The Wheel of Time [13] Towers of Midnight (2010)

For the first time since Book 6, we get a new Wheel of Time book a year after the previous one. (I don't count the New Spring prequel that was released between Books 10 and 11 since it's not a main sequence novel. I'll cover New Spring in the next blog post since we still have around 9 months until A Memory of Light comes out.)

I can't tell you, after following this series for nigh 20 years, how great it was to get a new volume right away like that. It was awesome. We can chalk this up to all the hard work Brandon Sanderson did in the previous 2 years, since a good chunk of the material in this book had already been written, since he first approached this task with the mindset that he would only be writing one single book. When that didn't happen, material that chronologically would have happened earlier got pushed to this next volume, the second of the Sanderson Trilogy, as I've dubbed it.

This jumping around in time to fill in what happened with Perrin and Mat while Rand and Egwene were getting a full story arc in The Gathering Storm can be a bit confusing, especially when it comes to the appearances of Rand's father, Tam al'Thor. More on that later.

Before you continue:

• This is part 13 of my The Wheel of Time retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of the series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES

Thoughts Then

As usual, I took a few days off of work when the book came out and picked it up from my local Books-A-Million first thing in the morning. It was on a prominent display right at the entrance and when I brought it up to the counter, the lady there huffed and said, "I just finished setting that up!" I guess she was surprised someone came in first thing to buy it. Anyway, I continued on to the Silver Diner in Reston, VA for breakfast. Then it was back home to read. I read it straight through and finished it in two days.

I thought the book was awesome. Once again, the story moved along at a clip and many other storylines were getting resolved, fan theories years in the making were falling left and right, boring characters had become interesting again, and some of the last few Randland locations were finally being visited (Saldaea and Kandor... at this point Arafel and Mayene are the only major Randland nations we haven't actually visited in the main narrative). By the end, everyone is gathering for the meeting Rand has called at the Field of Merrilor, where he will tell them all what he plans to do at Shayol Ghul and essentially begin the Last Battle.

Reading about such happenings is bittersweet. On one hand I was very excited to actually see them doing it: getting in place for the Last Battle. On the other, it meant the story was almost over, and while I've felt that this has gone on far too long at times, you never want a good thing to end.

It was also a bit strange. Over the years my expectation would be that they get into large scale battles and it would all move to Shayol Ghul and come to head in the Last Battle. Instead, Rand just suddenly decides to break seals on some arbitrary day and lets everyone know in advance. I think there will be more to it than that, but at the end of the book that's the impression you're left with and I was not expecting it.

Sanderson Improves

Overall, I feel Sanderson improved quite a bit with this novel, compared to The Gathering Storm. Mat read much better and sounded just like the Mat of old. He got all the characters right (in my opinion) and did justice to all the major characters. In this book you can definitely tell the difference between Sanderson and Jordan when it comes to WoT; Sanderson is a bit more action-oriented and his style is more urgent than Jordan's. I believe that more of Jordan's remaining material made it into The Gathering Storm than this volume, from what Sanderson has said.

One thing I enjoy about Sanderson's work compared to Jordan's, is that even with so many character threads to deal with, he rarely lets anything drag. That's partly due to all the climaxes happening, but also to the way he structures the novels, with the POV shifting frequently... rarely do you get the same POV more than two chapters straight, compared to the blocks of 4-5 chapters with the same POV that Jordan favored (even in books that had a lot going on). Sanderson also frequently changes the POV within chapters when he doesn't even need to, something Jordan rarely did.

Speaking of differences, something I noticed while writing this blog... I kept wanting to call Brandon Sanderson "Brandon," rather than Sanderson. If you go online, you'll notice people generally call Robert Jordan by "Jordan," whereas Sanderson gets the first name treatment. I suppose that's due to the fact that he's younger and is really just a fan of the series like the rest of us. I mean, he plays Magic the Gathering with fans after signings. It just shows how much he likes to stay connected with his audience.

Perrin Becomes Cool Again

Ever since Dumai's Wells in Book 6, Lord of Chaos, Perrin has been rather boring to me. Instead of embracing the leadership offered to him, he constantly pushed it away, and it got tiresome very quick. In this book, we can see why it happened that way and when he finally takes the mantle of leadership, it's a great relief, because after 7 books, it was old and I stopped enjoying his storylines because of it.

The whole Whitecloak/Perrin storyline was something I could have cared less about—all the overblown stink about killing two Whitecloaks back in Book 1—and the only part of this book that I found "boring" were the Perrin chapters leading up to the battle between the Whitecloaks, Perrin's forces and the Shadowspawn. In the end all of that resolved nicely, the forging of Mah'alleinir was a great, iconic scene and Perrin finally accepts himself for himself, so to speak.

Perrin the Badass

Like some others, I felt the confrontation between Slayer and Perrin in Tel'aran'rhiod seemed too Matrix-like, but I'm not sure how else it could have been done. That's the nature of the dream world. It does make me wonder how Jordan would have handled it, because he and Sanderson write action scenes a lot differently, as I noted earlier.

Love is in the Air

One thing that stood out to me in this novel, and quite frankly bothered me a bit, was how everyone was suddenly getting married or bonded. Of course, there have been relations between these characters throughout the series, but now they all finally get together and commit. As if they don't think they'll survive the Last Battle, so what the hell let's get it on!

Take a look at the body count:

• Egwene and Gawyn
• Siuan and Gareth
• Morgase and Tallanvor
• Berelain and Galad
• Thom and Moiraine

Some of these we've been expecting, but all in the same book? It feels like too much and sticks out to me. At the end of the day, though, I have to trust that what's in the books is what Jordan intended, and Sanderson just made sure they happened somewhere, which happened to be in the same book.

Despite all that, the Thom and Moiraine one feels out of place to me. Given Thom's history with Aes Sedai, and how I've always viewed Moiraine, I have trouble reconciling it all.

Zen Rand

After the "Veins of Gold" chapter in Book 12, The Gathering Storm, we've gone from hardcore Rand to a cooler, more zen-like Rand. He finally stops fighting his fate and everyone else, and begins to turn into the Messiah figure that most of us have expected. Given that I've been on Rand's side the entire series, and have been frustrated with the way others treat him—except for the second half of The Gathering Storm, when he went off the deep end—it was great to see him like this. He felt real again. And for the first time, it felt like he was really in charge.

I loved it when he nonchalantly strode into the White Tower and coolly informed Egwene that he intended to break the Seals on the Dark One's prison. He notices Darkfriends at a glance now. Cadsuane doesn't bother him anymore. He apologizes to his adoptive father, Tam al'Thor, in a touching scene. His mere presence brings life back to the land in that immediate area, and persistent cloud cover retreats. In Maradon he bitchslaps a gigantic army of Shadowspawn, using the One Power on a scale we have never before seen in the series. He's so full of awesomeness in this book, and I can't wait to see what he does in the final volume.

There are all kinds of theories about what will really happen during Tarmon Gai'don... will Rand truly die? Will he be reborn somehow? I figure he will be reborn somehow. With all the suffering and pain he's been through, he deserves to have some kind of normal life in anonymity. That would be the greatest reward for him, I think.

Some Borderland and Shadowspawn Love

As I mentioned earlier, the Borderlands get some love this volume, though you might not call hordes of Shadowspawn descending on the various nations "love." You know what I mean, though. The Borderlands, the Blight and Shadowspawn in general have been fairly lacking for many volumes, though it hasn't been as bad as the disappearance of Padan Fain. All these elements were introduced right away in Book 1, The Eye of the World, but they get short shrift as the series progresses and expands to other areas. Now they are back in force. Except for Fain, who only has a brief cameo here.

The assaults on the Kandori towers and Maradon really usher in the feeling that the Last Battle is around the corner. I can only hope that we might visit Arafel in the last book and see what's going on there.

The highlight of all this, though, is Lan's story, as he travels from World's End in Saldaea to Tarwin's Gap in dead Malkier. Here is yet another person who doesn't want to be a leader (there are a lot of those in this series, aren't there?) and I wish we could have spent more time on him, but I like how Sanderson handled this, spreading it across the whole of the novel. The whole attack at Tarwin's Gap at the end reminds me of The Lord of the Rings, where Aragorn leads an army against the Black Gates to distract Sauron's Eye as Frodo and Sam approach Mt. Doom to destroy the Ring. The parallels between the characters and situations from both stories are fairly obvious.

Lan = Aragorn, Tarwin's Gap = Black Gate

Considering all the LotR references and homages in WoT, it would not surprise me if that was deliberate on Jordan's part. But then, considering how timelines have shifted around between POVs throughout the last few volumes, this could be something that happens after the Field of Merrilor and all that. I'm especially curious to see where it fits into everything else. My guess is we might have many battles against Shadowspawn around Randland to take care of before Tarmon Gai'don itself, based on the end of this book, with Shadowspawn in Caemlyn and the Borderlands.

A Decent Cover

It's fitting that Darrell K. Sweet's last published cover for the series (before he died in December 2011) is a good one. At least the proper scene for the cover was chosen. Once they knew the Tower of Ghenjei would be in the book, how could they not choose something related to it for the cover?

Of course, there are always those little details of characters we've known for so many years that Sweet still manages to get wrong, but I won't complain about them anymore. Noal looks good, pretty much as I imagined him. All in all, a decent effort and I don't find it embarrassing to carry around a book featuring this cover. And better yet, no human trollocs on the back!

The Tower of Ghenjei

Now to discuss the cover scene itself. The crown jewel of Towers of Midnight, it's the last major scene, when Mat finally enters the Tower of Ghenjei to rescue Moiraine and outwit the Aelfinn and Eelfinn one more time. Mat killing the gholam was nice and all, but Ghenjei is the pinnacle of Mat's storyline so far. As I mentioned in a previous blog, it had been hinted at for a number books, then confirmed in Book 11, Knife of Dreams, when we finally get to read the letter Moiraine left for Thom before she disappeared into the red ter'angreal doorframe in Cairhien way back in Book 5.

When the cover art for this book was announced, we all knew the scene would be coming. But what would it be like? Would it live up to all the hype?

The Snakes and Foxes chapter
icon, by Matthew C. Nielsen

For me, it lived up to the hype and more. It was wonderfully written and I don't particularly care how much is Jordan or Sanderson. To finally read this sequence, one which we've been waiting forever for, was amazing. The secret of the ashandarei I did not see coming at all and it stunned me, was one of those shocking moments that very few books or movies have been able to deliver for me. I couldn't stop laughing—it was amazingly clever and it surprised me that no one ever thought the ashandarei might have some other greater purpose.

The reveal that Noal was the legendary Jain Farstrider was no big surprise; most of us had figured it out by then. But I like how it was done, and it was great to see him meet his end as a true hero and redeem himself for how he was "used" by the Shadow in the past. I do wish Jordan had done more with his character throughout the series, but I'm happy with what we have.

Overall, this sequence was so awesome, I immediately re-read it both during my first read and this re-read. It's easily my favorite in the entire series after Dumai's Wells (Book 6, Lord of Chaos), in terms of awesomeness and emotional impact. It's one of those iconic scenes that all fans will always remember.

The Future of Randland

Aviendha's second trip through the columns in Rhuidean, where she sees a possible future after Tarmon Gai'don, was not something I was expecting. Jordan had stated before that there would be many loose ends when the series concluded, and that there wouldn't be this happy ending with everybody happy and peaceful. The Dragon would break the world again and shatter nations. There has been this ominous feeling for a while now, that after Rand did his duty at Tarmon Gai'don, people would just go back to their petty ways, fighting amongst themselves once again. It's pretty much confirmed, based on the fact that Rand has to force many of them to do his bidding.

That's the saddest part of the entire series for me. What might possibly happen to the Aiel (based on Aviendha's visions) in the future is heartbreaking. These once proud people—essentially my favorite culture in the series—are shattered and destroyed, eventually succumbing to the dominion of the Seanchan and technology. Aviendha might still have a chance to change it, but we may never know.

It's disappointing to think that all the nations would just go back to their scheming and warring once the Last Battle is over. It's human nature, I suppose. As long as there are different cultures and points of view, people are going to fight each other.

A Double Signing

Going to Sanderson's signing this time around was a last minute decision. I had already met him on the tour for The Gathering Storm. He was coming back to the same bookstore, a Borders in Bailey's Crossroads, VA, and I didn't really want to go there, because it was a hassle to get to compared to where I lived in Reston. But at the last minute I decided to go, mainly because Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan's widow, was going to be there.

So I trekked on out once more and bought a hardback copy of The Way of Kings (Book 1 of Sanderson's new The Stormlight Archive series) to get a signing number. There were a ton of people as usual.

Harriet did a reading from Towers of Midnight, then they both answered a number of questions. One that stood out was why they didn't release the ebook version on the same day as the hardback (lots of grumbling about this online when the book came out). Harriet said it was because the bestseller lists don't count ebooks in the sales figures (obviously, since it's a hardback list). They basically wanted to ensure it was a bestseller (though I doubted they needed to do that, given that the books have consistently been #1 since Book 8).

When I got up to the table for signatures, I asked Sanderson if he was going to let The Stormlight Archive go on for 15 years or more like The Wheel of Time. It probably sounded a bit snide in retrospect, as I'm a bit disillusioned on extremely long (like 15+ years) series these days. Obviously, though, a 10 book series is going to take a while, and he said it would be at least 10 years—probably more due to finishing up The Wheel of Time. I will get around to reading it eventually, once a few more volumes come out. For now it's just sitting on my shelf; lots of other things to read first.

It was a pleasure to meet Harriet McDougal, and not knowing what else to say, I merely thanked her for continuing her husband's legacy and seeing that the series is finished. She signed the copyright page of my book, which marks the first time I've had an editor sign one of my books.

So thank you, Harriet, once again, for helping to finish this series. You don't know how much I appreciate it.

Next:

Prequel – New Spring

Previous:

Book 12 – The Gathering Storm
Book 11 – Knife of Dreams
Book 10 – Crossroads of Twilight
Book 9 – Winter's Heart
Book 8 – The Path of Daggers
Book 7 – A Crown of Swords
Book 6 – Lord of Chaos
Book 5 – The Fires of Heaven
Book 4 – The Shadow Rising
Book 3 – The Dragon Reborn
Book 2 – The Great Hunt
Book 1 – The Eye of the World
Retrospective Overview

The Wheel of Time [11] Knife of Dreams (2005)

In my division of the series, Knife of Dreams doesn't fit into a nice grouping. The feel of the book is half of the previous trilogy and half of the next trilogy, as though you're straddling the border between two countries, one foot in each. I consider it a Prologue to the Conclusion. The Conclusion ends up being the Sanderson Trilogy, which is coming up next. For those who haven't been keeping track, here's my personal division of the series:

Setup Trilogy = 1-3
Action Trilogy = 4-6
Bridge / Midpoint = 7
Wandering Trilogy = 8-10
Conclusion Prologue = 11
Sanderson Trilogy = 12-14

Despite its "odd man out" status, it's a good book, in my opinion the best overall entry in the series since Book 6, Lord of Chaos. It's worth slogging through the Wandering Trilogy to get to this point, because pretty much everything is awesome from here on out.

Before you continue:

• This is part 11 of my The Wheel of Time retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of the series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES

Coming Back to the Series

When we left off last time, I was extremely upset by the last volume in the series, Crossroads of Twilight. After all the years I had invested in WoT, that book was so disappointing that I vowed I wouldn't continue the series until it was complete.

Obviously, it didn't work that way. Like Kevin Smith and Star Wars, it seems I am predisposed to like this series, no matter what happens to it or in it. It took almost three years for this book to come out, and the more I heard about it and after reading some early reviews, I couldn't help myself. As before, I repeated to myself, "One more chance, Jordan. One more."

In 2005 I was firmly ensconced in Reston, VA, having bought a condo there, working for Nextel Retail Stores in their Finance department, which merged with Sprint in the middle of that year.  I started playing guitar in a new band, Raising Water by Fire, more of a hardcore band than the straight metal I was used to.  The hype of a new WoT novel hit me and I decided to get involved with an online community and interact a little more with other fans of the series. I had lurked on many of the sites for years, but never felt compelled to join one. Finally I did, tarvalon.net.

I joined in early 2005 under the name of Crowl Rife. I got involved in the forums – mainly just General Discussion and the like, never did any of the Ajah or Tower group stuff there – and hung around for quite a while. I just recently logged in for the first time in years, and it appears that in 2010 they restarted their forums or something; all my post history there is gone. Sucks... I wanted to walk a bit down memory lane and relive some my posts. Oh well.

Anyway, I used to be on it at work all the time, and I was pumped for Knife of Dreams. During the course of the year I did a full re-read of the series for the first time since Book 8, The Path of Daggers, back in 1998. This was more to refresh myself on the early books, as opposed to the newer ones, which I still didn't like. I zipped through the re-read, going from the prequel that had released the year before (New Spring, which I'll cover in a separate blog post later) to Book 10 in less than 3 months, finishing up two days before the Knife of Dreams release.

Thoughts Then

Like clockwork, I found myself at a local bookstore, Books-A-Million, on the morning of release. This time I actually took two days off of work so I could just sit and read it straight through. I was the first one in the door when the store opened, grabbed my copy, then headed off to the Silver Diner for breakfast and a little reading.

They have great milkshakes, FYI

The Silver Diner in Reston, VA became my go-to place to celebrate the next two WoT releases, The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight. I'm not sure if I'll go anywhere when A Memory of Light comes out... most likely I'll take work off again and just read at home.

Before reading, I flipped through the book, looking at chapter titles and icons. Most times the chapter titles are generic enough to not give anything aside from a POV away, but at this point I didn't care about spoilers. I cared about Things Happening. When I saw the new snakes & foxes icon for Chapter 10, "A Village in Shiota," my heart skipped a beat. Could we really be doing something about Moiraine, Mat and the Aelfinn/Eelfinn? It had been theorized for so long, but there had yet to be confirmation in the books. I then saw the names for Chapters 28 and 29, "In Malden" and "The Last Knot," respectively. Could Perrin possibly rescue Faile? Seriously? The last chapter, "Prince of the Ravens," alluded to the marriage of Mat and Tuon.

I was very excited just checking the chapter titles. So I dove in with high expectations.

So what did I think? I liked the prologue (as usual, they released an eBook version over the summer, which I skipped), but found the first half of the book fairly dull, and not much better than the previous volume. Off to a bad start. But when I finally got to the Rand chapters, the book took off and didn't let up the rest of the way.

Things Happen!

Finally. Finally many significant things were happening in a WoT novel. Storylines that had been dragging on for the last 3-4 books were resolving. No more Perrin whining about Faile. No more Elayne trying to get the Lion Throne. Both seven year tangents that were now thankfully done.

More of the Black Ajah who had disappeared way back in Book 3 are rounded up and taken care of here, though there are still a couple unaccounted for as of now. Mat and Tuon get married, something we've been waiting for since Book 4. Discussing the rescue of Moiraine. Another capture of a Forsaken.

And real signs that Tarmon Gai'don is just around the corner are here... not just the occasional ghost or weevil like in Crossroads of Twilight, but real events, like Nynaeve dropping Lan off at World's End to start gathering up the Borderlanders for Tarmon Gai'don. Reading that chapter actually brought a tear to my eye, it's very well done. Rand trying to make a truce with the Seanchan, since it's obvious he could not conquer them. The pieces are starting to move into their final places.

It was such a relief to see Jordan back on track. Back then Books 8-10 were a pointless tangent to me. I wanted to get back to the three ta'veren and the meat of the story.

Thoughts Now

As I did when I first read it, I found the first half of the novel to still be slow. Knowing that it gets more awesome kept me going, though, and I zipped through the second half in just a couple of days. I like the lead up to Faile's rescue much better now, and I must admit I like that entire sequence in this book—I just don't like all the lead up and dithering around Perrin does in the last two books.

But what I like most about this one is the additional insight into the Seanchan world. We learn of the death of the Empress and chaos in Seandar in the prologue, which is a great twist that I never expected. We get more POVs from Seanchan characters, and the one by Tuon is fantastic, the way she calls Mat "Toy" in her thoughts and the way she is surprised by him once they rejoin the Band of the Red Hand. Overall, Jordan involves them a lot more in this novel than in past ones, and it's at this point that they no longer feel like a peripheral force to me; they are fully entrenched in the "Randland" continent and now have a part to play in the Last Battle. I always hoped Jordan would actually spend time on the Seanchan continent, but I'll take what I can get.

I also think it's interesting how some characters are only just now hearing about Dumai's Wells (the conclusion of Book 6, Lord of Chaos). News travels pretty slow when you don't have the ability to Travel... we've been used to Travelling for a number of volumes now, so it's weird to still encounter that—among the White Tower Aes Sedai of all people! It shows how far behind everyone else they've fallen. Once at the forefront of events in the world, they are now bringing up the rear and risk being left behind if don't accept change.

The one thing that's still lacking at this point, though, is the Black Tower. We get a little bit of it in this volume, but it still feels out of place sometimes. I wish Jordan had been able to spend more time there, showing how it expanded, though we can easily infer that from the few glimpses we do get. I never understood why Rand didn't visit them more. He surely knows what's going on there, yet doesn't try to put Taim in his place. I very much liked how Logain was featured more in this volume, but the whole Black Tower storyline is still unresolved heading into the final book, so we're going to have to wait until then to figure it all out (and finally learn how Demandred has been involved in the Black Tower, as we all know he has). Most likely Taim and his followers will be fighting for the Shadow.

Another Horrible Cover

Another WoT novel, another Sweet cover. This time we get a glimpse into Perrin's tent, which is super exciting and just makes me want to snap up the book and immediately read it. The depiction of Gaul and Galina I am fine with, even Grady on the back, and I do like the color scheme for this one, but I hate this version of Perrin. He looks to be in his 30s and has the typical look of many Sweet characters, which unsurprisingly looks like Sweet himself. He also appears to be a younger version of the dude behind him, which I'm guessing is Arganda.

The golden eyes could have been more prominent...

In addition, the title/author on the spine of the dust jacket is now vertical, rather than horizontal. The Eye of the World was vertical, then everything after that was horizontal...until Knife of Dreams. Suddenly they are vertical again (the next two volumes are vertical too). Why the sudden change? I don't really understand that, and I don't like the way it looks when all the books are in a row on the shelf. Stick with the same design the entire way through, Tor. Makes me think of A Song of Ice and Fire, they have like 4 different U.S. cover designs now, they get rebranded every couple of years it seems.

A Memory of Light Publication Date

A quick note about the final volume, A Memory of Light. While I was finishing up my re-read of Knife of Dreams, Tor announced the publication date for A Memory of Light: January 8th, 2013. Brandon Sanderson had been hinting at November 2012 for a long while now, but apparently Tor and Harriet McDougal (Jordan's widow and editor), decided they needed more time to get the book polished.

The delay doesn't bother me at all. January is only 2 months later than November, and I wasn't expecting it until then anyway. What's another couple of months when you've already been waiting 20 years?

In the end, I suppose I started my final re-read a bit too early. I was hoping for a fall 2012 release... now it will be over half a year until I can read and blog about the final book.

My Only Robert Jordan Signing

This time around, I decided to attend a Robert Jordan signing. In retrospect it was a good thing I did, because I would have never gotten another chance.

I never went to a Jordan signing before for a couple of reasons. One was that I lived in Nebraska until 2001, and I don't believe he ever came close to Omaha or Lincoln for a signing (I could be wrong). Terry Goodkind stopped by Omaha once when Faith of the Fallen (from his Sword of Truth series) released, and I went to that one, but in general Nebraska and surrounds is not a popular area for signings by NYT Bestselling fantasy authors.

As for the other reason... I just never paid much attention to it. I'm not big on signings, to be honest. It's cool to meet an author in person, but I find that I never have anything interesting to say when I go up to get something signed, I feel awkward doing it, and I just don't enjoy sitting around for an hour or two waiting for something anymore. I've done my fair share of that for concerts and the like over the years.

In the case of Knife of Dreams, though, I learned about Jordan's signing tour through tarvalon.net, the WoT fansite I mentioned earlier, and I decided to go since he would be coming near where I lived for once. Another member of tarvalon.net said he'd be at the signing too, and we discussed it and told each other what we'd be wearing so we could chat there. Unfortunately I don't remember what that person's name was, and since those forums are gone I'll never know.

The signing was at Olsson's Books, in Arlington, VA, on October 19, 2005. It was a smaller bookstore, and like many other small bookstores, they now appear to be closed for good (according to their website). I had never been there before, and I left work early the day of the signing to take the Metro (DC subway) into Arlington.

I was a half-hour early, bought my hardback copy of New Spring there so I could get a signing number, then sat and waited. I met the guy from tarvalon.net and we chatted a bit, then sat and read while waiting for Jordan. I was very excited for this signing. I was excited to meet Jordan, listen to him talk, do the Q&A and all the other stuff I kept hearing about regarding his signings over the years.

In retrospect, I think that day was a bad day for Jordan. He was late because of traffic, he said, and maybe he was feeling unwell. In any event, I personally found the signing to be somewhat disappointing, and Jordan seemed irritated, almost like he didn't want to be there. Or maybe it was just me, and I was expecting too much based on reports from all the past signings. And maybe he was getting tired of them and having to field the same questions.  Who knows.

I actually submitted a report of the signing to Dragonmount.com, which they posted and which I just now found mirrored on the Wheel of Time Wiki (a newer reference site). Here it is in full:

Hey, I was at the RJ signing last night (10/19) at Olsson’s Books in Arlington, VA. I’ve been reading the series for nigh 13 years now, but this was my first time attending one of his signings. I would have to say it was a bit of a disappointment...he showed up about 10 minutes late and went through his normal pronunciation spiel looking slightly perturbed. He then reiterated the answers for what have seemed to become the most oft asked questions this time around: Book 12 will be done when he’s finished with it, it will be last one no matter what, Infinity of Heaven is the next thing he’s doing, the two WoT prequels will be done at some point in the future, and that he’s come up with an idea for a trilogy of “outrigger” novels in the WoT world, but that he has to let it stew for a few years before he decides on doing it. Then, probably because he arrived late, he skipped the Q&A and went straight to signing. Somewhat disappointing, as the event was billed as a Q&A / Signing, and the Q&A was the main reason I went in the first place. I would have liked to just hear him talk for a little bit.

Anyway, when he signed my books I just asked him what he thought of the Darrell K. Sweet covers, and he said they were okay, but that he has minimal input on them. Sometimes he suggests scenes, and when he gets to look at the paintings prior to publication he suggest changes, but in the end basically Tor does whatever they want with it. A friend of mine ahead of me in line asked RJ if he would ever do any more Conan books and he said no, he only did them because he needed the money at the time. Obviously, he doesn’t need money anymore. ;^) So that’s it. Nothing too exciting. At least I got to finally meet him after so long.

Yes, of course I asked him about the Sweet covers, considering how much I hate them! Did you expect anything less based on earlier posts? Not surprised at all that he didn't have much to do with them.

Anyway, I got The Shadow Rising and Knife of Dreams signed. I posted a picture of The Shadow Rising in that blog entry, so here's the Knife of Dreams one:

So thank you, Robert Jordan—once again—for taking the time to sign my books and answer my question.

Next:

Book 12 – The Gathering Storm

Previous:

Book 10 – Crossroads of Twilight
Book 9 – Winter's Heart
Book 8 – The Path of Daggers
Book 7 – A Crown of Swords
Book 6 – Lord of Chaos
Book 5 – The Fires of Heaven
Book 4 – The Shadow Rising
Book 3 – The Dragon Reborn
Book 2 – The Great Hunt
Book 1 – The Eye of the World
Retrospective Overview

The Wheel of Time [4] The Shadow Rising (1992)

This is hands down the best book of the series, in my opinion. Most of the setup from the first three books (the setup trilogy) is complete, events pick up and the scale of Rand's task, as well as the consequences of being the Dragon Reborn, become evident in this novel. There are a number of elements that make this the best novel of the bunch for me, which we'll get into later.

Books 4-6 form what I call the "Action Trilogy." While the first three books have a decent amount of action and conflict, the real thrust and scope of the series does not become apparent until Book 4, and the pace of the books moves along briskly until Book 7, A Crown of Swords. These are the books that I have always read the quickest, and I enjoy this stretch of books more than any of the others.

Why? The main reason is that you are getting into novel territory. The Age of Legends is glimpsed and characters continue the tradition started in the last book of doing "awesome things no one has done in centuries/millennia." The Forsaken solidify their presence and the conflict between them and the "forces of Light" (i.e. all the good main characters) heats up. There are just so many cool things going on in this volume and the next few, and it's because of Books 4-6 that I've stuck with WoT this long.

Before you continue:

• This is part 4 of my The Wheel of Time retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of the series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES

Thoughts Then

I remember being blown away by this book when I first read it in high school. It had just come out in paperback when I finished The Dragon Reborn, so I snapped it up. The sequence in the Rhuidean columns, where Rand sees the history of the Aiel, the Age of Legends and the creation of the Bore, remains one of my favorite sequences to this day. Jordan has said that those chapters are the best examples of his storytelling ability, and I agree with him and everyone else who agrees. They are great chapters and one of the most memorable and iconic sequences in the entire series.

I read through it quickly at the time and re-read it immediately upon finishing. I thought it was the coolest fantasy ever. I couldn't wait to get the next volume in the series, The Fires of Heaven, which I believe was just coming out in hardback at the time. It was after this book that I started saving my money and switched to buying the hardbacks upon release.

Thoughts Now

The book is still just as good now as it was then, though I found myself skimming a bit at the beginning. It does take a few chapters to really get going... in retrospect they probably spend a bit too much time in Tear before going their separate ways, though I'm not as patient a reader now since I don't have all day to read anymore. It also doesn't help that Jordan starts to get more verbose in this volume, which makes it a little longer than it really should be. In addition, this is the first novel where minor characters start having their own POVs written, which bodes ill for some later volumes in the series.

And of course, there's no way I can avoid mentioning the cover. I'm sorry, but the Darrell K. Sweet covers are just bad. It bears reiterating, and I'll probably repeat it in each blog. Skip to the next header if you're tired of hearing about it.

Is it me, or does the wagon doorway
look too small for these humans?

Anyway, how can anyone think that a picture of a few people lounging around a wagon in the Aiel Waste is an exciting cover, or would entice people to buy the book... really? The only thing cool about the cover is that it's in the Waste.

It just boggles my mind. Of all the exciting things that happen in this book and that would make for an awesome cover, we are treated to a snapshot of peddlers in the Waste. Yawn. I mean, who are the people on the cover supposed to be, anyway? All the men in Sweet's paintings look almost the same. It's sacrilege, I tell you!

Prophecies

To return to the content of the book. One thing that stood out to me as I was reading this time was how much Siuan and Moiraine were focused on guiding Rand to the "correct" prophecies, to the point of annoyance. Min and Siuan have a discussion about it in the first chapter, "Seeds of Shadow." It's somewhat funny, because virtually every fantasy series I've read that features a prophecy has it fulfilled correctly and with "good" winning. Characters hem and haw about screwing something up, but it always works out in the end. They end up worrying about nothing.

Side note: remind me to pick up Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy sometime, where the bad guys win the first time around.  [Update 7/30/13: Still haven't picked this up!]

Back in the day I loved all the prophecy in these books, because they alluded to "awesome things" to come in the future (little did I know I'd have to wait so long to read those "awesome things"). Having read tons of fantasy in the intervening 18 years, though, it's pretty much the most overdone and contrived feature of modern fantasy. There's almost always a prophecy, and I roll my eyes most of the time I encounter it now. Not to say that the possibilities of prophecy are exhausted – but it's much harder now to find new fantasy with an original integration of prophecy.

In WoT, though, the prophecy is obviously there, but Jordan doesn't beat you over the head with it, even though it is the primary guiding force for Rand at this point. Jordan also makes it a bit questionable because there are other prophecies, like those from the Seanchan, which "appear" to conflict with the Randland prophecies. But in the end it plays out as intended. And after 13 published books, I don't see any major upheaval of what we expect going into the final novel and the Last Battle.

Rand

Just a brief tangent on Rand. It's in this book that he becomes a different person than we knew in the first two. Largely missing in Book 3, here it's confirmed that he's the Dragon Reborn, and now he must grow up quick and act the part. Suddenly he goes from "sheepherder" to governing a nation (Tear), trying to unite a people behind him (Aiel) and fighting the Forsaken.

This is a different kind of Rand, one you're stuck with for while. While the things he does are cool and interesting, I always felt he grows a bit distant as a character because he has to live up to being "the Dragon Reborn" and everyone expects certain behavior out of him. It's in this book where Mat becomes my favorite lead character for pretty much the rest of the series.

The Aiel

This book reminded me how awesome the Aiel are. This is the only book where you get to see them as they have been for thousands of years, in their element. They are by far my favorite group of people in the entire series. From their roots in the Age of Legends, to the split after the Breaking, to the end of Rhuidean and their travels out of the Waste – they are a fascinating people and form the backbone of the series for me. They have a concrete purpose and they function as something greater than themselves (at least until Rand shows up).

Compare that to some other groups in the series. It's hard to like Aes Sedai when they are split into factions and bicker and sniff at each other every other sentence. It's hard to like the Forsaken when they appear for a chapter or two and then are destroyed. Or reborn (we'll get to that in a later blog). It's hard to like the ruling lords and ladies of any nation Rand conquers because they constantly scheme against each other. The Seanchan aren't any better since they are so rigid and existence is dictated by the Empress.

The only other group aside from Aiel that I really enjoy reading about are the Emond's Fielders, who are in this volume in spades. I like them because they are more down-to-earth and relatable... they are the "normal" people of the series. The Aiel, on the other hand, are not "normal." Almost alien in their custom, they feel like they should be on a Star Trek episode. The way they live their lives makes you look at your own life and society and wonder why you don't live with the same sense of honor and obligation that they do.

All the aliens in early Star Trek appeared in
the deserts outside of Los Angeles...
it's kind of like the Aiel Waste, I suppose

I always enjoy reading about the Aiel in this series, and it's fitting that the Dragon Reborn himself is an Aiel. In the end, it makes the eventual breaking of the Aiel people and their possible future (as Aviendha sees in Book 13, Towers of Midnight) that much sadder and heart-wrenching. I am most eager to see how that plays out in the final novel.

Awesome Things

Here be the listing of "awesome things" that I mentioned earlier, in no particular order.

• Being in the Waste
• Rand among the columns in Rhuidean
• The twisted doorframes and the introduction of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn to the series, along with all of Mat's answers and "gifts" – this begins a cool storyline that doesn't get resolved until Book 13, Towers of Midnight
• All the neat stuff found in Rhuidean – like the access keys to the Choedan Kal, which are very important in Book 9, Winter's Heart
• Discovering a male a'dam that could control Rand – technically not an a'dam, but you know what I mean
• Capturing a Forsaken to learn forgotten One Power stuff – the first time I read it, I was very eager to read how things would play out between Rand and Asmodean in Book 5
• Nynaeve and Moghedien
• Learning more about the Sea Folk (and yet another prophecy)
• The defense of the Two Rivers
• The introduction of Slayer – though I've never really understood this character, any character named "Slayer" should inherently be cool [Update 7/30/13: Now that all is said and done, I don't like this character.  He was cool at the beginning, but not at the end.]

Signed Copy

This is one of two WoT books I have that are signed by Robert Jordan himself. I got it signed during the Knife of Dreams tour. I had to get it signed since it's my favorite of the series. More on the signing and meeting Jordan in the blog for Book 11.

Here is a picture of the signed title page:

 

Pretty cool, huh? Too bad the book is a bit worn, as I read the hardcover a couple times.  And too bad he wasn't personalizing anything during the signing I went to.

But thank you, Robert Jordan, for taking the time to sign my favorite book of the series, and for writing such an awesome entry.


Next:

Book 5 – The Fires of Heaven

Previous:

Book 3 – The Dragon Reborn
Book 2 – The Great Hunt
Book 1 – The Eye of the World
Retrospective Overview