Another wheel of time book finished, another good time had

Another long story That might sound like a pretty odd and simple title. This whole series is filled with long books. This latest isn't the longest and yet it took a week and a half of reading and audiobook every day. It's an epic for sure. This particular entry in the series is a very strong one filled with some great action, huge plot moments and some real story progression. Have to say, this is the my favourite since the second. Though - my ongoing two major complaints remain: all women in this book are portrayed as short tempered and angry and not a single person in this book has a sense of humour or seems like they have fun - maybe Mat!

Missed Perrin's POV. Nynaeve and Elayne started to get on my nerves in this book. Yes, we know you are annoying, no need to remind us. RJ's women in general are very annoying. Still a very solid book, still love the series. The only question is... (view spoiler)[Who killed Asmodean? (hide spoiler)]

The middle of the book was a bit of a slog. That's my only complaint though, I loved and ate up the rest of the book like I have the first 4 books in the series, and I will be continuing on, even if it takes me 10 more years to do it

overall and in my opinion, this book could have been shorter. there were many innecessary long chapters and descriptions. i'm not saying that there wasn't anything interesting going on in them, but i felt the same point could be expressed without so much... detailed descriptions about dresses and necklines. rand is, definitely, the best character of this book. i love his change of attitude, even if it's sad that his innocence is no longer there. the new air of maturity and resignation towards his destiny around him makes him so compelling. i was counting down the chapters i had left until there was a rand pov again. nynaeve drove me crazy at some points, and i don't even want to talk about egwene. still, nynaeve is my favorite character right after rand and it made me happy that this book relied on them both the most. birgitte was definitely a character that i didn't expect to love so much, but i did. and i hope mat gets his character arc like perrin did in book 4 (i miss perrin a lot i can't believe we didn't see him in the fires of heaven at all...) in the next one because yes!! when mat actually DOES something he shines. and his struggle with destiny itself and his identity as ta'veren needs to be properly explored. my biggest issues with this book were: - how the relationships between women are written. why? just why? why nynaeve, egwene and elayne have to be fighting all the time for silly reasons? saying hurtful things and criticising even what the other is wearing? honestly, most of the time it was as if they hated each other and were performing absurd power plays to see which one of them is the most powerful and smart and brave and on top of the others. i didn't like it at all, especially because they think they're the most mature people in the room and no, they're not. - the thom and elayne thing. like... i can't believe that my eyes had to read that. it was so uncomfortable to see a very young woman flirting with a man who is REPEATEDLY said could be her grandfather. it's true that thom only sees elayne as a daughter, but... what the hell. and then the explanation that elayne was doing it because it was a short of competition with her mother morgase (because thom was her lover when elayne was a kid)? WHAT? please robert jordan do NOT do something like this ever again thank you.

This was bloody brilliant! I want to cry though. A very good book and I hope I love the rest of the series.

Slow start but really picked up at the end with events that I am sure will be important as the story continues. This was not my favorite WoT book so far, but it was still great.

FINALLY back into these. This was slow but slapped at the end (classic Wheel of Time). Was like stepping back into a comfortable dream world though, can't wait to read more.

I thought no Perrin would bother me but this was honestly one of the most enjoyable books so far. I think by now book 4 and 5 are my favourites. I just love this series so much over all

3.5/5 Some strong moments and clearer motivations for characters that sometimes seemed to go through the motion make this entry worthwhile but overall the book was weakened by the absolutely ridiculous behaviour of the female characters and the very slow build-up. Imo it's the weakest book so far but the story continues to be very compelling, despite some choices made with the ladies. I quite hated Egwene for most of this book but I've made my peace with that. And despite Elayne and Nynaeve being particularly catty and tense for no goddamn reason, I quite liked (view spoiler)[their stint in Valan Luca's menagerie because we got to see them in a completely different environment. (hide spoiler)] I cannot wait for (view spoiler)[Moiraine to pull a Gandalf and come back because it's going to be tough without her, especially with her character being so much more open in this book... Man her disappearance HURT me. I'm going to miss her :-( (hide spoiler)]. Anyway, despite the glaring flaws, I'm still fully on board with the Wheel of Time, which in itself is quite surprising because I'd have given up on any other book with the shit that was pulled in this one. I guess it's a testament to how good of a story RJ crafted, even though the storytelling choices can be quite jarring at times.

THE WHEEL OF TIME 1) The Eye of the World ★★★★ 2) The Great Hunt ★★★★★ 3) The Dragon Reborn ★★★★★ 4) The Shadow Rising ★★★★★ 5) The Fires of Heaven ★★★★★ 6) Lord of Chaos ★★★★★ 7) A Crown of Swords ★★★★ ----------------------------------------------- Oh, this was so good. Love how much we got to see of Nynaeve in this one!

** spoiler alert ** 3.5/5 mostly because there was no Perrin story line in this one!! I was kind of expecting him to randomly pop up in a cheap way near the end but very pleased it did not happen. The ending gave it more points overall. I found this one generally boring. More ongoing travelling with a few exciting instances sprinkled in, not much more than that until the end. Menagerie was boring, glad the Shienarans are involved again and the Prophet is an interesting twist too. Rhuidean was a notable moment. Really cool part in general. Love how it bumped Mat’s character up quickly. Though I enjoy learning about the Aiel, I get bored of all their politics and customs. I love this whole dimension of the story, but find it drags on a lot. Rooting for Aviendha and Rand now. I like the dynamic between them. The dream world is a cool element too. Another complex system that is yielding some cool outcomes, especially the end with Nynaeve and Moghadien!!! Love that whole instance. Mixed feelings about Moiraine. Was hoping to see more but this is a twist that makes me look forward to outcomes of it. Elayne and Egwene are annoying me in general currently. Brats in their own ways. Excited to see what happens with Morgase now that Rahvin is out of the picture.. she’s still hunting to get her throne back without knowing it’s now available.. and everyone suspects she’s dead!

ok... I get the hype

A nice continuation of the series. I'll read the next, but I hear it starts to get repetitive not too long after that.

Slogging through!