November 2022 Reading Round Up

November still had a linger of horror to start, but it the month saw traipses through fantasy, horror, and science fiction. I didn’t post any reviews to SFFWorld in November, but all the reviews I posted in October made up for that, I’d hope. However, two books I read in November will end up being reviewed for SFFWorld (The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu which posts tomorrow 12/6 and The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal which will post 12/13) so as usual, I’ll focus on the other books I read.

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia kicked off November in a great way. I’d read the author’s 80s love letter, Signal to Noise a few years ago and had my eye on this book for a while, especially since Tor Nightfire acquired the rights and wrapped the pages in a gorgeous cover by John Picacio. 

Garcia plays with vampire mythology and noir in this fantastic novel set in Mexico City. A young man named Domingo finds himself drawn to vampire Atl and despite her attempts at pushing him away, he continues to find her. Vampires are real and very much a part of the world in Garcia’s novel, although they aren’t quite welcome in Mexico City. Atl and her Doberman are on the run from a gang of “Necro” vampires led by Nick, who has a long-held grudge against Atl. 

I loved how the relationship between Domingo (not quite a “Renfield”) and Atl played out over the course of the novel. He was bright and optimistic, she a bit closed off (understandably). What I enjoyed even more was the deep vampire mythology Garcia built for this novel. It isn’t in your face world-building, rather, the backbone of the story that informs the conflicts Atl is forced to deal with in her life.

Certain Dark Things is an immediate classic vampire novel. 

The book that took up the most significant portion of my reading time in November was Chuck Wendig’s Wayward, the sequel to his epic apocalyptic Wanderers. Chuck picks up those threads and weaves a powerful, gripping story of how the survivors of a plague-apocalypse (White Mask) try to survive as humanity with the “help” of an extremely powerful and convincing AI (Black Swan) who helped to “hand pick” a select group of people and protect them from the plague as a last hope for humaity. Picking up about five years after the events of Wanderers, Chuck keeps the pace addictive over the course of the novels lengthy 800 pages. There’s a sense of anger in this novel that is completely believable, especially with the returning characters like Shana Stewart and “President” Ed Creel, though scientist Benji Ray and rocker Pete Corley balance out that anger with signs of hope. 

There’s something about “road stories” and “apocalyptic” stories that work so well when brought together, traversing a barren landscape with potential dangers out of sight makes for great storytelling. That’s one strong element of the Wayward and I again felt resonance with Robert McCammon’s Swan Song. In fact, characters in Wayward specifically called out Swan Song.

There’s also the Very Good Dog Gumball, who along with Radar from Stephen King’s Fairy Tale are co-winners of the goodest dog of the year. Many authors try to tell stories from the point of view of dogs, not all of them succeed, Chuck does. 

Chuck did a pre-release signing at the Doylestown Bookshop the Saturday before the book published, with the bookshop about an hour away from me, there was no way I was going to miss it even though I chatted with Chuck at NY Comic Con. 

In the end, Wayward was a fantastic novel, I was consumed by it for the week-and-a-half I was reading it. Never did I want to leave, never did the novel drag, never did things happen in the novel that didn’t make sense even if what unfolded over the course of the novel was not what I expected. I was surprised by where the story went, and at times even scared by a lot of what the characters had to confront. 

Put simply, a fantastic novel. 

On the audio side of things, I dipped into another V.E. Schwab novel, This Savage Song, the first of Monsters of Verity duology. Set in a world where monsters are real, the story focuses on two young characters – Kate Harker, daughter of a powerful monster hunter who oversees on portion of the city and August Flynn, adopted son of man who runs another portion of the city.

I've read a good handful of novels by Schwab and what I enjoyed in those novels was on display here - deft characterization. Kate and August felt real, genuine, and I wanted to believe them. I also appreciated Schwab's world-building especially when it comes to the various monsters who live in this world side-by-side with humans. She balances the details with the elements that are mysteries to the readers but taken for granted by the characters very well.

Lastly, I started (and am still listening to) A Crown of Swords, the seventh Wheel of Time novel. I was trucking along pretty well diving into Randland on an almost monthly basis for the first portion of the year, but it was July when I finished the preceding installment, Lord of Chaos. At this point, what can I say about a Wheel of Time novel. I knew this book is where many fans of the series see the "slog" creeping in, but so far I'm feeling very comfortable back in the world. It has been just over a decade since I re-read this book so this makes the audio version I'm currently consuming the third time I'm reading the book. 

That's it for November 2022!

April 2022 Reading Round Up

Books, I read books. I read lots of books. 

I read a few books in April, one of which is a May release. I’ll be posting my review to SFFWorld on May 3, the day of publication. I also posted a couple of book reviews in April, books I read in March: The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne, the spectacular second entry in his Norse-inspired Bloodsworn saga. Bottom line: this is shaping up to be a stellar fantasy saga. The other book review was T. Kingfisher’s Nettle & Bone a modern take on the tried and true fairy tale about the princess who wants to marry the prince. In the case of this delightful novel, a princess wants to kill the prince. I highly recommend this one, too. 

On the audiobook front, the entire month was consumed joyfully with book four of The Wheel of Time, The Fires of Heaven wonderfully narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. I continued with my descent into the Horror genre with two gems from small presses. 

John F.D. Taff’s The Fearing, which was originally published in serialized format as short novels/novellas, much like Stephen King’s The Green Mile. Grey Matter Press released a “Definitive Edition”/omnibus slightly re-worked by Taff to be more of a novel. Boy-howdy did I enjoy this book. In it, all the fears of the world have been unleashed and it is up to a handful of characters to figure out how to navigate this world in the midst of transforming. Seemingly at the head of this release of fears is a man named Adam. Taff follows Adam’s journey across America and his affect on the people he encounters along with a few groups of characters who manage to survive the catastrophies and monsters unleashed in the world. 

Have I said I loved this book? Well, Robert R. McCammon’s Swan Song, Stephen King’s The Stand, and Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers now have another book joining them on my proverbial top shelf of Epic, Apocalyptic Horror. Love the cover on this one, too. 

Gwendolyn Kiste’s  The Rust Maidens received the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel and it has been appearing on several lists when I'm looking for a good creepy read. 

Set in 1980, Kiste paints a very bleak picture of a Cleveland manufacturing town in the process of dying. The factory which employs the majority of men in town may be closing or cutting back. Phoebe is our protagonist who is returning to town when her mother is about to move from the family home and the area is even more rundown in 2008 than it was in the 1980. Phoebe is powerfully devoted to her friends, even when they exhibit strange maladies like leaking water, glass fingernails, and showing metal bones. Kiste does a fantastic job with character and place in this novel. I could have used a little bit more of an explanation of why these girls were transformed, but sometimes in life, things happen without explanation. I’ll be reading more from Gwendolyn Kiste in the future. 

Unfortunately, one book did not work for me and it is from an author whose work I typically adore. Seanan McGuire’s Season Fears is the “companion” novel to her masterpiece, Middlegame. I found the book to be an overwrought world-building exercise, with one of the main characters taking far too long to actually believe what was happening. The plot momentum was extremely sluggish and everything was bogged down with dense, complicated, and confusing world building.

...and that's a wrap for my April Readings

A Memory of Light and Captain Vorpatril's Alliance

Two reviews to mention today at SFFWorld, one from me and the other from Mark…

Seems as if my reviewing will be at a slower pace this year, because we are in the last week in January and I’m posting only my second book review to SFFWorld (my third overall this year). The book in question is probably one of the more polarizing novels that will be published in 2013 and I found two sides of my brain battling while reading the book and composing the review. Without further ado, here’s my review of A Memory of Light, the final Wheel of Time novel, 14th in main sequence and 15th overall:

A Memory of Light is one of the larger novels in the series, clocking in at just over 900 pages in hardcover and at times, unfortunately, the story feels every bit of those 900 pages. Like all prior Wheel of Time installments, this one begins with a prologue, in this case detailing the fall of Caemlyn, highlighting the heroics of Talmanes, the man who was given command of Mat’s Band of the Red Hand. The early portion of the novel is setting the table for Tarmon Gai’don as it is depicted in the chapter entitled “The Last Battle.” Where the novel succeeds the most, for me, is in the character beats for a many of the primary characters. Rand came across as believable, Egwene’s heroics were possibly the highlight of the novel for me, Perrin’s storyline was a bit drawn, Mat’s leadership abilities in battle were on full display and Lan’s scenes, especially his Crowning Moment of Awesome was just that, awesome. 

…

Other elements, didn’t work so well, unfortunately. For all the build-up and tension surrounding the return of Moiraine in Towers of Midnight her presence in the final volume was minimal. "The Last Battle" chapter was vaunted prior to release for containing so many words (it is indeed large enough to be a novel unto itself) and so many view points, but ultimately I found it to be tedious. The battlefield movements and elements in this chapter paralleled, to a degree, Rand al’Thor’s more symbolic and metaphorical confrontation with the Dark One in Shayol Ghul. These more philosophical scenes, I found, worked better as a culmination of –some– of the themes of the series .

Mark caught up with the latest in one of his favorite SF series Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold:

For those versed in the Vorkosigan series, we have come across the titular Captain Ivan Vorpatril before, mainly in Brothers in Arms (the hostage used to draw Miles out) and most recently in A Civil Campaign (with Lady Donna Vorrutyer, an ex-lover of Ivan, who becomes Dono). Ivan is second cousin to Imperial troubleshooter Miles Vorkosigan, often referred to in a joking way by Miles as “Ivan, you idiot!” In Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, Ivan is generally happy with his relatively uneventful bachelor's life of a staff officer to a Barrayaran admiral. However, when asked by old friend Byerly Vorrutyer to investigate for Barrayaran Intelligence Tej, a young Jackson’s Whole refugee on a hitlist for a Komarrean crime syndicate, life gets complicated. Ivan finds himself actually held hostage by Tej and her companion Rish, and then finds out that they’re about to be assassinated. Further revelations show that Tej is actually Princess Akuti Tejaswini Jyoti ghem Estif Arqua, whose parents seem to have been killed as part of a coup on Jackson’s Whole. 

…

This is a lively episode in the Saga. It’s all rather James Bond-ian, but with Lois’s intelligence and humour, both important elements of this series, the series seems regenerated. Because this is not focused on Miles, there seems to be a lot more going on, and Lois takes full advantage of the situation, with Ivan being able to do things that Miles can’t do. .

Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

So, The Towers of Midnight, the PENULTIMATE volume of The Wheel of Time, what can I say about it that many, many, many, many other folks haven’t already said? My opinions, is what I have and can say that may mirror others opinions but still is my own. Like my previous posts about books in the series, this is post is much more of a reaction than a critical review of the book.

While the cover for The Gathering Storm is atrocious, there's a vast improvement in this piece for Sweet.  For the most part, and by the artist's standards on previous volumes, is an accurate depiction of a portentous and momentous scene in the novel.

To the words of the book...In The Towers of Midnight, two of the longest-running plotlilnes finally come to conclusion, which is why I’ve been internally calling this installment “Perrin Stops Whining and Grabs His Balls.” So yeah, after much struggle to accept the mantle of leadership his people have thrust upon him despite his protests, Perrin relents. Like many of the WOT storylines that have seemed interminable over the course of the series, this one had far too many bumps in the road, but the culmination of this as Perrin and Neald forge the power-wrought war-hammer Mah'alleinir in one of the more evocative scenes in the series, which is why, I suppose, the scene was chosen for the eBook cover.

The other, even more interminable, storyline that closed up was Elayne finally taking the throne in Cairhien. Of Rand’s three love interests, I always found her the most boring, to be quite honest. Elayne and her mother were also reunited after Morgase spent quite a bit of time disguised in Perrin’s camp. Surprisingly, I enjoyed many of the scenes where Morgase played an important role – playing the arbiter between Perrin and the Whitecloaks, giving her daughter her seal of approval, and whacking some sense into her dullard sons, though Galad’s character progression worked pretty well here, too. From being an adversary to Perrin to a begrudging and respected ally, I thought, worked pretty well.

While I realize the chapters focusing on Aviendha were important to the Aiel elements of the novel these scenes just didn’t connect with me. I guess one of the other things I’ve come to realize through this re-read and catch-up with The Wheel of Time is that Min is clearly my favorite of Rand’s three ladies.

Rand was more of a tertiary character here and not a POV character, but that made his scenes effective as other characters could see the changes resulting from the powerful scene that closed out the previous volume, The Gathering Storm.

I haven’t even mentioned what most fans of the series were likely most eager to see occur in this volume – Mat’s rescue of Moiraine, especially since the revelation of her letter to Thom in Knife of Dreams. The trailer released featured Moiraine and her parallels to Gandalf led many to believe her disappearance battling Lanfear was not the last appearance of the Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah. Much of this rescue mission in the land of the *Finns had a creepy atmosphere that would work in a horror novel. The minor backsteps Mat’s characterization took in the previous volume were nearly balanced by his near ‘recovery’ of character voice here in Towers of Midnight. 

In summation, I really enjoyed Towers of Midnight despite some if its flaws (Gawyn as perhaps the dumbest character, in that he is flat out stubbornly stupid; the continued annoying speech patterns of Bayle Domon and the Illianers) primarily because of Perrin’s storyline (crafting of Mah'alleinir, respect from Galad, his blocking of BALEFIRE!!) and the rescue of Moiraine.

Bring on Tarmon Gai’don!!!

The Gathering Storm - Wheel of Time Re-Read

So, my Wheel of Time re-read turned into a catch-up/first read with Knife of Dreams and I realize the last Wheel of Time novel about which I blogged was The Path of Daggers and that’s likely because it was the last one I enjoyed more than I didn’t. That changes drastically with The Gathering Storm, easily the best Wheel of Time novel since A Crown of Swords (a book I enjoyed a great deal more upon my second reading of it).

When it was announced that Brandon Sanderson was handed the reigns of The Wheel of Time to write (at the time) the final book, there was of course a great deal of chattering on the intarwebs, and even more when it was announced that rather than a final volume, we’d have three final volumes with The Gathering Storm being the first of those three.

As with previous volumes, the book debuted at #1 on The New York Times bestseller list. On the other hand, the cover of the book is widely considered not only the absolute worst in the entire series (which is saying a lot if one considers Lord of Chaos and Crossroads of Twilight) or as Adam states: “This is easily the worst cover art put on a book from a reputable, big publishers in the 21st Century.” Thankfully for readers, Brandon Sanderson put his heart into the novel and gave readers and fans of The Wheel of Time a novel they deserved and wanted for years. A novel that resolved one of the major plot points of the series. That plot point of course is the ‘reforging’ of Tar Valon and the White Tower under the leadership of Egwene Al’ Vere (who as of this novel might be my favorite character in the series) as the one true Amyrlin Seat. The Gathering Storm also gives Egwene her total Crowning Moment of Awesome.

Just like the announcement that Brandon was picking up the reigns of writing the series reinvigorated my enthusiasm to revisit the series as it drew to a close, so does that actual book reinvigorate my enjoyment of the series. Nobody is perfect and The Gathering Storm isn’t without its shortcomings. The one pointed out the most, from what I’ve seen, is the character slippage of Mat Cauthon, one of the series’ fan favorites. It is hard to argue that Mat isn’t quite himself; or rather, he takes a few steps back in his advancement though perhaps this devolvement could be seen as reaction to being contained by Tuon for so long.

Rand’s descent into madness continues with every chapter in which he appears to the point he balefires an entire building full of people in trying to eliminate the Forsaken Graendal once he passes his Despair Event Horizon and balefires Semirhage. He continues to become more frustrated, feeling more of a leashed creature put into a box and I can’t help but blame Cadsuane a great deal since she was perhaps the most annoying character in this book for me. I’d slightly warmed to her in Knife of Dreams but here, I couldn’t stand her and like Skylar pushed Walter White with her henpecking in the early episodes of Breaking Bad, Cadsuane pushed Rand into being more of a paranoid jerk-ass. Rand’s character progression throughout The Gathering Storm made the ending of the novel extremely rewarding.

As noted, Mat didn’t seem to work quite as well and while Cadsuane annoyed me that was her character’s intention as I see it. The character who annoyed me the most; however, was Gawyn he really seemed to serve no purpose other than the Annoyer.

All told, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed the novel. I expected that I’d enjoy it, after all, I’ve enjoyed the series as a whole and everything I’ve read by Brandon Sanderson to this point. But more importantly shit gets real and things get resolved. To call Brandon's take over of The Wheel of Time based on this novel a huge success is selling short just how good a job he did with the book.

On to Towers of Midnight next week then A Memory of Light

The Path of Daggers - The Wheel of Time Re-Read

Here we are, well here I am, with The Path of Daggers which is of course the eighth book of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. While it isn’t a terrible book, it is the weakest book in the series up to this point. Although Jordan overlaid a great level of detail in previous installments, here in The Path of Daggers those details border on obsessive bloat.  This does not bode well for future books in the series (he says knowingly). 

The Path of Daggers is an important book in the series for me personally, one that I recall reading quite well even if some of the plot details don't stick so strongly in my memory. For starters, it was the first installment of the series I bought new upon publication (much like Leigh Butler, curator of The Wheel of Time Re-read). While I was able to get other books on remainder shelves in hardcover at Barnes and Noble (The Fires of Heaven and Lord of Chaos), in my frenetic reading of the series it was The Path of Daggers for which I anticipated its new release. It is also the first installment to reach #1 on The New York Times bestseller list, a string that has continued with each consecutive installment since. Furthermore, I  remember reading the book so well because I was on Jury Duty at the time of the book's publication (the first of three times I was called to perform my civic duty and each time in a different NJ County over the past 15 years) and one of my fellow jurors was just starting to read The Wheel of Time.

I remarked on the cover Sweet provided for A Crown of Swords, so I’ll do the same here since The Path of Daggers has Sweet’s best cover for the series. Rand looks…like Rand should look and the scene on the cover actually happened in the book. It is a majestic, grandiose cover and is bittersweet since it shows that Sweet really was able to put together a great cover. The eBook cover, while very eye-catching in how well it captures a scene in the book, strikes me as the cover of an X-Men comic (with Elayne as Jean Grey, Nynaeve as perhaps Psylocke, and Avihenda as a slightly demure looking Emma Frost). Then again,  our primary characters can really be considered superheroes.

Anyway, the book itself does feature events important to the overall story arc I enjoyed even if some sifting through the details was required.

The power trio of Elayne, Nynaeve, and Aviendha use the Bowl of Winds, the Macguffin of A Crown of Swords after much bickering with the Atha'an Miere aka The Sea Folk. Elayne later claims the throne Andor despite her mother being secretly alive and under the guise of another name.

Rand is a loony dickhead with a crazed demigod living in his head. We saw trickles of Lews Therin previously, but here Rand seriously questions his own sanity. Of course my gal Min (and maybe Davram Bashir who Rand says is the only person he can trust) is the only one who can keep him grounded.

The Seanchan finally invade and Jordan shows even more of their brutal society. I think The Path of Daggers, up to this point, provides the largest percentage of the books' narrative from the Seanchan point of view in the series to this point. It is not pleasant and illustrates, along with Padan Fain, the many obstacles not specifically related to Shaitan to the Light's hoped-for victory at Tarmon Gai'don. 

Rand’s storylilne interweaves with the Seanchan when their armies clash in a bout of great chaos which is brought to a close by Rand’s ill-advised use of the terangel Callandor. The effects are devastating both to Rand and the armies involved. The character of Cadsuane makes another appearance in an attempt to admonish Rand. I realize Cadsuane grates on quite a few fans/readers of the series, but I find here interesting.

The storyline that worked best for me was Egwene further cementing herself as the true Amyrlin Seat. Not comfortable or satisfied with being a puppet to other sisters, she takes bold, public steps to ensure her authority is not questioned. Previously I found her storyline not quite as compelling as the other characters initially from the Two Rivers, but I think Jordan stepped up her story a bit more in The Path of Daggers. At least she's much more than a simple Aes Sedai and will play nearly as crucial a role in the lead up to the end as will Rand.

Perrin’s POV took up a good portion of the novel, too. His frustration with the Wise Ones can be seen as a parallel to reader’s frustrations with those characters. More than any other character, I’ve long pegged Perrin as “our” eye in the series, a regular guy adjusting to irregular circumstances. Sure Rand is in the same situation, but as the Savior and Dragon Reborn he soon becomes “Other” and difficult for us to identify with as closely as we can with Perrin. 

Perrin’s frustrations are much more relatable since his problems involve real people, both from his home and those outside the circle of people he knows.  Conversely, Rand is a man of the world, the global leader of the Forces of Light. Although Jordan does convey empathy for Rand’s plight fairly well in some instances, there’s still a distance between the reader and Rand that isn’t present with Perrin. Additionally, though Mat is more of "a regular guy" than Rand, his luck and all prophecies surrounding him also create a distance from the "regular guy" mold that Perrin embodies. Not surprising since the gods after which he is modeled, Perun and Thor, are considered gods of the common man. This type of myth-matching and resonance is one of my favorite elements of The Wheel of Time.

Perhaps the most disheartening aspect of this book, is of course the absence of Matrim Cauthon whose fate at the end of A Crown of Swords was seriously in question. A chapter midway through the installment was emblazoned with the dice icon that had long been associated with Mat; unfortunately, it did not announce his appearance but rather the import of luck and members his army The Band of the Red Hand, particularly Talmanes Delovinde.

In a nutshell, The Path of Daggers is a book where important things happen, but you have to get through some more gristle than is comfortable to digest in order to get to the meat.  Engaging parts that don't add up to the sum of the whole all told, but I am still enjoying this re-read being and enmeshed in Randland a great deal.

A Crown of Swords - Wheel of Time Re-Read

Wherein I post my latest installment of my Wheel of Time re-read (and once I hit Crossroads of Twilight read through for the first time) in anticipation of A Memory of Light publishing in January 2013. As I intimated in a past post, I’d initially read the series immediately after graduating college back in 1997 and alternated a book in this series with another book from my then-quite small Mount Toberead, which was probably more like Knoll Toberead. If I want to catch up with the remaining six novels in the series prior to the release of A Memory of Light, I’ll have to implement a similar reading plan. If nothing else, I am looking forward to tackling this series again for the first time.

Anyway, off to my ‘reaction’ to A Crown of Swords

Almost a year after reading book six in The Wheel of Time (Lord of Chaos), I dive back into the pattern with A Crown of Swords. I know the late cover artist Darrell K. Sweet has been criticized heavily (and sometimes rightfully so, just look at the of Lord of Chaos), there were times when he captured something pretty well and I think that’s the case with A Crown of Swords. Granted, Rand looks likes he’s flexing for the reader, but I like the creepy feel of Shadar Logoth and for once, Sweet gets the Trolloc correct as a monster-headed human rather than a man in a horned helmet.

What about words/story in the book? Well, I’ll admit that A Crown of Swords might be the book I remember the least from my initial reading of the series over a decade ago. Maybe that is due, in part, to how large of an impact the events in other books felt when compared to this one (The Shadow Rising has Rand enter Rhuidean and receive the Dragon markings on his while Mat is hanged, in The Shadow Rising, Moiraine “dies” and Lord of Chaos features the battle of Dumai Wells). Or maybe the glossing over of A Crown of Swords is because I read it so fast, but re-reading it helped me to enjoy it a great deal more than I recalled and it turns out some significant events occur here.

For starters, the characters who feature the most in this are Mat, Egwene, Perrin, Rand and Nynaeve. The two characters who have risen in my estimation during the course of this re-read is Mat and as previously mentioned Nynaeve. Unfortunately, when these two characters on the page together interacting, the scenes are a bit frustrating. They butt heads all the time to the point where it is almost irrationally unbelievable. But, reading through one of Leigh Butler’s terrific pieces on her Re-Read project sort of cast things into a different light, that Mat managed to pinpoint some nerves with Nynaeve early in the story and since, then Nyn’s been a bit fearful of the man with luck.

One of the more uncomfortable elements in this novel is the whole Mat-Tylin ‘relationship’ which can be seen as Tylin raping Mat. In none-too-uncertain terms, she forces him at knife-point to sleep with her. On one hand, Jordan has continually alluded to Mat being – as the kids’ say these days – a playa’ yo. Here with Tylin, he’s the quarry and she’s the pursuer, which turns the tables a bit. He does say no, however. The ladies reaction, Nynaeave and Elayne, is derision which casts a lot of the gender relationships in WOT into question.

One of the better scenes was when Mat and Birgitte realized they could be drinking buddies. For some reason, I thought they’d met previously but that was really only in passing in The Great Hunt. Hell, a majority of the top scenes in this installment involve Mat, not the least of which is the conclusion to his storyline with the gals as they finally retrieve the Bowl of Winds. His determination to protect Elayne and see the mission through to its end is what elevated him above Perrin in my eyes. It also doesn’t help Perrin’s case that his relationship with Faile begins to annoy in this volume.

Rand’s power really starts to go to his head with good and not-so-good consequences, he becomes much more headstrong in A Crown of Swords and the weight of the world begins to wear him down. Of course it doesn’t help that he’s hearing the voice of Lews Therin in his head. Still, his anger towards the Aes Sedai is a blazing fire when the novel opens but becomes more tempered thanks to Perrin and Min. Of the three ‘wives of Rand al’Thor’ I think Min is the one whom I’ve enjoyed the most. Of the three, if I were Rand, Min is the one with whom I try to devote the most time Her playfulness with Rand has always been a strong point and she’s the one who grounds him the most, I think.

That cover image I mentioned before? Yeah, as I said if Sweet doesn’t necessarily capture some of the specifics perfectly, I think it captures the mood perfectly of Rand’s encounter with Sammael and the darkness of Shadar Logoth. The events preceding that encounter whereby Padan Fain re-ignites Rand’s abdominal wound during an attack from creatures of the dark, of course, contrasts his prideful boasts and wish to show off. Cadsuane also takes charge, along with Asha'man in healing Rand. Once healed, Rand and the Asha’man head to Shadar Logoth to take care of Sammael.

Jordan also continues to show the parallel development of the two new Amyrlin Seats – Elaida and Egwene. Both begin to believe more in themselves, but the results couldn’t be more different. Where Egwene’s development is more of becoming who she is supposed to be in realizing her true power and abilities, Elaida’s descent into a power-trip induced delusion continues. The largest evidence for Elaida’s thinning grip on sanity and reality is the fact that she wishes to build her personal tower in Tar Valon larger than that of the White Tower.

Some of the things I glossed over included the Aiel scenes and the Perrin/Faile stuff; A Crown of Swords is again really where Mat surpassed Perrin in my estimation. Even some of the scenes with Elaida and Egwene were glossed over a bit this time ‘round. On the whole, A Crown of Swords turned out to be a very solid entry in the series.So, this turned out to be a very enjoyable read for me that might likely because I’d forgotten so much of what happened. Again, more than a decade since I first read the book, probably about fifteen years now that I reconsider. Things were accomplished in this volume: Quest for Magic Object – DONE. Hero falls then defeats villain – DONE. Character Development – CONTINUING. Foundation for future volumes: CONTINUING.  All in all, a very enjoyable read and reacquantance with Randland.

On to The Path of Daggers in a couple of weeks. 

As always, Leigh Butler's Re-Read is great whilst reading through the books, as are The Wheel of Time Wiki and Adam Whitehead's (The Wertzone) extensive posts on The Wheel of Time, including his own Story So Far posts.

Sniffing, Healing, and Being Raised to the Seat - Lord of Chaos

For the uninitiated, Lord of Chaos is book number six in The Wheel of Time. This is an entry in the series, that looking back on it now (seventeen!) years later, some consider the book where Robert Jordan’s indulgence in exposition becomes ever more problematic.

For my part, I originally read the book about 13 years ago (1997 – 1998 ish) in a catch-up series of reads for the Wheel of Time where I’d rotate a WOT book in with my other reading. I remember really liking Lord of Chaos having built off the events of Fires of Heaven. The novel starts out with a lengthy prologue setting the table, what I got out of it is how the Forsaken are shown to tremble at the power of the Dark One both despite of their infighting and as the impetus to much of their infighting.

Then the novel proper begins and early on, we meet a character who has been spoken about fairly often and has gone one to be one of the more controversial characters in the series – Mazrim Taim. The exchanges/scenes when both Taim and Rand are ‘on page’ worked very well for me, showing promise of big things to come, not the least of which is the beginnings of the Black Tower, where the male channelers are to be trained. These scenes also illustrated Taim's frustration with Rand.

Then RJ switches over to the girl's power trio (or one of the female power trios) of Elayne, Egwene, and Nynaeve. Well, Egwene is undergoing training with the Aiel Wisewomen, which is a stand-in for her Aes Sedai training. Elayne and Nynaeve are still dithering about with the leashed Moghedien. I can sum up those chapters (and a fair portion of the book) as follows, using Nynaeave:

Sniff…sniff…braid-tug…sniff…braid-tug..sniff sniff...braid-tug...sniff-sniff..random fish metaphor...SOMETHING AWESOME.

Granted many of the ladies in Randland are guilty of the sniffing, and to say it becomes very pronounced in this volume is a kindness.

That something awesome is the momentous event of Nynaeave healing the previously stilled Logain Ablar, something many of the Aes Sedai thought impossible. Ablair is an interesting character for many reasons. He claims to be a Red Ajah political puppet set up to be False Dragon and Min foreshadows that he goes on to do great things. He also mentions having seen Rand in Camelyn, hinting that Logain can se Ta’Veren. For the moments I read of him in Lord of Chaos, I was intrigued and wanted to read more about him.

As I’ve said in my other discussions of my WOT re-read, Nynaeve is a character I’ve come to respect a lot more. However, here in Lord of Chaos is where the braid-tugging trait/character tick gets tiresome. That having been said, what I’ve been liking about her character is how she cuts through a lot of the bullshit, especially the haughtiness of the Aes Sedai. So for her to have a great watershed moment like healing a stilled man was rewarding. A bit too much sniffing and braid-tugging preceded it; however.


Egwene, up to this point in the saga, was something of a furniture piece getting shuffled about and trapped as the girl in peril. With her training under the Wise Ones, her power begins to shine and WHAM she’s made the Amyrlin Seat nearly 2/3 into the book. It was a surprise on one hand, but she’s gone through the training, has the power, seems an impressionable age for other Aes Sedai to use her as a puppet. Early on in her ‘reign’ as the Amyrlin, it becomes clear she may not be one have her strings pulled. Lest people forget she also is a Mayor’s daughter, so she spent many years first hand learning how to govern, even if she didn’t realize it.

Mat doesn’t get enough page time in this book, though when he does he vacillates between stubborn hot-headed jerk and father-in-the making with Olver. He and Rand share some good scenes, though my favorite (which does come to bite him in the ass) is when he yells at the aforementioned Power Trio. Lots of pigheadedness to go ‘round in that whole scene, but still kind of entertaining nonetheless, IMHO.

The early portions focusing on Rand, however, were perhaps the most enjoyable portions of the novel. Lews Therin's voice grows and the burden of what Rand needs to do and the constant juggling is starting wear on his patience, thoughts, bearing, and sanity. What is as powerful is Moiraine's absence. Rand doesn't say it so much, but his actions speak that he misses having her around.

I’m about 175 pages (in the original hardcover) from the end, so I know the proverbial shit has yet to hit the fan. I’m enjoying the ride quite a bit, despite the wordiness, sniffing, and braid tugging. Lord of Chaos would not have suffered, nay it would have benefitted, from a substantial trimming of details, but it still holds up as a fun read where BIG STUFF happens.


Of course as I read and finish each chapter, I've been going back to Leigh Butler's AWESOME re-read of the series, as well as the Wheel of Time Wiki.

Lord of Chaos, WOT Re-Read

I didn't even realize it when I cracked open Lord of Chaos yesterday or today until getting onto teh intarwebs, but has been four years since Robert Jordan passed away. Eerie timing for me to continue my Wheel of Time re-read, having paused in the re-read project with The Fires of Heaven way back in July 2010. I'm only a few chapters into it and I'm really enjoying having just gone through the first meeting of Rand al'Thor and Mazrim Taim.

The Dragon Reborn - Mat Reborn

My Wheel of Time re-read is continuing as I finished The Dragon Reborn today and damn was it enjoyable. Jordan split up his main characters in this ‘episode’ more than the previous two books and at this point one can really see the individual story threads for the Two Rivers irregulars beginning to take shape.

One thing I continue to discover is what a solid character Nynaeve is. Or at least what a solid character she was through these three books. At this point, her “Three Investigators” team with Elayne and Egwene is proving to be an industrious and, if sometimes stubborn, triumvirate.

Although the novel is indeed titled The Dragon Reborn, very little is seen of Rand. This does not diminish his power by any means. If anything, it shows how powerful a ta’veren he really is. His presence, whether contemplative or exuding power, is the specter that drives everything the action of the book. From Perrin’s wolfdreams, to Egwene’s travels in Tel'aran'rhiod to Mat’s dreams as well.

Rand not being in the book as much really allowed both Mat and Perrin grow as characters. Out from the influence of the Shadar Logoth Dagger, Matt has blossomed into an extremely fun character, a trickster one might say. Although depth was added to Perrin’s character, I wouldn’t hesitate to consider The Dragon Reborn Mat’s novel. He continually says he isn’t a hero, but his actions speak much louder as he continually attempts to do what is right. Another element about that becomes abundantly clear is his amazing luck, whether in dicing or grappling with an opponent falling off of a building.

Moiraine also shows just how powerful and Aes Sedai she is in the concluding pages of the novel. It is in this novel she steps out of the shadow, at least in a small way, from her mentor predecessors in the genre.

When Rand finally proclaims himself The Dragon Reborn, it is a terrifically satisfying scene. The bits we did see of him throughout the novel he was brooding and pained with the power thrust upon him. It was a great moment of realization when he made the proclamation.

One thought was circling through my head as the novel was winding down and now upon reflection. Knowing how the saga has its ups and downs later in the book, I wonder if Jordan ever thought of wrapping things up in this volume. Certainly, there are plot points that converge here that build upon the earlier two volumes. Maybe a few edits here, merging a couple of plot points and Wheel of Time could have easily finished its life here as a trilogy. Granted, a lot of greatness is in future volumes, but would cinematic adaptation ever happen, there’s a very satisfying way to condense things I think. Blasphemy as a WOT fan, I know.

Regardless, I enjoyed the hell out of the novel, especially the last third or so of it. As I've repeatedly said, it's been well over 10 years since I first read these books so I'm wondering how much my current enjoyment matches my initial enjoyment. Regardless, I'm grasping why I was pulled into these books so much.

I'll be jumping into at least The Shadow Rising before the next WOT break.

Blowing the Horn

The second stop in my Wheel of Time re-read concluded with The Great Hunt a couple of days ago. Starting from the ending, I’ll say two books in that Jordan shows a skilled hand at crafting endings that balance closure with promise of things to come.

I’m beginning to realize just how much of this series I’ve forgotten over the years, which I feel is a good thing. Well, what I remember is generalities and it is interesting and fun to compare that with the specifics of the story. I forgot how annoying Mat was in these two books. Granted, he was a heavily cursed individual, but up until he blew the Horn of Valere, I wasn’t too miffed when Jordan chose not to focus the story on him.

I also find myself continuing to not hate Nynaeave. Her intelligence and flat out dedication to her roots – The Emond’s Field irregulars one might say – help to keep her focused and accomplish important things.

The Seanchan are a wicked gang of people and Jordan nicely conveys their alien-ness to the people of Randland. The threat was hinted at for much of the book, but when Bayle Domon first encounters them on the sea, their power is immediately felt. Later, Jordan reveals the truth behind their channelers – Damane.



I would have liked to see more of Moiraine and Lan in the latter half of the book, but Jordan did introduce more Aes Sedai to offset that.

The closing chapters of the novel has a reveal that works almost as well as the Amyrlin Seat telling Rand he is the Dragon Reborn. This reveal, of course, is Lanfear revealing herself. Good, powerful and to the point.

As I hinted at in my last WOT post, I’m taking a bit of a break from the re-read before jumping into The Dragon Reborn.

Getting Horny with the Wheel

While tEotW served as an introduction to the primary characters smaller scale people of The Wheel of Time, The Great Hunt might be considered an introduction to the politics, nations, and geopolitical powers of Randland.

Jordan starts the book off with a prologue, setting the reader smack dab in the middle of a Darkfriends meeting. The story proper then picks up right with the anticipated arrival of the Amyrilin Seat. Rand does everything to alienate his friends so they will leave him alone – he wants to keep them away from the dangerous person he sees himself becoming. It becomes a bit grating after a bit.

The Horn of Valere is stolen by Padan Fain and we are given the main quest of the novel – the heroes must retrieve the Horn so it’s powers of calling the Great Hunt.

The best chapter of the book, and maybe the entire series, is aptly titles The Dragon Reborn where Rand is tapped on the shoulder and told he’s humanity’s savior. The entire scene, from what Moiraine reveals about his birth and infantile journey to the Two Rivers, to the Amyrlin Seat flatly, and matter-of-factly, tells Rand al’Thor he is The Dragon Reborn. It was a perfectly played scene.

When Rand, Hurin, and Loial make camp near a strange stone they wake up the next day in a washed out world. They have traveled to a apocalyptically flavored world where they encounter giant bear-toads with three eyes and a mysterious woman named Selene.

Jordan’s ability to give scenes power and gravitas are on full display in The Great Hunt. The mythic air of what is happening to these characters is really taking shape. The portal stones are interesting conceits of what-if worlds. It also starts to become clear how much of a scope Jordan has informing the world and the series.

I may take a break every two or three books in the series to catch up with review books. That remains to be seen.

The Eye Closes and Loial Friends Meet

One down, eleven to go. I finished up The Eye of the World over the weekend and came across two chapters that really stand out as cruxes of the series. The first is when Rand falls over the wall and is taken in by Elayne. The viewing Elaida gives Rand really drives away any doubt that he, of the three young men from the Two Rivers, Rand is the one at the center of the story. The hints before, especially from Loial, of his true heritage and even in the chapter with Elaida of his look and how the heron marked sword ‘fit him’ were only the tip of the iceberg.

Loial is one of my favorite supporting characters in the series and revisiting his first meeting with Rand was one point I was looking forward to re-reading. In a sense, Loial might be our eyes and ears in the saga. The sense of wonder and reverence he evokes when talking of the events adds an extra layer of resonance. Loial is a good contrast to Moiraine world in a different way than Moirane.

Loial is also a good example of a twist on genre conventions in the series. His species, Ogier, is awfully similar to Ogre. More often than not, ogres are big, dumb and tend toward the evil side of things. Sure Loial, and all Ogiers for that matter, are large and not easy on the eyes – a fact made clear by Rand’s reaction, and later his companions’s, blurting out Trolloc. If anything, Loial is gentle, quite proper and gentlemanly, extremely bright, curious and a perfect traveling companion.

In the last portion of the book, Jordan introduces the Way gates and an even darker sense of horror than he did with Shadar Logoth. Some really good scenes of dread.

One thing I realized about Jordan’s writing, at least here in The Eye of the World, is that he’s more subtle than he becomes later in the books. At the least, more subtle than he gets credit for being. The scenes when Rand channels, for example, can be interpreted in different ways – when he heals Bela and when Rand and Mat escape from Gode at The Dancing Cartman (Hella Sweet!). It isn't blatantly clear that Rand healed Bela, it could otherwise be read that she gave one last burst of energy. Horses do that in horse races all the time. When Rand and Mat escape, a storm was going on outside. At least they were traveling in a storm before entering The Dancing Cartman. In hindsight, the events are very clear, but reading along not knowing anything, Jordan nicely made the scenes duplicitous.

Though my memory of Nynaeave in the later books is not too fond, here in the first book she is at least somewhat sympathetic. Her first concern is for the “boys” and she doesn’t want Moiraine to harm them. Like all the Two Rivers folk, Nynaeave suffers from that short-sighted small town mentality. It serves them well in daily life, but has a tendency to make them seem foolish when confronted with the facts that contradict their preconceived notions.

All told, The Eye of the World one of the best opening volumes to a multi-volume fantasy sagas written. While there is closure, in a sense, Jordan gives us a lot to look forward to with The Eye of the World. My re-reading of the novel only helped me to appreciate it more.

On to The Great Hunt!

Carai an Caldazar and Blackout Reviewed

Thanks to Adam for bringing something to my attentionn that my obvious lack of math skills didn’t – this year is the 20th Anniversary of the publication of The Wheel of Time. I hadn’t made that connection when I began my re-read of the series on Friday with The Eye of the World, but it is a neat case of serendipity. One might even say a case of the Wheel weaving a thread of the Great Pattern.

I finished up to Chapter 19 last night, Shadow’s Waiting where the Three Stooges of the Two Rivers meet up with Mordeth. They seemed awfully quick to spill the beans to him, after being tightlipped in Baerlon, which was a bit on the unplausible side. I do like the background narrative we learn about the destruction and ruined city of Shadar Logoth.

Nynaeave first comes into play as a prominent character a couple of chapters before the above with her first braid pull. Knowing now that she and Lan come together, it is interesting to note that he does show her respect initially, at least in a different way than the Two Rivers people and even Moiraine.

In Baerlon, we also meet with the god-awful Children of the Light for the first time. They just get in the way of everything, and it shows that there is more to the world than just the Dark One and those fighting against him on Rand/Moiraine’s side.

I also like how Jordan titles each chapter, too.

I posted Dan’s review of Connie Willis’s Blackout, today which he seemed to enjoy quite a bit:

So, what do we get in this tale? We get a rich look at 1940s England, in the city and the countryside. We get an up close and personal view of Dunkirk. We get a good review of medical facilities and practices in the 1940s, e.g., how does one break the fever associated with measles without antibiotics? We get a marvelous description of life in the tubes and shelters during air raids and the behavior and character of the Londoner. We are also introduced to four singular time travelers with all their accomplishments and failings. Sometimes, we think that folk from 2060 ought to be more aware of the world around them and how to deal with it but, then, we ourselves are forgetting they are operating in a world of 120 years ago. 120 years ago today, we’d be hard pressed to recognize all the ins and outs of 1890s daily life.

A Wind Rose in the Mountains of Mist

I started my anticipated Wheel of Time re-read tonight, a bit behind the one going on Tor.com and some other blog/fan sites (or Brandon Sanderson himself). I don’t know exactly what I’ll be writing in these posts or how often they’ll go up here at the o’ Stuff.

This will be the first time in about a decade that I’ve read a Wheel of Time novel, and more than that for The Eye of the World in particular. With any such re-reading, of course, characters actions later in the series will be viewed in a different light when we first meet them.

So … on rides the dragon.

I’ve re-read Dragonmount, the prologue a few times and it still works pretty well. Jordan conveys a guy going ape-shit nuts at the end of all things nicely. In the first chapter, we see the first hints of the gender divide between the Village Council.

I also get the early sense of Mat as a Trickster and the air of frustration surrounding Nynaeve and I haven’t even ‘met’ her in the book yet. She has a presence in her absence. There’s a very down home feel to the first few pages, which happens while the village of Hobbitom er excuse me ….Two Rivers prepares for the Elventy-First…Bel Tine fest. Yes, I know Jordan deliberately evoked Tolkien in the early portion of the novel, I kid because I care.

I think I’m going to have fun re-reading this series.