snail’s pace towards Tar Valon and the Aes Sedai are dragging their heels, hoping for a non-violent solution to the split in the Tower. With an inspired bit of manipulation cooked up between Siuan and herself she tricks the Hall into declaring war on Elaida. By the little know tower law of war this puts the Amyrlin in charge of all affairs relating to the war. Not as much as she would wish but definitely an improvement over the stalemate that held a serious effort to depose Elaida back. Egwene orders a month for rest and preparation after which she means to travel by gateway to Tar Valon and lay siege on the city.

We also find out where the Queen of Saldea has run off to, get a quick glance at several plots by the Forsaken and Darkfriends, learn the fate of Elaida’s unfortunate expedition to destroy the Black Tower and get a brief look of events in the White Tower and Cairhien, where negotiations with the Seafolk have been completed in Rand’s absence.

While the relatively low pace of this book makes it appear longer The Path of Daggers is actually the shortest of the bunch so far. It looks like A Memory of Light will be a lot longer as well. Sanderson is aiming of 400,000 words, which is about the size of Lord of Chaos. The problem with this book, and it appears to be a failing of a lot of other epic fantasy as well, is that Jordan spends so much time building his series that he forgets to put a proper story arc in the individual book. A lot of the book is focussed on the Elayne’s story line and that of Rand. Both provide the book with a climax of sorts I suppose but they appear at odd places in the book. Jordan ends A Crown of Swords with the Seanchan invasion in Ebou Dar, then backtracks some hours to follow Elayne’s departure and the effort to change the weather. What Jordan is really doing here is finish book 7. This overlap between books will get worse later on in the series, Crossroads of Twilight and Winter’s Hart have a lot of overlap, making it hard for the reader to keep the time line straight.

Rand’s part in this book is a bit more action packed this time. In A Crown of Swords he mostly juggles his various interests, now he goes into battle mode. His campaign against the Seanchan in interesting enough. The conclusion is somewhat predictable of course but I guess this was a lesson Rand has to learn. After this battle Jordan goes back to building again for another 120 pages at least though. He ends the book on a dramatic note of course but with an event that is only loosely related to what most of the rest of the book is focussed on (but is important to the plot of Winter’s Heart). It looks to me like he could have provided a better story arc for A Crown of Swords, A Path of Daggers and Winter’s Heart without sacrificing much of story as it is.

This book may be oddly structured and at times a bit long winded, it does have it’s good sides as well. From this point on, we’ll see a lot more of the Seanchan. It has always interested me how various people have dealt with the threat of having a small number of people among them that can wield tremendous power (and use it to rule over the others). The lands between the Spine of the World and the Aryth Ocean have dealt with it by allowing the White Tower to monopolize the One Power. After a turbulent beginning the Aes Sedai have developed the three oaths that severely limits their use of the One Power. The Seanchan have moved in another direction altogether and leashed it’s channellers. Either are quite extreme when you think about it, but logical in a way. Shara also appears to have a repressive policy on the use of the One Power. Looking at Randland from this angle, the Aiel and Seafolk are unusual.

The structure of this book, the absence of one of the main characters and the fact that even after book eight no obvious conclusion the story is in sight frustrate many readers. Jordan keeps expanding his story (by introducing the Borderlander expedition for instance) setting himself an even more impossible task. He finishes very little though. Elayne is still not on the throne, Rand still hasn’t found a way to escape madness, Egwene still isn’t at Tar Valon, Cadsuane is supposed to be important to Rand but it is still unclear how, etc. It’s not that Jordan bores me with this book but he desperately needs to get to the point. I have read worse fantasy books, a lot worse in fact, but by the standard Jordan sets this one is mediocre.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon!

I am enjoying my reread of the later Wheel of Time books, more than I should probably. Because the first five books already had a review on fantasybookspot, I started in the middle of the series. At this point I am considering rereading those as well. Even if A Crown of Swords is where the cracks in Jordan’s work begin to become annoying it was a very enjoyable read. Besides if you held on for this long in the series you ought to be used to Jordan’s peculiarities by now. Not as good as the previous book Lord of Chaos and nowhere near the best in the series, A Crown of Swords is still a decent entry into his series. However, he does make things a lot more difficult for himself by adding more story lines and characters to what is already a rather complicated story.

A quick recap of what everybody is up to… like with Lord of Chaos I can’t really tell you anything meaningfully about the content of the book without assuming you have read up till book six at least. I will do my best not to give too much away but if you haven’t read Lord of Chaos beware, spoilers ahead.

At one point in Lord of Chaos Jordan had most of his main characters gathered in either Cairhien or Salidar. In this book they begin to scatter again though. Rand, in the company of Perrin and Faile returns to Cairhien after escaping from the White Tower Aes Sedai. He finds that in his absence one of the Cairhienin nobles has taken the Sun throne. He punishes Lady Colavere severely for this but the effect is not quite what he was looking for. After that it is back to business for Rand, juggling his various interests as well as finally paying attention to the Seafolk and the rebels in Cairhien and Tear, and of course his plan to get rid of Sammael and conquer Illian. He offer Perrin several positions but Perrin wants to go his own way. Finally, after a staged fight Perrin leaves with a small army to bring the Prophet Masema to heel. He’s been ravaging Gehaldan in the name of the Dragon for some time now.

Mat, Nynaeve, Aveindha and Elayne have arrived in Ebou Dar in search of the bowl of winds. This doesn’t appear to be quite as simple as Elayne and Nynaeve imagined, the Rahad is vast and dangerous. The Aes Sedai already present in Ebou Dar don’t make matters easier either. The situation forces Elayne and Nynaeve to make some uncomfortable decisions regarding Mat, as well as stand up to the Aes Sedai. To complicate matters even further they stumble across an ancient Tower secret, something Egwene will be most interested in. Mat in the mean time, can’t wait to get the lot of them out of Ebou Dar, especially after he is introduced to Queen Tylin of Tarabon. As it happens, he is the last to leave.

Back with the Salidar rebel faction Egwene is trying to consolidate her power of the rebel camp. They are slowly moving north to Tar Valon, gathering an army as they go. The rebels are anything but united though. There seem to be three major currents in the camp, headed by Sheriam, Romanda and Lelaine respectively. Under the surface there is an awful lot more going on though. Egwene exploits some of these minor currents to her advantage but she needs more if she is to become more than a figurehead.

On top of all that Jordan also introduces a new group of channellers (the Kin). He also elaborates on the situation of the Shaido Aiel, the return of the Seanchan, the defeat of the Whitecloaks (and the slaying of one of my favourite secondary characters, Pedron Niall), Elaida’s continued string of poor decisions and various plots by the Forsaken.

You’d think that with all this content the book would be fast paced. Unfortunately it isn’t. Especially the affairs in Ebou Dar, even if a lot of things happen that are important to later books, seem slow at times. It also scatters the reader’s attention in a hundred different directions. Especially the various undertakings of the Forsaken (of whom the Dark One seems to have a steady supply) can be confusing and appear counter-productive in a lot of ways.

I still wonder whether we needed the retelling of the Battle of Dumai’s Wells from the Shaido point of view was really necessary. Or if the introduction of another group of Aes Sedai in the White Tower working on a secret project (or maybe I should call it a witch hunt) is vital to the series. Is Morgase important enough to demand all that attention? And Cadsuane, I certainly hope he has plans with her because she is by far one of the most annoying characters Jordan’s come up with. The introduction of the True Power, this late in the series, doesn’t quite work for me either. The Forsaken are quite formidable enough as it is. In short, the balance between detail and progression of the story has tipped in this book.

That being said, there are some very good parts in A Crown of Swords as well. The argument between Moghedien and Nynaeve reaches spectacular and violent new heights. Probably one of my favourite parts in the series. Brigitte and Mat getting drunk and Elayne suffering the consequences is another great scene and Tylin and Mat are hilarious at times. Rand finally settles his affairs in Illian and leaves us with a number of questions to ponder (who lend him a hand at Shadar Logoth? Where is the king of Illian?). Unfortunately for the reader, most of these events happen towards the end of the book. I suppose you could say Jordan needs a long time to get going in A Crown of Swords.

It’s easy to loose patience with this book and just give up halfway through. In the end I still think it was a rewarding read, in the last hundred or so pages Jordan wraps up a lot of things. Most reader will at this point by in for the long haul anyway. A Crown of Swords book is a test of endurance for the real fan of epic fantasy. Hang in there and you’ll be rewarded with an exciting finale. Which is probably more than you can say for the next book. The Path of Daggers is often named as the least favourite in the series by fans. I will be reviewing book eight in a couple of weeks.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon!

Lord of Chaos is the sixth book in Robert Jordan’s successful Wheel of Time series. I hesitated before taking on this review. As you can see the first five books have been reviewed by TK42ONE and he has a decidedly different view on this series. Where he goes in as a fresh first time reader I have read most Wheel of Time books several times. I have helped run one of the biggest Wheel of Time fan sites on the web, hell, I owe Robert Jordan for meeting my girlfriend. In short I am a fan of this series. That doesn’t mean I feel everything Jordan wrote is gold but I certainly wasn’t ready for a break at book five. In fact, as far as epic fantasy goes, there aren’t that many better books than Lord of Chaos.

By the time Jordan reaches this point in the series, it is such a tangle of story lines that it will be hard for me not to give anything away and still discuss the content in a meaningful way. Obviously I will try to avoid major spoilers but there will inevitably be some. If you haven’t read the series up to book five at least you’ll probably don’t want to continue reading.

At the end of The Fires of Heaven Rand has killed Rahvin in Caemlyn and taken the city. Nynaeve and Elayne have arrived in Salidar where the rebel Aes Sedai faction is gathering and have captured Moghedian, Moiraine and Lanfear have fought their battle of mutual destruction and Jordan has given us one of the most debated riddles of the series, beating the Taimandred debate by a fair margin. Who killed Asmodean? Rand may have established himself as the Dragon Reborn, and a power to be reckoned with, but he has also divided the world. And that, as we will learn in the prologue of book six, is exactly what the Dark One likes to see. He orders the remaining Forsaken to “let the Lord of Chaos rule”.

Rand, as he puts it himself, is juggling for all he’s worth to manage his affairs in Tear, Cairhien and Andor, all of which seem to be on the brink of rebellion. At the same time he is also building up the army that will be the hammer and anvil between which he means to crush the Forsaken Sammael, who has established himself as a major power behind the throne in Illian. Rand’s amnesty for men who can channel has lured Mazrin Taim, one of the false dragons who plagued the world before Rand took the Stone of Tear, to Caemlyn. Rand puts him in charge of the school that will eventually become the Black Tower. With Moiraine gone both factions within the White Tower are trying to tie new strings to Rand, each of them sending him embassies. On top of all that the Seafolk are also demanding his attention.

Egwene is still studying with the Wise Ones to be a Dreamwalker but her time is running out. She is increasingly afraid of someone discovering that she’s been posing as a full sister and when a summons from the Hall of the Tower in Salidar arrives she decides to confess to the Wise Ones. Meeting her toh, as the Aiel put it, turns out the be a painful experience but to her surprise the Hall didn’t summon her back to face charges.

Elayne and Nynaeve are still in Salidar, trying to get as much information out of Moghedien as they can. Their amazing discoveries earn them some privileges but after having been on the road on their own for so long, the restrictions in Salidar are galling. Especially after they discover a hidden ter’angreal that my help them to fix the unseasonably hot weather. To find it they will have to travel to Ebou Dar and the Aes Sedai are having none of it.

Mat is on the road with his Band of the Red Hand to join the army gathering to smash Sammael. He is in no hurry, Rand wants Sammeal to see it coming. Unfortunately for Mat, Rand changes his mind after learning the location of Salidar and sends him over to keep an eye on Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne. Unfortunately for Mat, Rand’s intelligence isn’t quite as accurate as he could wish for.

Perrin and his wife Faile have established himself as Lord and Lady of the two rivers. Many things have changed in this isolated part of Andor but the region appears to be flourishing after the battle of Emond’s Field. Perrin can’t escape being ta’veren however. He soon feels Rand’s pull and sets of with a small party of Two Rivers bowmen to find him. A journey that will take him to his next battle, the climax of Lord of Chaos and in my opinion the best battle scene in the series so far, the battle of Dumai’s Wells.

If you have come this far in the series the conclusion that Jordan is in trouble is inescapable. It is very obvious that he hasn’t planned ahead all that well and that the story has grown way beyond it’s original scope. If you rearrange events in The Dragon Reborn just a little bit, he could have finished it in a trilogy. In The Great Hunt he introduces so many new elements in the story that finishing it in three books was out of the question. The Great Hunt is my favourite book in the series just because it is the beginning of a great many story lines but I will admit it is very hard to tell where all of it is going when you read it for the first time. After The Dragon Reborn the story just keeps on growing to the point where even Jordan couldn’t tell how many more books he’d need. That is also the point where he starts loosing readers. Quite a lot of them give up somewhere between The Shadow Rising and Lord of Chaos.

The point where he actually looses control of the story is a matter of debate of course. I feel that Lord of Chaos is the last book where he manages to keep the story focussed enough to move the plot forward considerably. Even if it does take him a thousand pages. Lord of Chaos has over 30 different point of views, which is probably too much, but for most of the book we still focus on the main characters. Jordan doesn’t spend too much time yet on secondary characters, lengthy descriptions of dresses or braid tugging like he does in his later books. It’s long, complex and certainly not a book for the impatient reader but it is still focussed.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t some things that annoy me of course. The relationship between men and women takes on increasingly ridiculous qualities. I have always felt that some imbalance is to be expected with the male half of the Source tainted but the way these people go about it, it is not surprising the population in their world has been steadily declining. Rand’s arrogance is also becoming quite insufferable and unfortunately it will be several more books before someone finds their spine and does something about it. Lord of Chaos already shows the flaws that will lead to the absolute low of the series, Crossroads of Twilight.

Jordan takes epic fantasy to the edge in terms of complexity, he stresses the attention span of the reader to the maximum and, in my opinion, delivers one of the best epic fantasy novels ever. Unfortunately it also marks the beginning of Jordan’s struggle to keep his story manageable. If this book had been the conclusion of the series Jordan would have been immortal. As it is Lord of Chaos and the challenge Jordan has set himself, paved the way for a number of other epic fantasy series. I don’t think Erikson would have sold his ten volume Malazan series without the Wheel of Time. Or that Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire would have been such a success. The Wheel of Time is a landmark in modern fantasy but also a warning of the pitfalls an author faces when writing such a huge story. Still, the developments later on in the series don’t make me enjoy Lord of Chaos any less. This book is Jordan at the pinnacle of his story telling ability.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon!

Sons of the Oak is the fifth novel in the Runelords series. It is set in a world where attributes such as brawn, wit, stamina or metabolism can be transferred from one person to another using the ancient runelore and forcibles of rare blood metal. The person who gives such an endowment, a dedicate, loses the attribute when the receiver, known as Runelords, exhibit superhuman strength, speed, stamina etc. A warrior with a dozen endowments to his credit thus becomes practically invincible to a common man. Not until his dedicates die will a Runelord become a normal person again, making them valuable to their lord and interesting targets for assassins. The consequences of this concept are disturbing, the economics quite impossible, but this is fantasy, I thought the idea interesting at least. It strikes me as a medieval arms race.

This book is something of a new beginning, though I would not recommend starting here. In the first four books we are told about the struggles of Gaborn Val Orden, the fist Earthking in two thousand years, and his struggles against the Reavers and the powers that control them. Now, nine years on, his many endowments of metabolism have aged him and his wife Iome prematurely. They know they will not live to see their sons Falion and Jaz grow up. Before he dies Gaborn charges Sir Boreson and his wife Myrrima with the care of his two boys. Knowing them in terrible danger, Gaborn manages to send them one last warning before he dies. Run, beyond the ends of the earth is not far enough. And surely enough, as soon as the Earthking dies his enemies try to control or get rid on his nine year old heir. So begins a desperate flight to safety for Falion, Jaz and Boreson’s family.

Falion, the main character of this novel is not your typical nine year old. He is a Son of the Oak, born in a time of plenty under the Earthking’s rule, to a generation that is somehow brighter and more talented than their ancesters, Falion is wise beyond his years. He is very quick to understand the way of the world. His father sensed this in him and realized Falion had greater potential than even he had, both to do evil or good. Throughout the book Falion struggles with good and evil in the world and especially in himself. The book is more or less centred around Falion’s exploration of these themes, we learn very little of the evil that threatens him or it’s motives.

The constant stream of insights into the nature of good and evil make Falion a very unlikely nine year old. I know it fits in the story but Farland overdoes it. There is very little boyish about him. I once wrote on the first Runelords novel The Sum of All Men that the book read like it had had an endowment of metabolism as well. Farland rushed that story on at great speed. I think he rushes here again, but in another way. The world has barely had time to catch it’s breath when the next (too young) hero of the realm stands ready to battle evil. A hero that ought to be severely traumatized by what he’s seen. I was not impressed with the way Farland handled the coming of age of Falion and since there is very little else about this novel, except a rather abrupt break with most of the remaining characters from the previous four books, I am not impressed with this novel as a whole.

Farland uses this book to introduce a new hero and set the stage for an new epic struggle between good and evil. Perhaps that is to be expected in a first book of a new sequence. Unfortunately he does so with an unlikely main character, fighting an unknown evil whose motives remain unclear until the last revelation in the book. A revelation that is almost added as an afterthought. I never considered Farland’s Runelords series five star material but I enjoyed the previous four a lot more. I certainly hope the sixth volume Worldbinder, recently published in hardcover, will be more convincing.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon!

On September 16th, 2007, Robert Jordan, one of the giants of epic fantasy, left us. The biographies in the back of his books said that he intended to write until they nailed shut his coffin, and from what I can tell from his blog that is exactly what he did. Despite that, he left the work for which he will be remembered most by his readers, The Wheel of Time series, unfinished. It looks like A Memory of Light, the 12th and last novel of the series, will be published, although when is still uncertain. Jordan leaves behind an impressive body of work that has been translated into two dozen languages and millions of fans across the world. While by no means universally loved, his work has had a big impact on the genre, so it is no more than fitting that fantasybookspot had a closer look at one of his books.

New Spring: the Novel is a prequel to the series. Originally a novella length version appeared in the 2000 anthology Legends, edited by Robert Silverberg. Later the story was expanded to novel length and published in 2004 after the tenth book of the main series. It was to be the first of three prequels, but it is not clear yet whether the other two will be written.

It was no secret that Jordan was disappointed at the reception of New Spring. Personally I was a bit surprised at the reception of this book as well. It was published the year after Crossroads of Twilight, a novel where all plot movement seemed to grind to a halt. Jordan intended it to be an introduction to The Wheel of Time in its novella form and to be separately readable as a novel. It is therefore not as complex as the books in the main series. For me it was a breath of fresh air in a series that at times seems to be bogged down in its own complexity. I must admit Jordan got things moving again in Knife of Dreams though. But that is hindsight.

A New Spring the novel is a to-the-point, stick-to-the-plan novel. It doesn’t get itself tangled in a myriad of different characters–for instance, Lord of Chaos has over 30 different points of view–nor does it lose itself in lengthy descriptions of a woman’s dress. It is simply a well executed story from The Wheel of Time universe. The story is set some 20 years before the evens described in the main series and starts at the Battle of the Shining Walls. A Foretelling by the Keeper of the Chronicles announces the birth of the Dragon Reborn, a man fated to save the world and break it anew, and is witnessed by two Accepted of the White Tower. Siuan Sanche and Moiraine Damodred are sworn to silence about the matter by the Amyrlin, but events in the Tower soon send them on a quest to find the boy and guide him to the Last Battle where he must fight to save mankind. Events soon take the newly raised Moiraine Sedai out of the Tower to search for the boy. Along the way she weaves al’Lan Mandragoran into her plans. Lan is the uncrowned king of Malkier, a land now tainted by the shadow and swallowed by the Blight. Lan has dedicated his life to battling the Shadow and avenging his nation in the lands north of the inhabited world.

Lan, Moiraine and Siuan are main characters of The Wheel of Time series, and the twenty years of experience have matured them. They are sure of their places in the world. In New Spring, Jordan portrays them as young and inexperienced. Moiriane especially is a lot more fiery than the composed Aes Sedai we meet in The Eye of the World. She shows us just how unusual circumstances are in the Tower when the next generation of initiates enter the Tower in The Great Hunt. A young Moiraine is one of the highlights of the book for me.

As with many prequels it had the disadvantage that the back story is already known to the readers. Jordan includes a number of very interesting things to distract the readers familiar with the rest of The Wheel of Time series from that. For one thing, he includes a raising ritual to Aes Sedai, a ceremony that is never seen in the main story arc. He also gives the reader more insight into the motivation of Moiraine and Lan to guide the Dragon Reborn. One of the other announced prequels would deal with how the two of them showed up in Emond’s Field at the beginning of The Eye of the World. That would probably have put some more pieces of the puzzle in place, but New Spring adds a lot.

So despite the lukewarm reception at the time of its release, I am going to be stubborn and say this is a very well written work. It manages both to provide a proper introduction for new readers as well as to keep things interesting for the experienced The Wheel of Time reader by including hints to riddles in the main series and a glance inside the White Tower in less extraordinary circumstances. As far as prequels go, this is one of the best around. Fantasy has lost a great writer in Robert Jordan.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon!

In Barbara Hambly’s The Ladies of Mandrigyn, Captain Sun Wolf is hired by the women of the City of Mandrigyn to help put an end to the evil festering in the nearby mines and to kill the immortal wizard Altiokis. Sun Wolf is the renowned leader of a mercenary army, but refuses to take on the challenge. Unfortunately for him—and his partner, Starhawk—the ladies of Mandrigyn will not accept “no” for an answer. The leader of the ladies, Sheera Galernas, poisons Sun Wolf and offers him this dilemma: train them as soldiers or die slowly. Starhawk, left behind without any answers, must now set out to rescue him, gaining several interesting traveling companions along the way, ones she’s not sure she can totally trust.

Released at the height of sword and sorcery’s popularity in the 1980s, The Ladies of Mandrigyn has everything one might expect to find in such an adventure: moody protagonist, shadowy evil, large-scale battles with the undead, iniquitous sorcery, years of forgotten history, and so forth. The one refreshing bit of The Ladies of Mandrigyn is the independence of its female characters, how strong they are, and how willingly they will fight to save their husbands condemned to eternal labor in the mines below the city. Hambly’s characters stray away from being just one-dimensional cutouts, and from what it seemed, not many of them are very attractive, both physically and internally.

The Ladies of Mandrigyn is divided between Sun Wolf chapters and Starhawk chapters; in the beginning, Sun Wolf’s were the more engaging, as his being poisoned clearly causes tension from the moment he awakes tied in chains, but towards the middle and end of the book, Starhawk begun to shine as her own character. Her unspoken love for her captain drives each footstep, escalating to a marvelous resolution when she finally reaches him. Hambly’s world is of epic fantasy standards, with city-like locales rampant with towers and dungeons, but her biggest contribution is the touch of authentication during the sword training sessions taught by Sun Wolf. They are realistic and engaging.

The Ladies of Mandrigyn is a strong start in the Sun Wolf and Starhawk series (the remaining books being The Witches of Wenshar and The Dark Hand of Magic) with a fast-paced plot and characters with more depth than the average S&S hero/heroine. The adventure is fun, complete with an actual ending that does its job of closing up all its threads.

View/Post Comments

Buy it now at Amazon!