[Books] The Wheel of Time: A Crown of Swords
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, and Age long past, a wind rose in the great forest called Braem Wood. 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.
"A Crown of Swords" marks the halfway point in my journey through the story of "The Wheel of Time". But it doesn't feel that way at all, either in terms of the story itself, or my enjoyment of it. After brief slowdown with the previous volume (occasioned by my going on holiday for two weeks, without space to takes giant books), I'm back to rattling through roughly 50-75 pages a night. A measure of my enjoyment can be found in the fact that I've re-established a bad reading habit, namely jumping ahead of where I've got to and reading a little bit! I haven't done that in years...
So, first things first. Can we kill Nynaeve yet? Seriously, she has to be the most irritating character I've ever come across. She's a bossy know-it-all, and hypocritical to boot. I just wish.....ugh. Matt isn't much better, but I did prefer him in this book to the previous occasion on which he got lots of page time. Maybe it's because he was being forced to do something he didn't want to, and then bullied into not doing it when he got there, but he did come across as slightly more sympathetic.
Robert Jordan finally seems to have given up on all pretence at having each book be a stand-alone, self-contained story as well as an entry in a longer epic. In fairness that was becoming increasingly obvious several volumes ago, but this was really where it became blindingly obvious. He also seems to have given up on the idea of a massive battle to finish each book, but not on the entire of a climactic fight entirely. This book does end with a fight, but it's a shorter, more strategic, one-on-one affair between Rand and Sammael. It's a bit of an anticlimax really - clearly a lot of planning has gone into it to avoid too much destruction in Illian, and too many civilian casualties. But unlike with a lot of the preceding story, as a reader I felt as surprised by this turn of events as the other characters in the book. It sort of popped out of nowhere very suddenly that Rand was ready to go, and then the duel itself wasn't much to write about. But I can't help feel that Sammael is still out there after the ambiguous ending.
Beyond that the sheer scope of the story is starting to become staggering, and the number of separate plot points and story lines to keep track of is growing. No wonder that everything is taking longer (in page count terms) now! Plus there are several new layers of intrigue added this book. Of note are the White Tower story, where Elaida and Alviarin are finally openly at odds with each other, but only in front of each other, the Shaido Aiel story where Sevanna (who really reminds me of Elaida actually in many ways) still getting involved in things way over her head, and an interesting little paragraph involving the unusual Myrddraal Shaidar Haran. But possibly the most interesting involves a new character, Moridin, and the revelation that as well as Saidar and Saidin, there's a 'True Power' which sits outside of both of them, is stronger than both, and has the ability to go outside the pattern of the Wheel of Time. Quite where Moridin has come from, or what his motivations are, remains to be seen, but I have a feeling he's going to become quite important.
I've made it sound like not much gets resolved other than Rand finally going after Sammael, but that's very much not the case. Another major plot point is resolved - Nynaeve and Elayne find the Bowl of Winds, and with it hope for restoring the weather to something resembling normality. But even that brings with it more questions - how heavily involved are the Atha'an Miere, the Sea Folk, going to become, and how important? What about the Kin/Knitting Circle from Ebou Dar? How exactly is it going to work?
As I said, I'm still really, really enjoying this series. It's become more and more apparent that I'm getting far more enjoyment out of it than I would if I read it piecemeal again, and I'm glad that I chose to go down this 'all in one' route. It's a complicated, twisted story, but I'm looking forward to learning more, and continuing my journey with these characters.
So, first things first. Can we kill Nynaeve yet? Seriously, she has to be the most irritating character I've ever come across. She's a bossy know-it-all, and hypocritical to boot. I just wish.....ugh. Matt isn't much better, but I did prefer him in this book to the previous occasion on which he got lots of page time. Maybe it's because he was being forced to do something he didn't want to, and then bullied into not doing it when he got there, but he did come across as slightly more sympathetic.
Robert Jordan finally seems to have given up on all pretence at having each book be a stand-alone, self-contained story as well as an entry in a longer epic. In fairness that was becoming increasingly obvious several volumes ago, but this was really where it became blindingly obvious. He also seems to have given up on the idea of a massive battle to finish each book, but not on the entire of a climactic fight entirely. This book does end with a fight, but it's a shorter, more strategic, one-on-one affair between Rand and Sammael. It's a bit of an anticlimax really - clearly a lot of planning has gone into it to avoid too much destruction in Illian, and too many civilian casualties. But unlike with a lot of the preceding story, as a reader I felt as surprised by this turn of events as the other characters in the book. It sort of popped out of nowhere very suddenly that Rand was ready to go, and then the duel itself wasn't much to write about. But I can't help feel that Sammael is still out there after the ambiguous ending.
Beyond that the sheer scope of the story is starting to become staggering, and the number of separate plot points and story lines to keep track of is growing. No wonder that everything is taking longer (in page count terms) now! Plus there are several new layers of intrigue added this book. Of note are the White Tower story, where Elaida and Alviarin are finally openly at odds with each other, but only in front of each other, the Shaido Aiel story where Sevanna (who really reminds me of Elaida actually in many ways) still getting involved in things way over her head, and an interesting little paragraph involving the unusual Myrddraal Shaidar Haran. But possibly the most interesting involves a new character, Moridin, and the revelation that as well as Saidar and Saidin, there's a 'True Power' which sits outside of both of them, is stronger than both, and has the ability to go outside the pattern of the Wheel of Time. Quite where Moridin has come from, or what his motivations are, remains to be seen, but I have a feeling he's going to become quite important.
The Darrell K. Sweet cover art for the original edition of "A Crown of Swords". It's clearly meant to depict Rand during
his duel against Sammael, the climactic event of the book. It's an interesting choice, much like the book title, which refers to a line
in the penultimate paragraph! (Credit: bejaminrose.com)
I've made it sound like not much gets resolved other than Rand finally going after Sammael, but that's very much not the case. Another major plot point is resolved - Nynaeve and Elayne find the Bowl of Winds, and with it hope for restoring the weather to something resembling normality. But even that brings with it more questions - how heavily involved are the Atha'an Miere, the Sea Folk, going to become, and how important? What about the Kin/Knitting Circle from Ebou Dar? How exactly is it going to work?
As I said, I'm still really, really enjoying this series. It's become more and more apparent that I'm getting far more enjoyment out of it than I would if I read it piecemeal again, and I'm glad that I chose to go down this 'all in one' route. It's a complicated, twisted story, but I'm looking forward to learning more, and continuing my journey with these characters.
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