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The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time, Book 5)

Robert Jordan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 247 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Some problems, but redeemed by a killer ending. 4 out of 5 stars.
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With The Shadow Rising, Robert Jordan moved The Wheel of Time series out of its 'adventure' arc into a 'political' phase as the characters finally moved into positions of high authority and influence amongst different nations and cultures, and could begin the process of uniting the world to face the Last Battle. Whilst adventure storylines would continue to appear, a lot more time from this point onwards would be spent on political maneuverings. Indeed, some storylines would unfold almost entirely within a character's office as they fired off letters, received intelligence, and debated strategy. That, at this stage anyway, Jordan is able to make this readable and compelling is a testament to his often-underrated storytelling skills.

The fifth book in The Wheel of Time opens by picking up the storylines from the previous volume. Rand has convinced several of the Aiel clans to accept him as their chief-of-chiefs, and he makes preperations to lead them back into the Westlands. However, his task is complicated when the Shaido clan rejects him and launches a devastating invasion of the kingdom of Cairhien. Rand is forced to take his troops in pursuit before he can secure the loyalty of the remaining neutral clans, leaving his forces exposed to possible attack on two sides. Meanwhile, Nynaeve, Elayne, Thom and Juilin have extracted themselves from the civil war in Tarabon but now face the task of crossing the hostile nation of Amadicia, the stronghold of the Children of the Light and a country where channelling is outlawed. At the same time, a fanatic claiming to be the 'Prophet of the Dragon' is ravaging the kingdom to the north, Ghealdan. Back in Tar Valon, the Aes Sedai have splintered into opposing factions, with Elaida seizing control of the White Tower and a 'Tower-in-Exile' opposed to her rule establishing itself elsewhere, but the latter's stance towards Rand is unclear. Finally, the Forsaken are preparing a trap to neutralise Rand once and for all.

There's certainly a lot going on in The Fires of Heaven and Jordan mostly handles these storylines with aplomb, switching between them to stop things getting stale and delivering a relentless pace to Rand, Mat and Egwene's story, which has them chasing the Shaido hundreds of miles and culminating in the biggest battle in the entire series (to date, anyway). However, the first few cracks in the series' structure are becoming apparent. Given the distances traversed by Rand in his story, Jordan had to find a way of slowing down Elayne and Nynaeve's trip across a much smaller area so events would converge as he needed them to. His solution was to whack them in a very slow-moving circus as it traverses Amadicia, which leads to the first chapters in the entire series so far which don't actually seem to advance plot or character, but merely keep things ticking over for some of the characters. With events proceeding pretty rapidly elsewhere, the cutting-away to Elayne learning to walk a tightrope or Nynaeve being followed around by the lovelorn circus-owner really kills the pace of the book, making it a sluggish read in places. Some readers may also bemoan the lack of any appearance by Perrin in this book. Whilst Jordan had downplayed some characters' appearances in previous novels (Rand in the third, most notably), this is the first time one of the major characters from the first book doesn't appear at all.

Jordan makes up for these issues with the ferocious climax. At the end of the book Rand unleashes a blitzkrieg as a huge battle is fought with the Shaido and he has to face down two of the Forsaken in separate, desperate duels with the One Power. During these few chapters an enormous number of important events in the series take place, several important new characters are introduced and no less than five recurring characters are (apparently) killed off. This section of the book really repays careful rereads, as you can see how Jordan impressively set up events ahead of time. In fact, this may be the most dynamic part of the entire series to date and makes for great reading. However, be warned that a fairly big mystery is introduced at the end of Book 5 that has still not been conclusively answered more than 15 years later, although Brandon Sanderson has promised us a definitive answer in the final book of the series.

The Fires of Heaven (****) is a solid installment of the series, with a sometimes leaden pace and a very tedious subplot (the circus) more than made up for by the highly impressive climax and the way Jordan deftly spins the series' course onto a new heading (although this also lays the seeds for some extremely dubious writing decisions in the books to come).

Editorial Review:

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and go. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

Lord of Chaos (The Wheel of Time, Book 6)

Robert Jordan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 306 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A great bounce back after the turgid book 5 5 out of 5 stars.
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Book 6 has none of the fluff of book 5. The pace of the book slows to a sinister crawl towards the middle and then speeds up towards a cracking finale. I think it is one of the best in the series, up there with vols 2, 3, 4 The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn and The Shadow Rising. The political intrigue reaches a climax and Rand's paranoia is increasingly justified. This book is largely about Rand, Egwene, Perrin.

I always find it strange that people wax lyrical about book 1, which I thought has the most stupid last 200 pages of any of the books in the series.

Editorial Review:

In this sequel to the phenomenal New York Times bestseller The Fires of Heaven, we plunge again into Robert Jordan's extraordinarily rich, totally unforgettable world:

On the slopes of Shayol Ghul, the Myrddraal swords are forged, and the sky is not the sky of this world;

In Salidar the White Tower in exile prepares an embassy to Caemlyn, where Rand Al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, holds the throne--and where an unexpected visitor may change the world....

In Emond's Field, Perrin Goldeneyes, Lord of the Two Rivers, feels the pull of ta'veren to ta'veren and prepares to march....

Morgase of Caemlyn finds a most unexpected, and quite unwelcome, ally....And south lies Illian, where Sammael holds sway....

The Dragon Reborn: Book Three of 'The Wheel of Time'

Robert Jordan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 297 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

This is when it was good to be a WOT-er 4 out of 5 stars.
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Man, these were the good old days, ya know? Rand and Mat and Perrin were actually DOING things. The women, though still annoying, were not yet gratingly so.
Tollocs and fades still make appearances...and the plot advances.

The series should have ended a book or two after this one.
Instead, Jordan turned "rich storytelling" into straight up word mongering.

Regardless, this is one of the gems. There is a real pace set by Rand's march towards the Stone and the reader is actually rewarded in the end.

If you're new to the story, beware!
All the books aren't like this.

Stem

Editorial Review:

Readers have eagerly snapped up more than a million copies of The Dragon Reborn, the third book in the #1 internationally bestselling Wheel of Time series, and now Robert Jordan fans will be able to enjoy it in a beautiful trade paperback edition.Robert Jordans Wheel of Time has over ten million copies in print in over twenty languages.The Dragon Rebornthe leader long prophesied who will save the world, but in the saving destroy itis on the run from his destiny, able to touch the One Power but unable to control it.Perrin Aybara, bedeviled by dreams, is in pursuit with Moiraine Sedai, her Warder Lan, and Loial the Ogier. Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve are approaching Tar Valon, where Mat will be healedif he lives until they arrive. But who will tell the Amyrlin their newsthat the Black Ajah, long thought only a hideous rumoris all too real?Ahead for them all, in the Heart of Stone, lies the next great test of the Dragon Reborn . . .

A Crown of Swords (The Wheel of Time, Book 7)

Robert Jordan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 662 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Slows down 3 out of 5 stars.
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3.5 stars. This is the 7th book in the Wheel of Time series, and only a few days have passed since the conclusion of the last book, Lord of Chaos.

At the conclusion of Lord of Chaos, Rand had been freed from the imprisonment by the White Tower Aes Sedai sent by Elaida, the Amrylin Seat of the Tower, to capture him and bring him to her to guide and use as the White Tower chose. It is while on the march to Tar Valon that Rand frees himself, and a great battle is fought there with Rand and his allies being victorious. Due to this event, Rand forces the Aes Sedai there to swear fealty and oaths to him.

It's during this book, A Crown of Swords, where I believe the plot slows down considerably. It doesn't move forward much, but there was enough going on that kept me reading and I did enjoy it overall. Like in the past few books, we get character viewpoints mainly from Egwene, Nynaeve & Elayne, Mat, more from Perrin, and of course Rand the star of the series.

Rand continues to get more insane, he still doesn't believe the voice he hears inside his head is just that, "hearing voices". He still believes it is another person (Lews Therin) talking to him inside his own head. I've always wondered about his denial of the facts, with him refusing to acknowledge the fact that, "Ya know Rand, you *are* going crazy and it is a symptom of channeling tainted saidin!!".

He knows the fate of all male channelers, as he knows the male half of the True Source was tainted by the Dark One's touch during the War of Power thousands of years before. He understands this, yet he still believes that the voice he hears is a separate person from himself (although how he manages to convince himself that a separate person could reside in his own head and converse with him....heh).

Oh well, I don't think it's meant to be rational, Rand's belief the voice is separate from himself. I think in some ways he's desperate to believe Lews Therin's voice in his head *is* a real person, because in his eyes if it's not, he's already insane. Rand has a lot of struggles regarding this, his fate and trying to come to terms with his approaching insanity, not to mention his impending fight with the Dark One and Forsaken at the Last Battle. So, I can almost understand how he may be going insane already. It's already clear he's got some anger management issues (he flies off the handle quite frequently, rages and temper tantrums), and I thought Jordan did a great job over the last few books slowly giving you, the reader, a glimpse of Rand's descent into madness and how it is effecting him already.

Nynaeve & Elayne, with Mat in tow, also continue their search for an object, the Bowl of the Winds, in Ebou Dar that could correct the unseasonably hot weather. Their viewpoints are probably my favorite sections in the book (other than the bits from the Forsaken). Nynaeve & Elayne encounter other women that can channel that may be able to lead them to the Bowl. While Mat is disgruntled and frustrated with having to put up with the 2 women. I enjoyed reading his sections, his thoughts about women, which was hilarious to read about, especially the parts about how horrified he was at the thought of a Queen chasing him. Which was ironically amusing, as Mat's character is very roguish and something of a womanizer. Very funny to be privy to his thoughts concerning what he thought about that!

Egwene struggles to be more than a puppet Amrylin of the rebel Aes Sedai, and succeeds in subtly manipulating the Aes Sedai around her (with the help of the deposed former Amrylin Siuan, who is now an Aes Sedai again after being healed by Nynaeve in Lord of Chaos). One interesting thing with Egwene's section of the book, one of the Forsaken has attached himself (or should I say "herself"?) to Egwene and while it's not clear what his/her orders are, it's obvious the Forsaken was placed with the rebel Aes Sedai and Egwene to cause more trouble for the Light.

That leads me to the roles of the Forsaken in this book. Each book has given more glimpses into the Forsaken, so each new bit of information is like a puzzle piece that fits together into the puzzle of "What is up with the Forsaken?". Like I said before, while their orders aren't entirely clear it isn't hard to piece together what they are doing. Mainly to cause as much chaos and confusion for Rand and his allies. There is also a new Forsaken that appears in this book, named Moridin. It is actually quite easy to figure out who he was before, as Jordan gave clues and if you've paid attention to previous books it's quite easy to solve. Hint hint: the Dark One can bring dead Forsaken back into new bodies to cause more mischief! All the more so because only you, the reader, know this as the characters have no idea about this!

This is one thing I liked about Jordan. He teases with various clues, he doesn't outright explain to the reader, you have to take the pieces he gives you and figure it out. That is what makes this series such interesting reading, you can have many discussions with other readers of the series as there are so many theories, answers, and what if's that you could spend forever musing, "What did Jordan mean by doing it this way?"

Anyways, there is a short fight at the conclusion of this book between Rand and a male Forsaken, but despite the slower scenes and less action I still felt this was a good read. Not my favorite of the books, but not too shabby. There is a lot going on, and it just gets more complex as the series goes on, but IMO, in a good way. It takes patience to read this series, but I think it's worth it. The next book is A Path of Daggers.

Editorial Review:

The eagerly awaited sequel to Lord of Chaos, The New York Times bestseller that swept the nation like a firestorm.

In this volume, Elayne, Aviendha, and Mat come ever closer to the bowl ter'angreal that may reverse the world's endless heat wave and restore natural weather. Egwene begins to gather all manner of women who can channel--Sea Folk, Windfinders, Wise Ones, and some surprising others. And above all, Rand faces the dread Forsaken Sammael, in the shadows of Shadar Logoth, where the blood-hungry mist, Mashadar, waits for prey.

Winter's Heart (The Wheel of Time, Book 9)

Robert Jordan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1094 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Millions of Robert Jordan fans will rejoice at the release of the ninth book in the phenomenally bestselling series The Wheel of Time. The sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller The Path of Daggers, which swept the nation like a firestorm, Winter's Heart continues a remarkable tale that is mesmerizing an entire generation of readers.

Rand is on the run with Min, and in Cairhein, Cadsuane is trying to figure out where he is headed. Rand's destination is, in fact, one she has never considered.

Mazrim Taim, leader of the Black Tower, is revealed to be a liar. But what is he up to?

Faile, with the Aiel Maidens, Bain and Chiad, and her companions, Queen Alliandre and Morgase, is prisoner of Savanna's sept.

Perrin is desperately searching for Faile. With Elyas Machera, Berelain, the Prophet and a very mixed "army" of disparate forces, he is moving through country rife with bandits and roving Seanchan. The Forsaken are ever more present, and united, and the man called Slayer stalks Tel'aran'rhiod and the wolfdream.

In Ebou Dar, the Seanchan princess known as Daughter of the Nine Moons arrives--and Mat, who had been recuperating in the Tarasin Palace, is introduced to her. Will the marriage that has been foretold come about?

There are neither beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it is a beginning....

A Sword from Red Ice (Sword of Shadows)

J.V. Jones

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

good book but some people may be disappointed 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Great world building with many interesting characters and social/political systems in play. Good sensory detail and dialogue. There are more interesting people and story lines running here than in most books. But this books shares the weakness of the later Robert Jordan books: very little happens. It should not take this long for Raif to find the sword, or for Raina to decide to act, or for the dog lord to travel to safety, or for Ash to......by the way, exactly what is she doing except travelling around wondering what it means to be a Reach.

Here is what I would say to people considering buying the book. If you like Jordan and George R. R. Martin, then you are in the right territory here. If that sense of things not really happening bothered you in Jordan's recent books, it will bother you here too. If you are just happy to be inside the world she creates and watch the characters interact and speak and hint at possible futures in which they really will do something except wander around trying to figure out what they should be doing then you will be happy.

Yes, I am hooked enough to buy the next one. I do want to see what Raina will do, where Effie ends up, how Raif will face his future, what Ash's role will be etc.... But I did have that feeling that the book went deadly slowly for 600 pages hinting at significances but never clarifying things, and then suddenly had something big happen to each character so that there seems a promise of action in the next volume.

Let's hope her editor pokes her along a little bit and she gets down to it. I beg the Stone Gods of Blackhail not to let this become a ten volume dragging series like Jordan's work.

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time 2009 Calendar

Robert Jordan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great Calendar 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This calendar is great for any Robert Jordan fan. Some of the digital art prints could have been done better but many of the pictures are top notch.

A little dissapointed, but it is for a good cause 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I was hoping for more descriptive pictures...something to "bring to life" (or match) what I'd come to see in my mind, while reading the books.

I am not dissatisfied though, especially since the proceeds are helping a good cause.

Overall, the calandar is certainly adequate and the pictures are definitely well done.

Editorial Review:

Since its debut in 1990, Robert Jordan’s beloved Wheel of Time® series has become an international phenomenon topping bestseller lists all over the globe. With well over fifteen million books in print, readers have been enjoying Jordan’s lush storytelling for nearly twenty years.

Selected by Robert Jordan himself out of submissions received from Wheel of Time enthusiasts, the twelve pieces of art included in this calendar symbolize the devotion that readers have to Robert Jordan and to the rich world he created.

This calendar is a new way for fans to experience their favorite stories and characters and will be a must-have for Robert Jordan’s millions of fans.

New Spring: The Novel (Wheel of Time)

Robert Jordan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 350 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

From America's premier fantasy writer---#1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Crossroads of Twilight---comes New Spring: The Novel

For three days battle has raged in the snow around the great city of Tar Valon. In the city, a Foretelling of the future is uttered. On the slopes of Dragonmount, the immense mountain that looms over the city, is born an infant prophesied to change the world. That child must be found before the forces of the Shadow have an opportunity to kill him. Moiraine Damodred, a young Accepted soon to be raised to Aes Sedai, and Lan Mandragoran, a soldier fighting in the battle, are set on paths that will bind their lives together. But those paths are filled with complications and dangers, for Moiraine, of the Royal House of Cairhien, whose king has just died, and Lan, considered the uncrowned king of a nation long dead, find their lives threatened by the plots of those seeking power. "New Spring," the novella first published in Legends, related some of these events, in compressed form; New Spring: The Novel tells the whole story.

Out of the Ashes (Ashes Series #1)

William W. Johnstone

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Fascinating 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I read this book more out of curiosity than anything else. I found the now 20 year old political views that swarm the book utterly fascinating, not always in a good way. The book is a not unusual (post) apocalyptic plot, flooded with political views interspersed with rather frank sex discussions. Rather too coarse to be interesting in my opinion, but I suppose that's personal view. No desire to read further into the series because the story line is not strong and not really what the author is bent on communicating. The author's website is kinda interesting, not seen anyone that prolific except certain romance authors. However, his stories are at that level... so I suppose it makes sense.

A Woman's Point of View... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I'm usually a romance book reader, but I was curious & read the back cover & decided to give it a try, something different...

I found the storyline & the dialogue to be very easy-to-read & the story rolled as if written by a 'real' person (if a bit preachy, but the guy sure knows what he believes in!). It's a great 'what-if' story of the ever-popular 'end of the world as we know it by nuclear war'. What if some of the people who are left want to band together, rebuild, create a society that enforces law-abiding, the right to defend yourself & your family, & live in peace ? No racism, no sexism, everyone works somehow, no free-loaders, everyone votes on the basic laws & majority is 90%, not 51%. Anyone who doesn't want to live there, can leave. Must leave. The main character hates 'scum, thugs & slime' of humanity, rape & murder are not tolerated, for any reason, justice is swift, & everyone learns, & carries, firearms, everyone from childhood is taught self-defense. Strong emphasis on Education: if your raise children to be productive, law-abiding citizens, they won't grow up to be 'racists' or 'thugs', or will know the consequences in advance. Age-old question: Would you rob someone or try to hurt someone, if you knew that they & all their family are armed ? Parents are required to teach their children clear right from wrong, so that they are not in doubt, anyone who doesn't do that, are kicked out. These people just want to live in peace & rebuild, health care for all, everyone pulls their share, only wants people who WANT to live there, they don't 'recruit' or 'force' citizenship, they just kick out anyone who doesn't want to follow the rules. No crime, no poverty, no slums...interesting concept.

& in the end, the 'NEW' government after the 'big bomb' that starts back up can't handle an independant society, living separately, prosperous, & in peace. The other side of humanity: the people who want to dominate & control, destroy for their own purposes....

If you believe in the death penalty for murder, rape & child molestation; the right to bear arms; & that governments usually tend towards corruption, then you will LOVE this book. If you are a bleeding-heart that thinks that violent criminals should be 'rehabilitated' & kept in comfortable prisons with cable & access to law libraries to find a loophole to get out, then you will HATE this book. or you will cheer for the 'bad' guys in it.....

The descriptions of the landscape afterwards, the effects of the germ warfare on the survivors, & how the people that are left behind interact are interesting....(it is fiction & what-if, but you never know -- possible)

The weapons talk/descriptions was not as 'cumbersome' as I thought it would be, if you LIKE guns, you will like all their talk & comparisons on which is best for which situation, but if you are like me & not very knowledgable about guns in particular, you can still read without getting lost.
The places that he visits in his travels have interesting back-stories.
One cheesy point -- the phrase 'out of the ashes' occurs ALOT in the story...will make you roll your eyes a few times....

The girl in me found alot of the parts very sad & depressing, especially the parts that are very common among people, even in this 'advanced' day & age. i.e. it's EASY to be racist & HARD to be open-minded & fair. & when some people will work hard to rebuild & help others, there are always other people who will want to kill & destroy & ruin all their hard work & good efforts.....stuff like that....

Definitely worth reading, but I don't think I will attempt all 34 of them....(well, maybe #2, & remember, I'm a GIRL, ha ha !!) :)

Editorial Review:

Searching for his missing family in the aftermath of a post-apocalyptic America, rebel mercenary and patriot Ben Raines is united with the civilians of the Resistance forces and moves to the forefront of a revolution for the nation's future. Reprint.

Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book: 10 3/4 Anniversary Edition

Brian Froud

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Not for Kids 2 out of 5 stars.
9 of 13 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book for my daughters, age 8 and 3. I ordered it online without ever having seen a real copy, but instead looking at the first few pages displayed on the Amazon site; specifically the page with the little 5 year-old girl's handwriting - misspellings and all - about capturing her first fairy. I thought it would be a cute children's book that my daughters would enjoy.

Instead, it turned out to be a very adult book dealing with the theme of sexual repression in turn-of-the-century England. For adults, I thought this was a very good book -- for children, totally inappropriate. I would have appreciated this being addressed in the description of the book since I believe it's presented in a kid's book manner.

*spoilers* As a little girl, Angelica Cottington captures fairies in her book, and blames the little mischief-makers for doing things like stealing her stockings and changing the answers on her homework so that by the morning, her sums, which were correct the day before, are all wrong as to get her in trouble with her Governess.

As Cottington grows up, however, the fairies get the blame for her budding (and guilt-ridden) sexuality. At one point, she goes on holiday to Italy where a potential suitor shows up in her hotel room (after her "chaperone" has taken a sleeping drug and passed out in her own room) and what ensues can possibly be construed as a rape -- Cottington intends to say "no" to the man, but one of the fairies flies into her mouth and twists her tongue into saying yes.

Soon afterwards, she flees back to England where the fairies are more proper (touching on the stereotype that Italians are passionate and English are reserved.) When she gets home, however, the English fairies trick her into taking a hallucinogenic drug ("...the sweet nectar slipped around and over my tongue like a liquid glove of exquisite pleasure or pain -- I could not be sure which ..."), and causes her to take off all her clothes and dance around naked in a field. When she wakes up, a clergyman she has known all her life is hovering over her. She confesses to him that the fairies are making her do horrible things, and he admits to her "'Oh Lady Angelica! Yes! They torment me, too! Those little fairies!" .... His eyes had an unnerving intensity about them and he seemed to have dribbled on his purple front. At the same time, he slipped his arms around my waist. ... Your breasts are whiter than a five pound note ..." -- adding the theme of clergy taking sexual advantage of people they are supposed to be helping in their time of need.

This book would possibly make a good study for a college class on the subject of sexuality and history, particularly Western cultural sexual repression in women. But I REALLY think this book description should come with a warning about the content. It is very easy to misjudge it's intended audience based on what is available to look at on the Amazon website.

Editorial Review:

In 1995 Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book was released to an unsuspecting public. Called "an unstoppable phenomenon" by its publisher, it became an immediate international best-seller. Now 2005 can be named the Year of Lady Cottington with the 10th anniversary of the publication that first exposed the world to the science of fairy exploration.

This volume records in authentic facsimile the latest incarnation of this notorious book along with eight additional pages and enhanced artwork throughout, virtually overflowing with freshly flattened fairies. Former Monty Python member Terry Jones and artist Brian Froud provide a new introduction to place the book in its proper perspective, offering insight into the book's often maligned historic relevance. As a bonus, included is an incriminating DVD showing rare film footage of the elderly Lady Cottington in her garden demonstrating her fairy-squashing technique, as well as a photo gallery, desktop wallpaper, and screensavers.