Genre: epic fantasy
Rating: A-
For: own personal quest to read the series
From: Bought it.
In this, the third book of the continuing Wheel of Time Saga, we follow several characters as they either track down Rand, who seems to be in some sort of crazed stupor, or track down other members of their group who they feel are in major trouble. Wow, how's that for a simplified summary!
Here's a bit more detail for those interested.
Perrin, Loial, Lan and Moiraine are with Rand at the beginning of the book. He is losing control big time and stumbles away from camp in some sort of stupor, being lead by dreams and with one goal in mind, find and get his hands on the crystal sword. (Does anyone see major parallels here with Author and the sword in the stone? Is it intentional?) Min is also with them, but they leave her at the camp and we don't see her again the whole book. I didn't like that! But we follow the rest of them on their adventures as they follow Rand. We are in Perrin's head, which I totally enjoyed. Along they way the add another member to their party, a girl, who turns Perrin into a mass of mumbling awkwardness. I loved it! We are so teased by this new relationship and I want more!
Meanwhile, the girls are having their own struggle in the White Tower and the Amyrlin sends them on a quest of their own to figure out who the bad Aes Sedai are (those who turned to the Dark Side in book 2 and now everyone is all in a dither!) They themselves, have sent Mat (who is recovering from the episode of the bad dagger) on his own quest to deliver a letter to Elayne's mom so she won't get mad again about Elayne being out and about. In the process, he learns that they, the girls themselves are in big time trouble too and so he is off to the rescue.
So everyone is all separated going on these different journeys. We alternate from being in Perrin's head, to Mat's, to Egwene's. Once or twice, we get a glimpse of Rand and his dreams, but not much. It was interesting to have a book where Rand wasn't in it much, yet he is still the driving force behind the whole thing.
My further thoughts (with possible mini spoilers):
-- I continue to love Perrin. Partly it may be because of my wolf fascination too. Interesting storyline he has going. And I love that he now has a love interest! Keeping my fingers crossed there!
-- Mat is funny and I enjoy him too. I love picturing the fights he has with the staff. In my head, it's very very cool. Still waiting for his love interest to show up.
-- I missed the sparks between Lan and Nynaeve in this book. Maybe more next book?
-- I really really missed Min too. But funny, I didn't miss Rand that much. Hmmmm.... strange.
-- The book was very slow in parts this go around. I had a big break from it right in the middle and not sure that was because of summer distractions, reading mood, or what. But I'm not blaming the book much really because once I decided to really concentrate on it, I could hardly put it down.
-- The climatic ending was once again a perfect nail biter! And strange to read this right after seeing Inception, because wouldn't you know it, the two had many many similarities! I know, craziness! But believe me, they did.
-- I'm seeing lots of Star Wars similarities too. Like the scene where Mat shows up in the cell of the three girls and says "I'm here to rescue you!" Love it.
-- Oh, and I enjoyed getting to know some Aiel characters finally. They seem pretty cool too and I hope we see much more of them to come.
Well, I guess that's about where I should end on my ramblings of this book. And now I've finished the boxed set I owned, and must find/buy/borrow/ to continue on with the series! On with The Quest! :)
Bottom line: I loved it.
Other Reviews:
Kay's Bookshelf
Punkadiddle
Rob's Blog o' Stuff
Polishing Mud Balls
You know, oddly enough Perrin and Mat seem the most "real" in this series to me. Rand, while being one (if not the) most important character in the series seems rather colorless (in my opinion) compared to his companions.
ReplyDeleteI need to do another series re-read.
That being said, I'm always SO afraid to say anything that can even remotely be seen as a criticism about this series because the fan boys and girls out there seem to take everything so incredibly seriously.
I enjoy reading your opinions of the book. This series seems to have been lauded as a fantasy cornerstone. I'm always interested in reading opinions from others.
DH would LOVE me if I read this series. :) Maaybe. Someday?
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love fantasy I have never read Jordan. Your review has piqued my interest though. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI know I like Perrin partly for the wolf stuff. It was when he and Egwene were on their own...the wolf stuff...in Eye of the World ...this was when I really started liking him.
ReplyDeleteI do think Mat using a quaterstaff is very cool as well. Mat seems to be a good fighter, and that is one aspect that I do like about him. I just wish he would get off of all that luck stuff.
see...naynaeve really soured in this book for me so now...I am not even certain I want HER to be with Lan. I think he needs more than her...most defintly not Moiraine though.
I want MORE of Lan....period.
I missed Min too. I wonder what will be up with her.
As far as the dreams go...I have been reading other stuff that speaks of dreams, and found it rather cool that what I am reading...totally different from one another...are connecting via the dream stuff.
Ah...the Aiel...I really like that group of people. I was thinking about this yesterday...they are the down to earth type people. No holds bar...you get what you see...not hiding. wehreas, I feel like the Aei Sedai are manipulators, and feel a bit more like those type of people you know who seek to give a good appearance, and are not up front...down to earth with you. What do you think? Do you get what I am saying? Do you agree?
What are your plans, if you have any, with reading forward in this series? I am going to try and read one book per month...or so...maybe a month off here and there in order for me to get a few of my other chunkster type books read.
I have expressed to you already...I am glad that you are currently reading this series....love reading your posts, and discussing these books with you.
Sarah: Thanks for the comments. I do agree that Mat and Perrin are coming into their own. I'm such a newbie to this series that I have no clue how popular it is out there in the world, but I do believe you in the fact the fans are... fanatic. :)
ReplyDeleteHolly: I WISH I could get my DH to read them.
Jan: Well, like Sarah above says, this is on of those cornerstone fantasy series. You just may have to try it.
Ibeeg: Yes, I totally agree with you on the whole Aiel thing. I'm so glad we finally got to see a little what they are about in this book.
So, my plans. I wanted to get through the series this year, but now we are more than half way and I've just read three. But I like to give it a little break in between books, so my plans are pretty much like yours actually, just kinda read when I'm in the mood for them, which will probably be about once a month or every other, or so! Gosh, that was nice a vague.
Yes! I think we will have a blast reading these together!
I LOVE that I got you into this series - YAY! I'm and really enjoying the conversation between you and ibeeg. Now I have to go check out ibeeg's reviews!
ReplyDeleteI got sucked into this series back in the day and read up until Book 6 (which was all there was at the time). I know I need to go back and reread them all ... but they are so big!!!! Argh .. what to do???
ReplyDelete