Winter's Heart
Like every other book in this series, Winter's Heart is incredibly slow to start. But then it starts accelerating, and by the end you don't want to put the book down. It took me the entire bus ride from DC to NYC to read the prologue (which is over 10% of the book), and the ride back to get through Perrin's chapters that are so disconnected and full of moping and miscommunication that I hardly care. There are some characters in that subplot that I care about a lot, but right now it feels stuck.
After that, though, we get Elayne and Mat and all sorts of excitement. There's more about the Seanchan, more poilitics and intrigue. Rand finally carries through with his plot to rid saidin of the taint, and another Forsaken goes down in the meantime. Although they are effectively immortal, and now that Lanfear is back I'm sure Osan'gar will pop up again at some point.
The thing that I really appreciate about these books is that, while the characters all have their own story lines, those stories intersect. Rand and Nynaeve team up. Perrin and Faile run across Sevanna. Mat is neck deep in Seanchan. Unlike A Song of Ice and Fire, where the characters keep moving farther apart from each other, this series maintains relationships that have been important since the beginning, even if the people in them have changed.
I wish there had been more Egwene, but every character sits one book out. And I was nearly halfway through before I really realized she wasn't going to be in this book, even though I sort of know that already. Her story jumped ahead at the end of the last book, and everyone else had to play catch up. That wasn't clear until closer to the end, but it all makes sense now, and I'm excited to see more of her in the next book.
I'm starting to see that this series would really benefit from a re-read once I'm done. It would be fun to go back to the beginning and see hints of later storylines and piece together some more details. Then again, I'm already devoting a year of my life to this series, and I'm not sure I want to do that again. Besides, that's what wikis are for.
From what I've heard, the tenth book is the most panned. I've seen references to a weird structure, and I'm not at all sure what to expect. But after that the books are supposed to get good again. And since I've been enjoying it, even through this downturn, I'm excited for the ending.
After that, though, we get Elayne and Mat and all sorts of excitement. There's more about the Seanchan, more poilitics and intrigue. Rand finally carries through with his plot to rid saidin of the taint, and another Forsaken goes down in the meantime. Although they are effectively immortal, and now that Lanfear is back I'm sure Osan'gar will pop up again at some point.
The thing that I really appreciate about these books is that, while the characters all have their own story lines, those stories intersect. Rand and Nynaeve team up. Perrin and Faile run across Sevanna. Mat is neck deep in Seanchan. Unlike A Song of Ice and Fire, where the characters keep moving farther apart from each other, this series maintains relationships that have been important since the beginning, even if the people in them have changed.
I wish there had been more Egwene, but every character sits one book out. And I was nearly halfway through before I really realized she wasn't going to be in this book, even though I sort of know that already. Her story jumped ahead at the end of the last book, and everyone else had to play catch up. That wasn't clear until closer to the end, but it all makes sense now, and I'm excited to see more of her in the next book.
I'm starting to see that this series would really benefit from a re-read once I'm done. It would be fun to go back to the beginning and see hints of later storylines and piece together some more details. Then again, I'm already devoting a year of my life to this series, and I'm not sure I want to do that again. Besides, that's what wikis are for.
From what I've heard, the tenth book is the most panned. I've seen references to a weird structure, and I'm not at all sure what to expect. But after that the books are supposed to get good again. And since I've been enjoying it, even through this downturn, I'm excited for the ending.
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