I'm actually midway through the sixth book in The Wheel of Time as I'm typing this. So why am I reviewing this book? The answer is simple: because as much as I love this series, it's long, it's convoluted, and I tend to miss a lot of things on my first read through. Jordan has his problems in writing, as many as he has strengths, and it necessitated a refresher to his stories.
For the uninformed, The Wheel of Time is infamous for its length. Fifteen book, eleven thousand pages, and 17.5 days of audiobook tracks. It's a commitment.
The prologue was perfect for a book like this. It's short (for a chapter in these books) and it does what it's supposed to do. The tragedy of Lews Therin ends up driving a good deal of the story, of which I approve of.
Getting into the actual story, it starts slow. It takes nearly five chapters for the characters to leave the Two Rivers, but I approve of this. It gives the tiny village of Edmunds Field a sense of coziness and familiarity. In the first chapter we meet our protagonist, Rand al'Thor, his friend Mat Cauthon, Rand's father Tam, the Congars and the Coplins, the mayor Bran, and Cenn Buie the thatcher. The second chapter introduces Ewin Finnegar, Master Luhaun the blacksmith, and the strangers Moiraine and Lan. The third chapter introduces us to our final protagonist, Perrin Aybara, Rand's starting love interest Egwene, the town Wisdom Nynaeve, and the peddler Padan Fain. As you see, there's a lot set up here, and all these characters are clearly defined, both by their personality and their roles in their community. This makes the Two Rivers seem like an actual close knit town, so you really feel bad when, in chapter five, trollocs attack Rand's peaceful farmhouse, when he arrives in the village only to find ir razed, and when Rand and his friends have to leave.
Listening to this, I'm beginning to realize just how good Jordan is at subtle foreshadowing. There were times when something significant happened that I thought little of, like the Myrddraal finding the group at the Stag & Lion after Rand ran into Padan Fain, or the strange sensation Rand feels when he's trying to will Bella to run faster. Even Mat's breakdown I was entirely passing off as mere nerves, even after finding out he took the dagger from Shadar Logoth.
In hindsight, this seems like an odd book out. Here, the characters are unknowns. By the end of the next book, the three boys are either lords or on their way to becoming them, leading armies and the like. It makes it kind of odd to reread this.
I've got to say, I'm waiting for the comic adaptation to get to the Ways. I'll bet they look cool.
Of course, if I'm going to talk about this, I think I need to talk about Jordan's gender politics. I felt like every adult male character in this book was my dad, telling a slightly chauvinistic joke when they were talking about a woman. It actually gets worse in later books, believe it or not. I wasn't really distracted by it yet.
There are a few hiccups in the book. There’s one scene that’s repeated twice, and I really don’t get it.
This book is a lot of exposition. Nearly every culture gets introduced, as does a lot of history. You need to look at this series as a whole, really. The big picture.
I guess I'll spend the rest of the review talking about the characters, and my thoughts on them.
Rand: I'm glad they avoided the "arrogant, headstrong youth looking for adventure" archetype I see in a lot of stories like this. No, Rand acting stupid isn't until the next book. Here, his mistakes seem like the kind of thing anyone being put in danger for the first time might do. He's an everyman, but not a blank slate.
Mat: Mat bugged the hell out of me in this book. After finding out about the dagger, I thought better of him, but I didn't start liking him until the third book. I was a bit surprised he wasn't just comic relief here.
Perrin: I think Perrin is someone we'd all like to be like: cool, collected, and not going about doing really stupid things like Mat and sometimes Rand does. I liked him probably the best out of the trio, mostly because I wished I could take things in stride as he can.
Egwene: ...Eh, there's really not much I have to say about her. In this book, at least, I had trouble seeing her as anything more than a love interest to Rand, at least in the first third. When the group gets separated and she ends up with Perrin, I was surprised. She doesn't grow out of this role until later.
Nyneave: I'll just say it: Nyneave annoys the hell out of me. Her attitude is the number one example of Jordan's skewed gender politics. I never really bought her relationship with Lan, even after looking out for it. In fact, this one book contains the only moment I've liked her so far, when she confronts Rand at the Stag & Lion.
Moiraine: Moiraine, in this book, is pretty flat. She's your typical old mentor, except she's a young (looking) woman. But as I result, I didn't hate the Aes Sedai until later (about book three).
Lan: Again, pretty flat here, barring his relationship (or lack thereof) with Nyneave. We don't even learn why he's serving Moiraine until another book, so... eh.
Thom: This guy's one of my favorite characters. He manages to be a second mentor, only with more playfulness about him. He looks after the three boys, even though he wants nothing to do with Aes Sedai. I don't think that I bought that he was dead, but maybe that's because I saw him listed as a major character in the fandom and this was the first book.
Lolial: Another favorite. I guess I have a soft spot for huge, gently giants. Even though he's mostly an observer in this book.
Whitecloaks: Jordan has successfully gotten me to hate a whole group within one scene, and it only got worse later. It's pretty clear that Jordan didn't think too highly of fundamentalist Christians.
The Tinkers: I’m wondering what commentary Jordan was trying to put in here. Are the Tinkers wise or foolish? Eh...
No rating, because you really need to read the whole series.
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