The story is well known to us who have long read the series. Rand AlThor, the Dragon Reborn, struggles against the Dark One, with the help of a huge and varied cast. In this episode, Matt Cauthon has found the woman of his heart, the Princess of the Nine Moons, who he knows he is fated to marry. She is not quite so sure that this is her destiny, and so he kidnaps her. Perrin Aybaras wife Faile has also been kidnapped...by the Shaido, and he desperately searches for some clue to track her with. Meanwhile, Elayne and Egwene each fight their own desperate battles for power. Elayne fights for the Lion Throne, Egwene, recently given the position of the Amyrlin seat by a rebel faction of the sorcerous Aes Sedai, fights to unite the white tower under herself. A short summary, true, and you will see why if you read on.
The first thing is, that this is very much not a stand alone book. The structure of the series is such that each addition is just another chapter of a very large concept. While I admire the sweep of what he is attempting, in writing such a huge work, it has some side effects that I am not sure I care for. For example, in this book we have a little bit of Perrin's story here, a little bit of Egwene there. Ill just be really getting into the story, really cheering the character on...and then the chapter will end, and we may not see that person again for many pages...maybe not even for the rest of the book. I grind my gears, trying to shift into a new situation, another character who I may not have seen since the last book. He could probably fix a lot of this if he had a cast of characters in the back, and a summary of what has gone on before in the front, rather than spend story time trying to plant it all ...nine books worth, now, and probably many more ...into the context. As it is now, I find myself not enjoying the book as much because there is so much going on at once, so many people to keep track of. It blunts the impact of the story because nothing ever finishes. We rarely, if ever, come to an end of anything, and the supposed main idea of fighting the Dark One becomes second fiddle. Characters that he built up strongly and made you care about are abandoned. I cant help but think if he had grouped things together more, maybe having one whole book assigned to this set of plotlines/characters, resolving them, then going on with the next or using all the characters, but having each story arch pretty much complete in the book...where some small plot lines are resolved but they all strengthen the main goal, I would have been happier. As it is, I feel like hes just dragging things on too much, and I feel depressed because all these people I care about, all these interesting stories, are never finished...and may never be finished.
This book in itself, has some interesting things that it adds to the story as a whole, some well done surprises that make the story interesting, while recalling some of the past things, reminding you of why they are/will be important in the future. The characters are all well done -- the main characters extremely likable, while some of the minor ones are definitely not ...some of these people have a love of beating people that borders on perverse glee. So the book does move the story forward.
So, why do I read this series? When the first four books came out, I read them, adored them...the first four books showed Robert Jordan to be one of the most interesting and talented voices in fantasy...and since I loved those first four books so darn much, I guess I keep coming back, just in the hopes that this one is the last, and that Ill see and understand everything that Jordan was building towards, and how it works out, and Rand, Perrin and Matt, who started out together on this road so long ago, will finally get to live happily ever after.
Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Reviewer
2/1/2003
