The Passage

This was a GREAT read. So, so good. I can't wait to start The Twelve, which is book 2 in the series. But that will have to wait until after I read Towers of Midnight, which I expect to be waiting for me at my doorstep Tuesday after work.

Towers of Midnight

This is the last book, so far.

• Graendal lives. She tricked Rand with the compulsion

• Egwene take the Tower

• Rand as Jesus with the apples

• Seanchan bloodknives are killing in the tower. Egwene thinks it's Mesaana

• Nynaeve can heal madness

• Mat is still pursued by the gholam

• Mat writes to Elayne in hilarious fashion

• Perrin meets up with the White Cloaks and Galad

• Perrin embraces (finally) the wolf dream and the wolf

• I think Lara might be Masaana - just a hunch stolen from B

• Mat, Tom, and Jain Farstrider save Moiraine from the snakes and foxes. JF doesn't make it out

• Gawyn saves Egwene, who defeats Mesaana in the dream world

• Elaida shows the Seanchan traveling

• Avienda sees the future of her descendants and that the Seanchan will defeat the Aiel

• There is a split in the Black tower between those loyal to Taim and Logain

• The gathering of rulers begins to try and stop Rand from breaking the seals

• Trollocs attach Caemlyn - Verin's letter is finally revealed

Next up, in January, A Memory of Light. I cannot wait.

The Gathering Storm

The Gathering Storm is the first of three compiled/writted by Brandon Sanderson after RJ's death. RJ was working on A Memory of Light and lucky for us left behind notes and recordings of how the story ends. With a few exceptions, Sanderson does a good job.

• Mat, Rand, and Perrin all see the need to work with the Seanchan

• Regular citizens begin to rally for the last battle

• I think Taim is Moridin (Ishamael)

• Faile KILLS THE PROPHET

• Tuon assumes her role as Empress (may she live forever)

• Gawyn leaves Elaida's came to "save" Egwene

• Semirhage escapes with the help of Elza, who I never trusted, and captures rand with the domination band. Rand realized the True Power and wipes her out. He blames Cadsuane and banishes her

• Seanchan attack the tower

• Rand uses balefire on Grendal's camp, concerning Nynaeve enough to work with Cadsuane with the goal of resorting his soul

• There's a big timeline fuckup in this book with Tam and Rand and Perrin and Morgase

It's obvious that RJ didn't write all these chapters. Still, great, great story. Next up: Towers of Midnight.

Knife of Dreams

Knife of Dreams is book 11 in the series, and the last book out before RJ's death.

• Elayne wins the throne, finally

• Egwene is still captive in the White Tower, and is slowly chipping away at Elaida's control. She accepts her punishments like an Aiel, and RJ obviously had a thing about spankings  

• Semirhage tries to fake out Rand with a meeting of a Daughter of the Nine Moons imposter. Rand captures her and loses his hand for his troubles

• Matt and Tuon are married and she leaves for Ebou Dar. She learns that she is the Empress (may she live forever)

• Perrin rescues boring old Faile

• Taim is most certainly a Forsaken, ending the book with the "let the Lord of Chaos rule" saying -- EEK!

Next up: The Gathering Storm!

New Spring

I think I read this prequel a bit out of sequence, but it's okay. I enjoyed the story of a young Moiraine, Siuan, and Lan. This is a great book to recommend to people who haven't read fantasy before to get them hooked on the series.

Just a few notable things I saw:

• Now I know why Cadsuane is assumed to be B.A.
• Lan and Moiraine came together because they were both running away from something
• Moiraine and Siuan were definitely "pillow friends" and if I have one criticism of Jordan, it's his crazy gender stuff. Big ole bisexuals, those A.S., most of em

Next up (and I'm actually about 1/2-way through): Knife of Dreams

Crossroads of Twilight

I just finished my re-read of Crossroads, book 10 of the series. It was a fast-paced one, lots of things going on:

• Perrin is still trying to rescue Faile, and is getting sick of his cohorts a bit. He is considering an alliance with the Seanchan, thus far, a completely insane suggestion.
• Egwene is at the edge of Tar Valon with her army, laying seige to the city.
• Elayne is shoring up support for her claim to the Lion Throne.
• Rand and Nynaeve have cleansed the male half of the One Power and have made everyone in the world who can channel nervous about what has happened.
• Interesting point that I hadn't noticed before: Siuan believes that Cadsuane is Black Ajah. Hmmm . . . 

Next up: New Spring!

Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart

I'm a bit behind, but have finished both The Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart, books 8 and 9 of the WoT. The series is gettin' good, yo.

• The Borderland rulers have formed a pact
• The Seanchan are attacking all over the place
• Elayne and Avienda have become First Sisters, and with a similar ceremony bonded Rand to them and Min in a odd kind of 4-way marriage ala Big Love
• Path of Daggers is the shortest book in the series and my least favorite
• Elayne, Nynaeve, Avienda, et al use the bowl of the winds to reverse the Dark One's influence over the weather, and it starts raining/snowing
• Elayne claims the Lion Throne
• Rand is attacked by rogue Ashamen (?)
• Perrin is off trying to stop Masema and Faile is kidnapped by the Shaido, along with Morgase and others
• Perrin chases the Shaido and is sad and grr
• Matt is trapped in Ebou Dar and finally meets his Daughter of the Nine Moons, who is the only woman he's ever laid eyes on that he doesn't instantly think of bouncing on his knee
• Matt plots an escape from Ebou Dar
• Dashiva, one of the Ashaman, turns out to be a Forsaken, Aginor
• Rand and Nynaeve cleanse the source
• I THINK that I started reading the series in 2000, when Winter's Heart was published - of course it took me a year or more to catch up to publication dates, but this is about when I dove in the first time. It was a revelation! I love fantasy! Who woulda guessed?

Whew! Tons of plot lines moving forward all at the same time. I'm already well into the next one, Crossroads of Twilight.

Also, just heard that the final book, A Memory of Light, won't be out until January, 2013. Sigh . . .

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Crown of Swords

The end of this book marks the half-way point in the series. Whew!

• The Crown of Swords is the Laurel Crown of Illian
• Lan marries Nynaeve in this one - so sweet
• Min and Rand become lovers . . . finally
• The Bowl of the Winds is found . . . finally
• Gholams are scary
• Cadsuane is scary
• Sammael is toast

Next up, Path of Daggers

Lord Of Chaos

Perrin is back again, and on the one hand, lots of plot points are moved forward; on the other hand, lots of things are at a standstill and new stuff has been layered on. This book felt a bit like a marathon, and is typically where people who did fall off reading started to fall.

• Dylin tells Rand that Tigrane is his mother. In this story we learn that Galad is Rand's half-brother.
• An emissary from the Tower is sent to Salidar.
• Taim is now in charge of the Black Tower and he has to be a Foresaken, right?
• Morgase is captured by Pedron Niall.
• Rand receives envoys both from the Tower and from Salidar - the Tower group assumes that rumors of a sister with Rand (actually Egwene) is Moraine who faked her death.
• Nynaeve does the impossible in heading Logaine, Siuan, and Leanne
• The whitecloaks culture is so much modeled on the Vatican.
• Egwene is a BADASS. She meets her Ji e-Toh, then travels the same night to Salidar to meet her fate there.
• Rand sends Matt to collect Elaine.
• Instead of punishing Egwene, the rebels make her Amyrlin.
• Sulin is HILARIOUS.
• Rand is captured by the Tower envoy. He is tortured and driven crazy by them.
• Matt, Elaine, and Nynaeve, along with Tom and Julen, head for Ebou Dar to deal with the weather issue by looking for the bowl of the winds.

Next up: Crown of Swords

• Dumai Wells happens and it's a blood bath.

The Fires of Heaven

I finished this volume a few weeks ago. A LOT happened in this one, despite Perrin's POV being absent.

• Lews Therin has emerged as the voice in Rand's head. He's a nutter, too, so Rand is stuck listening to his weeping/ranting/homicidal ideas.
• Lanfear had her eyes on the Sun Throne - I missed that on the first read.
• Matt's medallion is proven out as a protection against channeling.
• Min and Elaine come to terms with the fact that they both love Rand. Meanwhile, Rand plays between the sheets with Avienda.
• Forsaken body count: Lanfear (?), Ravin, Asmodean. Moghedien is also captured by Nynaeve.
• The rebel Aes Sedai have set up camp in Salidar, and Nynave, Min, and Elaine are there with them.
• Biggest thing to happen: Moraine is presumed dead after taking Lanfear out through the mysterious doorway.

Next up: Lord of Chaos

The Shadow Rising

Book 4, The Shadow Rising, is (so far) the longest in the series at 1001 pages. This read for me was via audio-book and was 40.5 hours of bookiness. I think that in writing this volume, RJ must have decided: "Fuck it" and gone all in with the detail, scope, and length of the series. This one represents a real turning point in what would happen in the series and how many characters would be integral to the story. Whew, a biggun. Here are my thoughts in no particular order:

• Major plot points in this volume: The Tower is broken; Nynaeve proves that she is strong as hell, and can overcome a Foresaken; Rand is He Who Comes With The Dawn without a doubt; Rand captures Asmodean and now has a teacher and proves that he is unwilling to kill a woman; Egwene begins learning to be a dreamer; Perrin becomes a "lord" and marries Faile

• Min is more important to the plot of the series than I thought and I'm paying more attention to her role

• Siuan and Leane are hilarious

• Is Rand's breaking the Aiel bigger than his telling their historical secret?

Next up, The Fires of Heaven

The Dragon Reborn

My thoughts on book 3:

• Matt never accepts his fate. He always wants to leave, but he really doesn't want to go back to Emond's Field.

• Nynaeve is driven because she sees herself as the protector of the Emond's Fielders. She is also driven by hatred of Moiraine.

• The Dragon Reborn was very light on Rand; the focus was on moving all the main characters to Tear.

• ALL of Min's viewings come true. Never doubt what she sees.

• Rand always thinks that he's defeated Shai'tan in the early books!

• The Forsaken body count: Aginor, Be'lal, Ishamael/Ba'alzaomon.

• We now know who The People Of The Dragon are. In that, the legends of the various peoples start to bleed together.

• Moiraine's role is really becoming more to remind the ta'veren who they are than to guide them.

• This is among my favorites of the books - a lot of great focus on the "girls" perspective and a lot of fantastic character development. Faile is an annoying character, IMO, and we meet her here, but otherwise this was a fun re-read and a fantastic story.

• Next up, The Shadow Rising

WoT Read, Read, Read

Sly B and I are both re-reading the massive Wheel of Time series in anticipation of the final installment in March. I thought it might be fun to do a series of posts that are just thoughts on each book. Not reviews, just thoughts. My review is this: I fucking love these books.

I've read the first 10 books in the series at least twice - some more than that. The latest books and the prequel I've only read once, so this is very exciting.

So I am currently rounding the corner to the end of book #3 The Dragon Reborn. Sly B is on book #8 already. She may or may not participate in this - I haven't even asked her yet.

Here are my initial thoughts on the first two books: I've read The Eye of the World the most of all of these novels and love the book. It introduces us to our core characters and gives us the messianic tropes, the fantasy usual suspects, and just a short quick peek into how vast this world is going to be. It shows us that not only is Rand critical to this story, but Perrin and Matt and Egwene and Nynaeve are also crucial.

The Great Hunt, I think, is my favorite of the series. I love how this novel pulls in the other crucial pieces of this world - the Whitecloaks, the Aiel, the Seanchan, the Foresaken, Darkfriends. I LOVE this book.

I know a lot of my buddies, and my brother-in-law, also love these books. It's just been SO ENJOYABLE to re-read this series so far. And, I'd better hurry up or I'm not going to finish by March.