Part 6 - Why Does A World With A System Of Cyclical Reincarnation Have A Word For Heaven?This is a reread of the entire Wheel of Time, and there may be spoilers ahead for the whole series. It’s also pretty long and disjointed, in what I’m going to pretend is a clever meta-commentary on the series itself.Aw yeah. That’s the good shit. That’s the Wheel of Time I remember. Or ..... is it??!?Well, kinda.First off I need to tell a little story. This was the first Wheel of Time book I ever read. You see, back in the day, my Dad used to get random books from the library for me. It was a habit he developed when I was a kid, but it continued (embarrassingly) well into my teens, when I was perfectly capable of picking out on my books Dad, god, you don’t even understand me, I didn’t ask to be born! (My Dad still mostly treats me like I am 10 years old, if you were wondering) One of these random selections was Wheel of Time. Yeah, the old man obviously didn’t put a whole lot of effort into his selections for me. I suspect he just browsed the fantasy section and grabbed things based on the cover. “Yeah, this looks good enough for the little nerd”. And that’s how I ended up reading Fires of Heaven, the fifth book in a fantasy series that I had not even heard of before. It was quite an eye-opening experience for 14 year old Brady and made a huge impression on me. I became an instant fan, immediately reading Lord of Chaos before seeking out the previous books in the series. Because of this, that warm happy glow of nostalgia mixed with the delight of discovery, Fires of Heaven was always my sentimental favourite of the series.Twenty years later, I can report that it mostly holds up. Mostly. But Present Day Brady can’t ignore the gaping flaws of this book the way wide-eyed innocent 14 year old Brady did. However, I’ll start with the good.I really like the Aiel. It’d be easy for them to just become one indistinct blur, but I think Jordan does a good job showing different characters and personalities amongst them. Bael, rhuarc, Sulin, all great minor characters. But it’s the Wise Ones in particular that i really dig. Sorilea is just awesome. The Wise Ones are written in a way that they have this innate toughness that makes their behaviour feel far more believable and warranted than many of the other various groups of haughty, manipulative women in the series. And some of that toughness and independence rubbed off on Egwene, and helped to change her into the character I liked so much, a woman who could plausibly be made Amyrlin. Criticisms that they’re just a Fremen ripoff still ring false to me. An undoubted influence? Sure, but no moreso than the French are an inspiration for Cairhien, or the Knights Templar for the Whitecloaks (or the Mongols for the Dothraki, to roam further afield). I feel like the Aiel are Jordan’s most interesting and detailed creation, as far as worldbuilding goes (with the Seanchan coming second), and that alone makes this part of the storyline more enjoyable for me, even when things are slow (and before they begin their march into Cairhien, it’s slow as hell. It’s pretty much just everyone hanging out in Rhuidean while Jordan re-establishes the various relationships and recaps the plot for a hundred pages). So when you take the Aiel and throw them in a massive set-piece battle involving the One Power, hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and Mat being a badass and levelling up, I’m pretty happy. Speaking of Mat, I really like the Band of the Red Hand. Talmanes, Daerid, Nalesean and the others to come are all solid and entertaining minor characters. They never really get to do anything after this book, and the whole Band will kind of just idle in neutral from now until the end of the series, but I still enjoy the concept. Rand is also a more interesting character in Fires, as he begins to deal with the onset of madness, and attempts to transform himself into a colder, harder man. His constant grouchiness becomes wearisome in later books, IIRC, but it’s an interesting development here. Unfortunately, he also begins his habit of naming every Maiden who dies in his service here, which gets old very quickly. Oh, and whoever (I think it was William) pointed out that Rand does (briefly) think back to the woman he murdered in cold blood back in Dragon Reborn was correct! He does make an oblique reference to it, and feels regretful over it. I thought the big battle with the Shaido, or the sneak attack by Lanfear/ “death” of Moiriane would be a fine conclusion to this portion of the book, the final showdown with Rahvin feels tacked on. Overall, while it isn’t perfect, but I was never bored or frustrated with this storyline.I also like the Salidar storyline. Sure, Siuan’s constant fish-related sayings are annoying and come across as an affectation, and the Leane stuff is as problematic as all the portrayals of Domani women in the series are. But Min is easily the most likeable of Rand’s three love interests, and I also like Logain a lot. It’s an odd grouping of characters, something else Jordan is good at, throwing various disparate characters together. Siuan is also one of the more believeable political masterminds Jordan presents in the series. She really does seem good at this, as opposed to other characters that Jordan has to tell us are good at this, despite all evidence to the contrary (Forsaken, I am looking in your direction)Speaking of the Forsaken (and this concludes the ‘good’ portion of the review) in Fires of Heaven it’s Rahvin’s turn to fight and lose to Rand. Rahvin is supposedly “hiding” in Andor. And by hiding, I mean drawing an enormous amount of attention upon himself with outlandish behaviour, to such an extent that he may as well change the name of Caemlyn to Rahvin City. You do not seem to be very good at this, Rahvin, even though it is supposedly your whole deal. Jordan kinda also dances around the real implications of Rahvin’s methods, so let’s just get it out there. Rahvin is a serial rapist. He uses the One Power to force himself upon women, and even make them “like” it. It’s gross and disgusting and truly makes Rahvin into a hideous monster, or it would if Jordan ever confronted this head-on. But he never really does, and so instead, Rahvin just comes across as a horny idiot that is truly terrible at ruling “behind the scenes”. He at least puts up a bit of a fight before Rand takes him out, something many of his compatriots can’t say (lol Belal, remember that loser? Is it just me, or do basically all of the male Forsaken suck? The women seem much more interesting and terrifying than the men.) Also on the Forsaken front, Asmodean get’s himself murdered in a mystery that will only be resolved in the most flippant and offhand manner about 30 books later. Knowing this makes the scene lose all impact on reread.Goddamn is Nynaeve and Elayne’s whole storyline a waste of time. I feel a little bad that I’m always beating up on them, so i went into Fires of Heaven determined to give them a fair shot. And what do they do? JOIN A F$@ING CIRCUS FOR WHAT FELT LIKE 50 GODDAMN CHAPTERS. Do you want to read 200 pages of Nynaeve flirting with a sleazy carny? Well too bad because THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE GETTING. Galad shows up, so that we can be reminded that he is the Most Handsomest Man That Ever Handsomed, though Jordan’s characters can only ever seem to express this in the most basic, innocent and childish way possible. Elayne wears tight pants and walks a tightrope, because who doesn’t want to read about that. Birgitte shows up because there weren’t enough braids in this sideplot, apparently. Oh, and I love Nynaeve’s reasoning for remaining with the circus once she knows for sure that Moghedien knows they are hiding in a circus; “Well, there’s more than one travelling menagerie in the world.” Yes Nynaeve. You know what else there is more than one of? Towns. Villages. Ships. LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE. Oh, but nevermind, Nynaeve and Elayne have dyed their hair. Problem solved. All I really got from all this is that Morghedien is actually spelled Moghedien. Huh. I’m not sure why I suddenly noticed this time, when I never have before. There goes twenty years of spelling and reading that incorrectly (also ... my version is better. So this storyline even ruined the aesthetics of Moghedien’s name)The Nynaeve/Elayne story is the most egregious example yet of the bloat that will soon devour whole novels. But here’s the thing. It not so much the bloat itself that really bothers me. In a weird way, the languid side-plots and excruciating pace are a part of the charm of the Wheel of Time. Even at it’s worst, I generally kinda enjoy spending time in this world (I have a feeling that sentiment will come back to bite me in the ass in a few books time). But it’s the endless repetition that really frustrates me. I appreciate the effort to make each book accessible and help new readers get up to speed (and it obviously worked for me when I first read the series), but it feels like a cut and paste job. Stock phrases and descriptions are used and re-used and re-used again, often within the space of a few pages. Entire chapters are devoured by characters thinking and expressing the same basic information over and over again. I genuinely think the meandering and pointless adventures of Nynaeve and Elayne, or of various other characters, would be much easier to take without all the extra rubbish that goes with it.On the whole, this is the book I’ve enjoyed the most on the reread, but not to the same extent that I once loved it. I can admit that part of that extra star is probably just the rosey glow of nostalgia, and that the signs of the downhill slide the series will soon take are all over the place. But this book is so tied to my overall impression of Wheel of Time that the previous four almost feel like prequels in comparison. So, despite the problems, I’ll stand by my enjoyment of it for the most part. If I ignore the Nynaeve/Elayne sections, there’s a lot to enjoy here; Rand and Egwene become more interesting, Mat becomes cooler, my favourite character in the series so far, Moiraine, gets a heroic send-off, and the series as a whole takes some unexpected turns. Also, there is absolutely no sign of Faile, which is surely worth an extra star.
*SPOILERS PRESENT* "With his coming are the dread fires born again. The hills burn, and the land turns sere. The tides of men run out, and the hours dwindle. The wall is pierced, and the veil of parting raised. Storms rumble beyond the horizon, and the fires of heaven purge the earth. There is no salvation without destruction, no hope this side of death." — fragment from The Prophecies of the Dragon The Fires of Heaven. For christ's sake, this was amazing. It has become my second favorite in the series so far, The Great Hunt being my obvious first place. There are a lot of things that this book does great, albeit falling short in some other places, although they may have been a result of expectations. However, let's dive right in. "The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.” Following the events of the Shadow Rising, Rand has become the official Dragon Reborn while Couladin and the Shaido have become the rebel Aiel who are making their way to the West of the Spine of the World, leading Rand to come into pursuit. Elsewhere, Nynaeve and Elayne are off exploring the surrounding Tanchico as they escape the city after the battle in the previous book.First off, having nothing to do with the synopsis, The Forsaken. You would have to be insane to not think that they are phenomenal antagonists. I am so glad that this is the direction the series seems to be heading at the moment, as the Forsaken are beginning to appear in various places to pose a threat against Rand. It is amazing how any time one is present, you are immediately filled with a sense of intimidation. Even when Rand seems to be growing more OP by the page, they still manage to make it to where the Forsaken are actually threatening figures. " Life is a dream from which we all must wake before we can dream again.” #1 Rand. Rand changes a lot in this book, or rather he grows. Sometimes, its easy to think that he has suddenly turned into a cold and ruthless leader known to people as the Dragon Reborn, but then we see glimpses that he hasn't transformed into that completely: his confrontation with Lanfear at the end, his relationship with the Maidens, the inner monologues we see of him when it comes to various other characters. He still feels pity and sadness, but he is trying to razor himself into this sharp and hardened individual. But really, he still hasn't gotten there yet. Also, his inner conflict with Lews Therin is interesting and I am interested in seeing when he ultimately gets to see his predecessors past in full.#2 Mat: Guys, seriously. How and why? I've seen reviews from this book saying how he is one of the most interesting characters and I have to say, no. Is it official that I am in the minority? Who knows, but he still isn't there yet. He has received little growth in comparison to the other two Ta'veren. We see the beginnings and glimpses into how he might turn into a great character, but no, he is definitely not there yet.This might be a good time to state that I am starting to see how this series might plunge into some character overload. The cast is increasing unbelievably by the book. “Always leave a way out, unless you really want to find out how hard a man can fight when he’s nothing to lose.” #3 Perrin: He does not exist. He is not here, he is still in the Two Rivers having a lovely time with Faile, one of the better female characters of the series that are her age. Hopefully, I'll see him in Lord of Chaos.#4 Egwene: Intervention Time. Because, lets all be honest, what has happened to Egwene? She is one of my least favorite female characters in this entire series. She is one of the most irritating, most annoying present in the whole book. Seriously, she is the worst one, always just saying how Rand is an idiot or something along those lines. I don't even want to talk about her, she is just so bothersome.#5 Elayne: How about we knock two birds with one stone? Because Elayne sucks too. She is bossy as hell and no joke, she might even disgust me as a character. That might be taking it too far, but I just really hate her. Perfect time to address something I am noticing with this series. There is a constant flunctuation in how I feel about the characters in the series and it might be a matter of the POVs. The way that the POVs are written does a perfect job in conveying how a specific character feels about someone and not just does that, but does it frequent enough and subtle enough as to where the reader begins to feel the same way. “We are alike in many ways, you and I. There is darkness in us. Darkness, pain, death. They radiate from us. If ever you love a woman, Rand, leave her and let her find another. It will be the best gift you can give her.” #6 Nynaeve: They did right with Nynaeve in this book. Certainly, she has slowly begun to become a character I have grown quite fond of. Good thing too since a good chunk of the book is from her perspective. I enjoyed watchung her downward spiral as she became more and more disrespected by the ones around her and the way that she grew as a character made her seem almost like an underdog in the story.#7 Thom and Juilin: These guys are literally my favorites. Prime example is the chapter where Nynaeve storms out of the World of Dreams after her encounter with Mogheiden where she makes Birgette be forced out of the pattern and into the real world. These guys are almost victims of Nynaeves and Elaynes misadventures. When Elayne was going in to comfort Nynaeve, you heard behind her them chit-chatting and you just grow so fond of them.#8 Min and Liandrin: Do they matter too? What is their point? Liandrin and those black ajah are so weak in comparison to the ither antagonists they have to deal with that its hilarious. And if Min is one of the three women who Rand is connected too, she better get more opportunities or something.#9 Moiraine: I'll admit, that final Lanfear fight was so good and the letter Rand got after, so good, if not a bit convenient. But still, so good. It gave me a little bit of the feels. Moiraine learned a little bit of humility which was good since every other Aes Sedai in the book are the biggest pack of Bit**** I have ever seen. OMG, I HATE THEM SO MUCH!!!!! Please, let Nynaeve somehow be able to restore Siuan's stillness so she can whoop them, I want that so bad. But anyways, Moiraine. Cant believe shes gone, will be interested to read A New Spring whenever its right to read that. "Women were glad when he came into their lives. It was not boasting. Women smiled for him; even when he left them, they smiled as if they would welcome him back. That was all he ever really wanted from women; a smile, a dance, a kiss, and to be remembered foundly.” #10 Aviendha. All right, all other female characters can leave. Best Female character has arrived, I cannot fathom how she managed to do it, but Aviendha is the best love interest in the entire series. How does she not realize she messed up the relationship between Elayne and her?I don't know, but I cannot wait to see how it turns out! When Rand and her made love, I could not believe how big a score Rand had made. I sort of hated Aviendha in the Shadow Rising, but she has gone up so greatly that I cheer every scene between Rand and her. AVIENDHA X RAND FOR LIFE!!!!!!!!So in conclusion, sweet book. Loved the heck out of it and Avienda could have single handedly taken it home. But it has so many good things besides that, that its still somehow able to be even better than what I expected.+ Excellent Climax+ Development for Rand and Nynaeve+ The Forsaken are Phenomenal+ AVIENDHA!!!!!!!!!!+ Writing Improvement+ Emotional POV Immersion- Egwene- Elayne- MatBUY/RENT/SKIP: BUYFinal Score: 9.0/10EDIT: People keep saying how these books should be half their length, I strongly disagree.
What do You think about The Fires Of Heaven (1994)?
I'm starting to get really disappointed by the way this series is progressing. - I already know that Nynaeve likes to pull her braid, you don't need to remind me every ten pages.- I'm honestly sick of insane female characters who are constantly pouting and doing things out of spite. Women may be stubborn sometimes, but this is like a cheap parody.- I already know that Rand doesn't want to become Lews Therin, so why are we reading about it EVERY time the chapter is about Rand. Why are we also constantly reading about how he cannot pick between the three women he likes. - As a whole, the reader is being buried by hundred of pages of information that he/she already knows and so little actual development that it's frustrating.- And the little new things which are happening happen so suddenly and are over so fast and we are back to repeating the same tired old s**t. ...And this is book 5. Nine more to go. I'm so not looking forward to endless pages about who's more stubborn, whose dress is more revealing and who would like to pull whose ears. And not to mention the jokes which are not jokes in our world, so they are impossible to get(things like: "He is laughing like a man from Lalalandia." How am I supposed to know how the fictional people of Lalalandia laugh???)
—Jeannette Nikolova
Reviewed by: Rabid Reads4.5 starsNOTICE: this reread is in preparation for finally biting the bullet and reading book 14. That means I HAVE NOT read book 14 yet. Please be mindful of this in the comments, both for me and for others who may or may not have progressed past this point in the series. Thank you.SO. Most of my favorite things in this series are in play now. I'm particularly fond of the time spent in Ebou Dar and a couple of other things that are still in development, but, yeah, we are well on our way.For some reason I'm have no a hard time coming up with plot points that don't give too much away, so let's talk about some of the characters. Mat Cauthon is my FAVORITE. If you're familiar with the WoT at all, you know that Mat is a . . . gambler, a prankster, a rascal, in another life (HA!) he would make an excellent pirate. In this life . . . Well, let's just say he still needs to reconcile himself to a few things.Life is complicated for Mat, you see, and he's not all that happy about it (b/c Two Rivers STUBBORNNESS), b/c really, when he forgets to be indignant, he quite enjoys the things that he excels at. And that's a lot fun. Both the clever ingenuity and the resulting indignation when older, more seasoned men with lots of responsibility (<------the real problem) start "weighing him" with their eyes.Mat doesn't want to impress important men. They might start expecting things from him. He wants his concerns to be limited to things like, "Never gamble without knowing a back way out" and "Never kiss a girl whose brothers have knife scars." <------LOL. And that's the least of it. The BEST examples are too spoilery for everyday use. Then there's Nynaeve.A lot of people don't know this, but Emma Woodhouse (the heroine of Jane Austen's Emma) is meant to be a difficult-to-like character. She meddles and manipulates, she thinks she knows better than 99.9% of the population, she's selfish and entitled, and the list goes on.BUT. She also means well. And blah, blah, good intentions, Hell, and pavement . . . I respectfully disagree. I think intent makes ALL the difference. Or at least most of the difference. Willingness to change also helps. It may be slow-goins', but there is character development going on with the similarly difficult Nynaeve. She's actually one of the most complex characters IMO. Or maybe that's just narcissism. *snickers* I know firsthand how hard life lessons can be for strong-willed individuals, so I like Nynaeve as much as I like Emma, which is to say, a LOT. I also think Jordan uses her to poke fun at male-female stereotypes. Some people might find it to be less than PC, but to throw around another cliche, something about nails and hammers . . . Just sayin'. The Aiel are firmly in play, and they're my favorite people group.Also, there's and explosion of Forsaken. Previously, there have been one, maybe two in play at a time, and I say "in play" loosely, b/c except for Lanfear, they're mostly absent until it time to kill a Bad Guy. However, in this installment, we're suddenly dealing with like five of them. Maybe six. And anything that gives us more information about the Age of Legends is aces in my book. Oh, oh! There's also Valan Luca and his Traveling Menagerie!I've avoided saying much about it b/c I can't even mention my second favorite character yet [spoiler]BIRGITTE!![/spoiler], but Valan himself is a safe topic, and he is hilarious. He's good-looking, with a "well-turned calf," and he constantly flourishes the red cloak he habitually wears. Alone, he'd probably be insufferable, but Valan + his interactions with Nynaeve . . . good times. So yeah, I like this series. You should read it.My other reviews for this series: The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time, #1) by Robert Jordan The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time, #2) by Robert Jordan The Dragon Reborn (Wheel of Time, #3) by Robert Jordan The Shadow Rising (Wheel of Time, #4) by Robert Jordan Lord of Chaos (Wheel of Time, #6) by Robert JordanHighlights: (view spoiler)[1. Moiraine begs Rand and swears to obey him, if he'll allow her to stay close to him. o.O2. Forkroot tea.3. Valan Luca's Traveling Menagerie:A tall, dark-haired man strode out of the camp, of all things in this heat wearing a red silk cloak that he flourished as he made an elegant bow. He was good-looking, with a well-turned leg, and very much aware of both things. “Forgive me, my Lady, if the giant boar-horses frightened your animals.” As he straightened, he beckoned two of his men to help quiet the horses, then paused, staring at her, and murmured, “Be still, my heart.” It was just loud enough for Elayne to be sure she was supposed to hear. “I am Valan Luca, my Lady, showman extraordinary. Your presence overwhelms me.” He made another bow, even more elaborate than the first. Elayne shared a look with Nynaeve, catching the same amused smile that she knew she herself wore. A man very full of himself, this Valan Luca. His men did seem to be very good at soothing the horses; they still snorted and stamped, but their eyes were not so wide as they had been. Thom and Juilin were staring at the strange animals almost as hard as the horses were. “Boar-horses, Master Luca?” Elayne said. “Where do they come from?” “Giant boar-horses, my Lady” was the ready reply, “from fabled Shara, where I myself led an expedition into a wilderness full of strange civilizations and stranger sights to trap them. It would fascinate me to tell you of them. Gigantic people twice the size of Ogier.” He made grand gestures to illustrate. “Beings with no heads. Birds big enough to carry off a full-grown bull. Snakes that can swallow a man. Cities made of solid gold. Descend, my Lady, and let me tell you.”3. Morgase flees Caemlyn.4. Gareth Bryne to lead Salidar Aes Sedai army.5. Rand and Aviendha. *waggles eyebrows*6. Galad a WHITECLOAK.7. Birgitte ripped out of Tel'aran'rhiod. AND bonded as Elayne's Warder.8. Galad sparking a WAR to get Elayne a boat out of Ghealdan.9. Mat's new skills in action.10. Rahvin killed by Balefire. (hide spoiler)]
—Jessica ❁ Elsecaller ❁ at Rabid Reads
Let's do another Jordan review. This was my first read in this series, so I kind of missed a lot of what happened in volumes 1-4, but only to an extent. I remember Siuan Sanche doing laundry, Morgase flashing her D cups at her captain of the guard, while she's kind of besotted with a rad-looking middle-aged guy with gray on his temples, unbeknownst to her that he's a bad guy, wink, wink. Rand and Aviendha do some SEXY time Borat style, and Lanfear and Moiraine execute a time warp as they jump through that fancy magical door.It was a decent book, and still one with a bunch of magic and fun. The pace is quite reasonable, even though nothing really significant happens. Blah, blah, blah, limericks:When Lanfear and Moiraine Sedai foughtFemale mud wrestling time, I merrily thoughtLaundry was cleansedSexy time commencedRandy Rand from Aviendha some cooties caughtCheersome!Igor
—Igor Ljubuncic
