This is the first Wheel of Time book I haven’t enjoyed more than the last. I was hoping the loss of narrative control I’d been warned about would start later for me than book five. It varies from person to person, from all the reviews I’ve read; some people note a decline starting with this one, others as late as eight, some never (though those are rare, at least in my friends’ GR reviews). Even though I ended up enjoying this book more than I enjoyed the first book in the series (which I thought very derivative), it doesn’t quite live up to the last two. There’s just a little bit too much meandering, too much time spent on things that didn’t need to be shown, or that were simply uninteresting for the larger narrative. But the strengths aren’t quite strong enough to drown out the problems.
To be honest, if I didn’t know that these problems with pacing will only grow with each book, they would have been completely bearable, perhaps even ignorable. Many stories I love have sections I don’t enjoy. But when you know it’s just the first sign of symptoms of a larger disease*, they become harder to ignore.
*And that disease is called narrative diarrhea. Or wait, actually, wouldn’t it be chronic narrative constipation? Things are moving sloooowwwly and nothing is happpppeeenning. Poooop joooookes.
Still, for every thing in the book that went on too long (like all the focus on the traveling menagerie, Nynaeve’s obsession with people making her wear low-cut dresses, the ceaseless bickering between all the female characters, and men and women being up each other’s butts all the time), there was actual plot movement and character development. At the beginning of the book, I was ready to strangle Nynaeve. She is arrogant, stubborn, and willfully blind, like a petulant child that thinks it knows everything. She’s also argumentative. It’s not a great combination. But something happens about halfway through that humbles her a great deal, and then she is humbled still further. After that, even though it’s only the beginning of what will probably be a verrrrry slow process of character evolution, she’s much more bearable as she wrestles with her faults. There is also progress for Rand, Mat, Moiraine, and Egwene (though none for Elayne, as Nynaeve takes center stage here) that alleviates some of my concerns with the way things were going for those characters. I still have concerns about Rand, though, and it’s hard to tell from Jordan’s style if he thinks they are problems, as well. He’s too cold and hard and unkind. He has power, but he is not an effective leader, one who inspires trust and loyalty, even if he makes mostly all the right decisions. And yet people follow him.
I’m not quite sure yet how I feel about Rand and his many love interests, so I think I’ll leave that for a future review. I like his relationship with Aviendha for the most part, but that may just be because I like Aviendha.
The main thing that is really starting to bug me, and which stands out much more when things are slow, is the battle of the sexes thing. I am really starting to hate the way Jordan writes his characters. Not only do the sexes constantly bicker with one another and ascribe stupid stereotypes to each other AT ALL TIMES, but he has characters of the same sex doing the same thing. All the women characters are constantly fighting with one another and being petulant. The men proclaim friendship, but you rarely see any evidence of it. I don’t understand why Jordan can’t just have his fucking male and female characters talk to each other first as individual people and not representatives of some foreign nation with different naughty bits. (STOP CALLING MEN FOOLS AND WOOLHEAD, for example. Like, maybe just fucking explain to Rand why that particular thing he just did was not a good idea instead of name-calling and stomping off?) It’s too prevalent not to be the author’s fault, as opposed to intentional flaws in his characters.
Ultimately, I’m still really intrigued by the larger world and story Jordan created, no matter what his asshole characters are up to, and I know that’s what’s going to pull me through the sloggy bits to come.
[3.5 stars]
As you know, I’ve been following your journey through this series, and it’s fun watching your opinion change as you progress. But I think it’s kind of unfortunate that you know so much about how other people perceive the series. I’m glad that when I read it, I was coming to it blind (that’s how I try to approach everything).
Anyway, I think when the series loses you says something about your tastes and even personality. If you’re able to pick up on the subtlety of its degradation in book 5, that’s probably a sign that you’re fairly attentive to what you’re experiencing. If it doesn’t happen until book 8, you’re probably a fairly optimistic person, always holding out hope that things are going to turn around (which they apparently do in this series).
I think Jordan started to lose me here, but I found an increasingly small number of things to enjoy about the next three books, as well.
I always do that. It’s a flaw. I’m a curious bastard. Especially I do it if it’s a pre-existing substantial body of work that is finished. It’s like catnip to me. I spoil myself all to hell most of the time not just about plot but about expectations. In this case I’ve managed to hold off on the plot spoilers for the most part.
I’d like to think that I know myself enough that I can still go into a work open-minded and form my own opinions, but I guess that’s hubris. Anyway, oh well. I like to be emotionally prepared like a weirdo.
I didn’t always used to be such a critical reader. I was definitely of the more optimistic variety. I would have loved this series as a teenager unabashedly.