The Wheel of Time reread: "The Gathering Storm" by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

I've read "The Gathering Storm" in very short time, only few days. I am currently at half of "Towers of Midnight", hoping to start with "A Memory of Light" soon.

First I have to mention that this is first "The Wheel of Time" book written by Brandon Sanderson. Robert Jordan has passed away after writing "Knife of Dreams", so the fate of WoT was in question for a time. Jordan's widow Harriet McDougal picked Brandon Sanderson, at that time relatively unknown writer, to finish the WoT. Jordan's death didn't come sudden, so he was able to prepare lots of notes for what was supposed to be the last WoT book, and even write some parts. Thanks to that, Sanderson had a skeleton of story, and he "only" needed to flesh it.

In "The Gathering Storm", we have two major plot-lines. Rand, after losing his hand by Semirhage in "Knife of Dreams", is continuing his preparation for Tarmon Gai'don. But the stresses, wounds and betrayals he has survived has left a great toll on him. He becomes increasingly harder and darker - and not all Dark One's seduction is obvious. Egwene is still a captive in Tar Valon, but everything points that her efforts are paying off and she is winning the fight for Amyrlin Seat. But what will happen when she is forced to confront Elaida directly - is is better to bend like a willow, or finally make a stand? Nyneve is only major character with important part in this book - as the only Aes Sedai and advisor that doesn't send Rand into fits. Mat and Perrin present, but more with cameos than with real story, and Elayne is completely absent, thus making her the last main character to be absent from one of the books.

First POV in prologue is a great introduction to the book. Until now, we have had a direct insight into fight between light and dark, but always from the highs. But now, this struggle has reached even the common little man. Prologue in general is very good.

This is definitely Rand's book, as it not had been since "Lord of Chaos". He has been under an unimaginable stress for years now, and the time to release it had finally come. I must confess that I never expected Jordan (because I presume that it was his original intention) to make Rand so dark, even evil.  There is a curious part of chapter with Rand and Moridin - it is strangely pity for Rand that he can feel comfort near his greatest enemy, who is actually his antithesis. His parts are disturbing, but they are very well written. "I have been forced to revise this particular inclination" - I think this quote gives goosebumps to every fan of WoT. Even though it is not good, I must it is funny to see Cadsuane finally cowed. Book has a very strong ending.

Egwene is only slightly behind Rand in importance in this book. Her parts have been very good for several books now, so there is no need to praise them anymore. She has one of the best action scenes in series, comparable to battle in tFoH or earlier battles (Rand against various Forsaken). Elaida is on pinnacle of disgust here.

As I mention, there is lot of Nyneve, who is left as one of last person with some influence on Rand. She didn't have this much attention since Ebou Dar, if ever. There is also lot of Min, who sometimes look unobtrusive, but she is an important characters. We also have few POVs from Aviendha, which are rare.

Both Mat's and Perrin's parts are not really important in this book - they are "saved" for next one, ToM, and they are here only not to be absent. I don't mind this as such. Perrin's part is actually pretty good, except the small spoiler for next book (meeting between him and Galad). But what I do mind is Mat's POVs. Sanderson blundered with Mat. It is not written badly, but Mat and his humor are very off, and the story is unnecessary and irrelevant. Thankfully, he accepted the criticisms and did much better in ToM.

All in all, Sanderson did a very good job with continuing "The Wheel of Time". There are no major differences in writing, although there are some words and phrases that Jordan didn't use. There is one apparent change: shorter chapters to fasten the pace, with lots if jumps between POVs. My version of the book (Orbit hardcover) has a mistake - Sulin is mentioned as with Rand, except with Perrin. I hope this will be corrected in newer editions.

In general, "The Gathering Storm" is a great book, itself and as part of "The Wheel of Time". Much darker that any before, it really presents struggle, in various forms. And it finally puts in focus the Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle.

The Wheel of Time reread: "Knife of Dreams" by Robert Jordan

Few days ago I finished with reading "Knife of Dreams" - only two more books and I need to hurry. My copy of "A Memory of Light" has come earlier than I expected, so I don't need to hold back. Now, if I only had more time for reading...

It is easy to shortly introduce "Knife of Dreams" because it mostly continues plot-lines that were started before. Rand is still mostly in hiding after cleaning the Saidin, jumping all around the world and preparing for the Last Battle. His biggest concern now are the Seanchan - he can't fight them at the same time as he fights Tarmon Gai'don, so he has to find some solution for them. Perrin has finally forged a plan for rescuing Faile, and with the help of Seanchan army, he will put it in action. Mat is slowly running away from the Seanchan while struggling to start to understand Tuon, his wife-to-be. When he finds out there is a plot to kill her, he must find a way to protect her without letting himself be captured. Egwene, who has been captured by White Tower at the end of last book, slowly realizes that this is not the end of her fight against Elaida - this is actually her biggest chance. But she has a peculiar battle to fight. Elayne is not enviable position - surrounded by her competitor's army, she discovers there is enemy in her lines, also. Also, her pregnancy is not helping her mood.

Well, the biggest difference between "Knife of Dreams" and last four books is that it finished plot-lines instead starting them. In first six books of "The Wheel of Time", we had a normal sequence of starting and ending a plot-line in single books. But next five books feel more like a part of one (very) big book, and KoD is its ending. I enjoyed previous books very much, but I would lie if I said that I didn't like to see these endings. Also, this book feels much more packed - there is much happening, especially with our five main characters (minus Nyneve).

Again, we have a humongous prologue - 90 pages. Again, it features Rodel Ituralde, which I like very much. There is one line that I remembered especially well: "He always looked ahead, and always planned for every eventuality he could imagine, short of the Dragon Reborn himself suddenly appearing in front of him." - this will be very funny when we come to "The Gathering Storm".

Last few times I read this book, I used to check how more I had till Mat's POV. This time I enjoyed almost everything. Elayne's part was a bit dragging again, though. I always forgot whether Sareitha or Careane is a Black Sister - even though I read it only few days ago I forgot again. And for some reason, I always disliked two chapters with Elayne's fight against Black Sisters.

I don't have any big impressions about Rand's, Perrin's and Egwene's parts, except that I enjoyed reading them. Loial's POV is interesting - and the Trolloc attack in that chapter. But part with Nyneve and Lan, and especially what Nyneve does, is one of my favorite parts in whole series!

Again, Mat's POVs are slightly above the rest, but only slightly. Luca Valan is a great character, especially when he turns around performer's minds. And I like chapters with Furyk Karede, especially the one when he catches up with Mat.

So, "Knife of Dreams" presents a welcome change to "The Wheel of Time", clearing out some rubble and preparing for the ending of the whole series. At the time it was written, that was supposed to be the penultimate book, but more about it in post about the next book in reread.

The Wheel of Time reread: "Crossroads of Twilight" by Robert Jordan

I am getting closer: I finished "Crossroads of Twilight", and now I am reading "Knife of Dreams". Only few more weeks, and I will finish the complete "The Wheel of Time" series. I hope that it will have a deserving ending.

Also, I now have to be careful to avoid anything mentioning "A Memory of Light", to avoid possible spoilers. Even Wikipedia could be dangerous now.

After two shorter books, "Crossroads of Twilight" is back to a normal length for novel of such caliber: 800 pages. Somehow, in my mind, I always considered it as Mat's book; at the contrary, he has only 5 chapters, (6 if count Furyk Karede's) as Elayne and Egwene, while Perrin has 6 (7 if we count Faile's). But let's go by the order. After cleaning Saidin in last book, Rand is in hiding and resting - therefore he (actually, his plot-line) only gets two short chapters. Curiously, I realized that this time Nyneve is absent, except by mention in his part. After three books, he finally comes to good terms with Cadsuane, meaning that this is the first time (and last for some time), that she is not irritating. Perrin is still caught up with trying to save Faile, although now he is forced to accept that it will not be done in matter of days, and that he has other responsibilities. Mat has successfully left Ebou Dar; unfortunately  he is not away from Seanchan, or from Daughter of the Nine Moons. Elayne, now pregnant and without Nyneve, is trying to win the throne of Andor, even though her prospects doesn't look very good. Egwene is now accepted as real (rebel) Amyrlin Seat, but that doesn't mean that she is without problems - even her Aes Sedai still find ways to make troubles for her. And currently, the times are even tougher, since they are besieging Tar Valon.

Of course, except our main character, we have several POV from minor characters. And also, we have a long prologue. Jordan must have been full of ideas, with no place to put them, except in such long prologues. I especially like Ituralde's POV - here and in next books. There is a great but somewhat disturbing chapter with Alviarin, Mesaana and Shaidar Haran. And I hope there will be a clear explanation what kind of vile events were happening after Aiel War that so much of Red sisters were forced in exile.

I am having some troubles reviewing this book, because nothing really happens. Oh sure, there are lots of stuff going on, but all these plot-lines have started in prior books, and not one of them is finished here. More so, first half of the book actually happens at the same time as events in "Winter's Heart". This doesn't mean that I don't like the book, at the contrary. But only that I have tough time finding momentous impressions from it to write about.

Elayne's part here was a bit too long. Not bad (I liked the part when she meats the High Seats), but it could have been shorter. Also, did Jordan put such focus on clothes and details before? There was good Eenia's POV - you can really feel how she is always angry. Even though she is obviously intelligent, this anger thwarts her in reaching further. Jordan did great job capturing that.

Egwene's part is great here, too. I especially like the chapter when they decide to approach Asha'man.

Perrin's POVs are split in two groups. I didn't overly enjoy first ones, at the beginning of the book (probably because I was impatient for Mat's part to start), but the second one were good. I don't know why, but I always like the So Habor part.

I know that it is probably tiring hearing me saying how great Mat's part is, but it really is so. I really like his interactions with Tuon, but also his impression of everybody else. He is just perfectly comical without becoming so.

So, even though "Crossroad of Twilight" is a book without momentous events and somewhat slower plot, I had a very good time with it.

The Wheel of Time reread: "Winter's Heart" by Robert Jordan

Well, I was able to figure out what happened with my "Lord of Chaos" post: I opened the post on my mobile-phone before it synchronized, and so saved the older version over the new, full one. I am still deciding is this a bug or a feature.... Anyway, I'll be more careful in future.

So, I am slowly getting toward the end of "The Wheel of Time" series. With "Winter's Heart" I finished 9th book out of 14. Four more books before "Memory of Light" - with luck, I will finished them just in time to receive MoL.

"Winter's Heart" is slightly larger that was "The Path of Daggers", somewhat below 700 pages. There are four main plot-lines here. Faile was in last book captures by Shaido, and now is trying to figure out what to do, while Perrin is trying to rescue her, while at the same time balancing Masema, Ghealdanin, Aes Sedai and Wise-Ones, and Berelain. Elayne has arrived in Camelyn and started her campaign to win the Throne of Andor, but she also has her hands full: open and hidden opponents, enmity between Aes Sedai, Kinswomen and Atha'an Miere, a massive army of Borderlanders with unknown intention. Rand is, on the other side, focused on a single goal: executing rebel Asha'man. That is, before he can turn his attention to a much larger goal: cleaning the Saidin. And at South, in Ebou Dar, recently conquered by Seanchan, we have Mat Cauthon, who is trying to escape his fate, not knowing that Daughter of Nine Moons is coming closer.

Only now I realized that Egwene is absent from this book, as were Rand, Perrin and Mat before. She only appears in short cameo with Elayne. I have read these books at least three or four times before, but I haven't realized it before: it is because they are not encompassed and defined as were the early ones. Also, does this mean that Jordan considered Egwene as fourth main characters? As most reviewers, I always considered Rand, Perrin and Mat the three protagonists.

I have only words of praise for this book. I still like Perrin's and Faile's part, and I don't see myself changing my opinion. Perrin is being a bit too emotional, but that is who he is. And he is surrounded with such different characters that his observations (especially when he smells them) are very interesting.

Elayne's part is maybe too long in whole, but here is not; I always liked reading about politics. I especially liked the chapter when she is meeting with the Borderlanders. And the chapter with Elayne, Min and Aviendha finally making some deal with Rand makes me happy, as much for them as for Rand.

This is the first time that Nyneve is having her own adventures, without Elayne. She was in her company without break from "The Great Hunt": eight books! They sure had a lot adventures together. Anyway, Nyneve is great together with Elayne, or by herself. In last book I didn't like Nyneve with Atha'an Miere and Kinswoman, but this time all that is very funny.

As for Rand, I think this book proves my claim that things are going down for the Light. Even though they succeed with a major success, Rand's mental condition is again getting worse. I really liked the great chapter when Rand meets Elayne, Aviendha and Min: it is always funny to see their misunderstandings revealed. Also, Far Madding chapters are very interesting.

And of course, there is my favorite part of the book. Mat's part is simply great and very funny.

All in all, "Winter's Heart" is probably my favorite book of this section, from "A Crown of Swords" till "Crossroads of Twilight", maybe even "Knife of Dreams" (I will have to decide after I read them). It is very fun, full of action and full of enjoyment.

The Wheel of Time reread: "The Path of Daggers" by Robert Jordan

Since I have had few days of vacation this week, I was able to finish "The Path of Daggers" sooner that I planned. Looks like I will be finish with the whole "The Wheel of Time" series just in time for "Memory of Light". That book is coming out at the beginning of January, but it will arrive at my place around month later.

With less than 650 pages, "The Path of Daggers" is the shortest book in series. "The Shadow Rising", "The Fires of Heaven" and "Lord of Chaos" were all around 1000 pages, so this is quite shorter. "A Crown of Swords" is somewhere in between. PoD, as CoS, also takes short time in book-time, around a month. There are four major plot-lines. After killing Sammael and conquering Illian, Rand believes himself on a roll, so when he finds out that Seanchan has again arrived, he decides to personally deal with them, leading the first Asha'man army. Connected to Seanchan: after finally being able to find the Bowl of Winds, Elayne and Nyneve travel from Ebou Dar, accompanied by Atha'an Miere and Kinswomen, with plans to use it and stop Dark One's meddling with the climate. Egwene is still slowly traveling with rebel Aes Sedai toward Tar Valon. But her biggest problem is not Elaid or myriad other difficulties lurking in world, but the fact that no one considers her the real Amyrlin Seat. Lastly, we have Perrin and his large retinue (including both Faile and Berelain) are slowly traveling Gheldan, trying to reach Queen Alliandre, and to the Prophet of Dragon Masema before he is able to do even more harm. Crisscrossing the book are several other, shorter POVs: Elaida, other Aes Sedai, Forsaken, even Seanchan.

As you can see, there is not Mat in this book. I guess this is fair, since Perrin was missing from "The Fires of Heaven" and Rand (almost) from "The Dragon Reborn". But that doesn't mean that I am happy for it. But there is nothing to do except to read until the middle of next book, "Winter's Hearts".

This is the darkest Rand's section, at least until "The Gathering Storm". This is why I said that Light is slowly losing from Dark after SR, FoH and LoC - whatever their successes are, Rand is getting madder and darker. This book has most quiet ending till now, and also the saddest, at least Rand's part. I always liked Moridin's POVs, especially the one in PoD's prologue.

Here ends one large Nyneve's and Elayne' part. Elayne will get another long plot-line (Andor's Succession), but Nyneve will not have a definite plot-line (even though she will have important parts). I must say that humor when they are escaping Ebou Dar feels a bit forced, especially with Alise and Nyneve.

Egwene has a great part; she really outmaneuvers them all. It is a good section to read, whether you know the outcome or not. Her part in next few books will be the same.

Also, this is a real start of Perrin's POV. There are fans who don't like this part, the Shaido. It is not my favorite either, but I don't really dislike it. Especially this time, at least until now.

I've said it already, but Aes Sedai are really sure that they know everything - so I enjoy when they are turned over their heads. But most of their POVs are very interesting.

Well, a short review for short book. "The Path of Daggers" is a darker book than its predecessors (maybe its successor also), but I enjoyed reading it. If only Mat was in it...

The Wheel of Time reread: "A Crown of Swords" by Robert Jordan

I finished "A Crown of Swords" only few days ago, so I hope this post will be fresher than previous, "Lord of Chaos". I still can't believe that I have lost a finished (and good) post so abruptly. But, I should focus more on the book.

"A Crown of Swords" is the first book in series that takes the same time as another book ("Lord of Chaos" in this case). It is also much shorter book that its prequels (less than 750 pages) - but neither of its sequels is longer by much, if not shorter. Another interesting fact, this book takes very short time in plot-time: some nine or ten days, I think. Which doesn't mean that there isn't lot of going on here, only that it is thicker. There are several plots. Rand is trying to deal with problems that arose from his capturing in "Lord of Chaos", and with his trauma from it. After several books of waiting, he finally enters a romantic relationship with Min. Perrin has a lot of coverage, in the first part of the book, but more as a narrator than as active characters - I almost forgot that he even was in this book. Egwene also has few chapters, but they are clustered so that I thought it was only one or two. Both Perrin's and Egwene's plots really take place in further books. There are also some chapters from isolated characters (Elaid, Alvarian, Forsaken...), but almost a central plot-line of this book is in Ebou Dar, including both Mat and Elayne and Nyneve.

This book has one of longer prologues, but not ridiculously long as they will be in some other books (e.g. "Winter's Heart"). Here we are introduced to Alvarian as major bad player - one of few POVs from the evil side. Also, Alvarian is one of only three successful and capable bad characters (other two are Moridin and Shaidar Haran, maybe Padan Fain). On the other hand, we have Elaida's POV- for a supposedly good characters, she does more evil that all other Forsaken together. This series is full of people with lots of misunderstanding of the world about themselves, but Elaida is somewhere at the top of them.


We have a very complex and interesting beginning: Asha'man vs. Wise Ones vs. Aes Sedai. We follow Perrin for some time as the beginning, but as I said, more as narrator. He provides few funny moments; well, him and Faile and Loial.

Egwene's part is starting to get interesting with all that maneuvering and politicking - but it is very short in this book, only few chapters. This will be rectified in future books, so we can look at this like just a treat before the main course.

We get first POV from Aviendha (I think), but more important, we are introduced to Cadsuane. Even in her first appearance, she is absolutely irritating. I don't think I felt sympathy to her once in whole series. Another who makes first appearance here is Moridin - long time no see.

Of course, the best part of the book is Ebou Dar, and mostly because of Mat. Mat's and Elayne's/Nyneve's mutual misunderstandings are hilarious. Elayne's and Nyneve's chapter when they finally overcome their problems is also very good. When you look about it, nobody is really fair to Mat (Nyneve, Elayne, Tylin,...).

Another great chapter is the one with Rand, Padan Fain and rebels, even though it contains Cadsuane.

In conclusion, even though "A Crown is Swords" is a different book from previous three (shorter, several unfinished plot-lines), I really enjoyed rereading it, especially the Mat's parts.

Movie review: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

This weekend I went to watch "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" with my girlfriend. I must say that I missed all the hype about this movie. I was almost unaware of it until it was out, and even then didn't paid more attention to it. On the other hand, in some ways I considered it as given that I will go to watch it. But in this way I was very pleasantly surprised.

For those few who don't know anything about the movie, "The Hobbit" trilogy ("The Unexpected Journey", "The Desolation of Smaug", and "There and Back Again") tells a story before "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Bilbo Baggins is a young hobbit, living a peaceful and prosperous life. So prosperous that he becomes stale and priggish for his years (60, the middle years for a hobbit). Suddenly his everyday life gets abruptly interrupted by wizard Gandalf and 13 uncouth dwarves. The dwarves are set on journey to free their homeland (the Lonely Mountain) from dragon Smaug, who took it over from them some long years ago. They are in a need of a professional burglar, and Gandalf has chosen Bilbo, who is far away from being burglar as is possible to be. After some convincing and some songs, Bilbo is convinced and their start their journey, where they are awaited by many adventures...

This last sentence sums this movie pretty well. Contrary to LotR trilogy, which was a big epic fantasy, "The Hobbit" is an obvious light adventure fantasy. There is a big goal in future (killing a dragon), but we don't even see the dragon in this movie. Instead, our heroes go on a journey, find some clues and build up for larger adventures. It is really a classical fantasy, which I don't mean in any diminutive way, because I really enjoyed the movie. There is also some history in it (of the Tolkien's imaginary world Middle-earth) and some explanations that help to put this movie in context of LotR. At the same time, they give it hidden epic proportions, if you are familiar to LotR.

For the hard-core fans of the books, "The Hobbit" will be a thrill. I haven't read the book in some time (ten years or more), but I have read it a lot of times before, and I think that it follows the book surprisingly truthfully. I can list only two real changes from the books: Azog and Radagast. And even these are based on the book and fit in the spirit of the movie. All other changes are minor, like the meeting of the White Council (which happened off-screen in the book), or history tales (that are actually part of the LotR appendix). But considering all, "The Hobbit" follows its literary counterpart more truthfully than it was the case with the LotR. At least for this first movie; we will see when next two come out...

There is one thing that will maybe bother some viewers, especially the stiff ones: Radagast the Brown. And his rabbits. It is obviously put here for the kids. But I found it quite funny actually, and I think that it was fitting for this kind of movie. If someone tried to put something like this in LotR trilogy, it wouldn't fit so well (even though that LotR books have Tom Bombadil), but here it felt almost natural.

I haven't watched many 3D movies (I tend to avoid them), but "The Hobbit" was the first movie to impress me. Few times I actually flinched. I was also impressed how they made stone-giants and goblins, even better that I imagined them. Production of the movie was really on high level.

In the end, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" was a great movie, both for fans and non-fans. It is thrilling, funny and interesting through all two and a half hour of movie. I can't wait for the next two movies ("The Desolation of Smaug" and "There and Back Again") to come out.