Reviews

The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

Only show reviews with written explanations

lilli_w12's review against another edition

4.0

Pretty close to "The Shadow Rising", but not quite. I feel like all (most) of Robert Jordan's books so far start GREAT, continue fine, and end AMAZING. In this book, the beginning was really good, but the middle was much more meandering than it's been in a while. This I blame to the Elayne and Nynaeve storyline, which while entertaining at parts, could definitely have been cut down. Everyone else's storyline was much more interesting, especially Mat's. THE ENDING, oh my gosh, THE ENDING; one of the BEST in the series so far. Below will be spoilers...

**Spoilers**
-Balefire and its implications, especially how it's used in the end is SO COOL!
-Asmodean as Rand's teacher was interesting.
-I didn't mind the lack of Perrin in this book, it's quite stuffed already.
-I feel like I need to address the female characters...

First, the main female characters are REALLY annoying, let's list some (not all of the) examples...
Elayne- among other things, wants to bond Rand as her warder whatever HE wants. (Not rooting for you)
Nynaeve- do I even need to list something? Stereotyping all men and endlessly complaining about them. When Birgitte finally confronted her about it... that was awesome.
Aviendha- wow, great skills in watching Rand for Elayne. That whole thing was not the best. (Also not rooting for you)
Egwene- doing that to your friend, just to cover your own tracks is horrifying. Stop being so snooty in Tel'aran'rhiod, you've done stupid things there too.
Regardless of this, they do have moments when I like them, but overall they are quite annoying. I don't think I've ever heard anyone sniff in my life, nor done it myself.
BUT, even though the leading female characters are subpar, there are others who are GREAT and this should not be forgotten.
Moiraine- best Aes Sedai so far, one of the best characters. Her sacrifice in the end was incredible. Good riddance Lanfear, RIP Moiraine.
Birgitte- just great in general, her weapon, her attitude, her jokes, her relationship with Gaidal Cain, and her sacrifice. Made Nynaeve's and Elayne's storyline so much better.
Min- her visions and their interpretations add so much to the story. I also just like her. (Rooting for you!)
Siuan- how she's trying to reinvent herself, and her sneaky stubbornness.

-The Forsaken finally join the playing field and start shaping actual personalities.
-Morgase's "army" is great.
-Mat finally fulfilling his destiny as a general, no matter how reluctant he is.
-Battle at Cairhien (one of my favorite countries) was cool. Good riddance Couladin.
-Finally figuring out why Couladin had dragons on his arms in the first place was appreciated. (That was something I wanted to know from the previous book; also answered the question of where Galad went)
-Once again, the ending was incredible, especially the rewinding aspect of it.
Overall, it was a sandwich with delicious bread, and an okay filling. Still keeping things interesting though!