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adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The series keeps getting more interesting, but the gender dynamics also keep getting worse, making me worried for Robert Jordan's marriage (R.I.P.)
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I think the world building of this series is interesting, and this specific book gave me Dune vibes, but also in the bad ways with dated views. I think I like the world and I don’t hate the characters, but I still don’t love any of them, and the books are getting weirder. I can get over the dated views of the Wise Ones and their obsession with “those hips are made for babes”. But the weird obsession Elayne had with Thom was gross, and Nynaeve’s justification for it was that Elayne was just going after Thom because of her mother was very male writing
Graphic: Death, Violence
Moderate: Sexism, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've been enjoying these on audiobook. The male reader took a short while to get used to, but the things about his voice that initially annoyed me a bit, I hardly notice any more.
I'm enjoying the story, enjoying the fact that it's so complex and that there are so many different viewpoints. I'm really impressed that it was possible for him to keep all these straight and not get it all mixed up. There are so many loose ends after all!
The thing I've noticed, however, which is beginning to bother me a little is that RJ seemed to only be able to write very few types of women. Type 1, the strict and hard woman who believes that men are really little more than children and are to be ordered about or nothing will get done, and she'll happily switch anyone from top to bottom who dares disagree with her on anything ever. Type 2, the evil woman who takes pleasure in causing pain and suffering and not much else. Type 3, the simpering and not very intelligent little girl, who generally comes out whenever the plot calls for someone who isn't a baddie but whom we are still not supposed to like. All the women on 'our' side are Type 1. All the women who are Darkfriends are Type 2. No exception.
That's not woman. That's not how a woman thinks. That's not how a woman acts. Women are capable of seeing sense. We are capable of being wrong and not taking it as a huge personal affront, without resorting to calling all men fools and treating them like children. We are capable of taking advice from men without arguing. We are capable of, when being asked to do something by a man, actually doing it. Especially when it's something that doesn't really matter in the grander scheme of things anyway. We are NOT all stubbornly thinking that we know best at all times. We are not all carbon copies of each other like this. '
I really like the fact that he was trying to make his female characters strong women, but not ALL women are strong women, and some of these aren't really particularly strong women. They're just largely unreasonable. Nobody here is just genuinely friendly. Nobody here offers advice and guidance through gentleness and persuasion. It IS actually possible to write a strong female character without having her ordering everybody around at every turn and beating them over the head with a stick if they don't fall in line.
It gets a little tiresome.
I'm enjoying the story, enjoying the fact that it's so complex and that there are so many different viewpoints. I'm really impressed that it was possible for him to keep all these straight and not get it all mixed up. There are so many loose ends after all!
The thing I've noticed, however, which is beginning to bother me a little is that RJ seemed to only be able to write very few types of women. Type 1, the strict and hard woman who believes that men are really little more than children and are to be ordered about or nothing will get done, and she'll happily switch anyone from top to bottom who dares disagree with her on anything ever. Type 2, the evil woman who takes pleasure in causing pain and suffering and not much else. Type 3, the simpering and not very intelligent little girl, who generally comes out whenever the plot calls for someone who isn't a baddie but whom we are still not supposed to like. All the women on 'our' side are Type 1. All the women who are Darkfriends are Type 2. No exception.
That's not woman. That's not how a woman thinks. That's not how a woman acts. Women are capable of seeing sense. We are capable of being wrong and not taking it as a huge personal affront, without resorting to calling all men fools and treating them like children. We are capable of taking advice from men without arguing. We are capable of, when being asked to do something by a man, actually doing it. Especially when it's something that doesn't really matter in the grander scheme of things anyway. We are NOT all stubbornly thinking that we know best at all times. We are not all carbon copies of each other like this. '
I really like the fact that he was trying to make his female characters strong women, but not ALL women are strong women, and some of these aren't really particularly strong women. They're just largely unreasonable. Nobody here is just genuinely friendly. Nobody here offers advice and guidance through gentleness and persuasion. It IS actually possible to write a strong female character without having her ordering everybody around at every turn and beating them over the head with a stick if they don't fall in line.
It gets a little tiresome.
Alright, yes the magic is cool, yes the world is fascinating and deep but when your main protagonist is not witty, not funny, not charming, not relatable, not interesting...the main character is more of a main pain in my backside. So, after 5 books I'm 'shelving' this series - might get continued one day just to say it's read but in the meantime I think life is for living and reading this series is death by a thousand mid characters.
Against all odds I was actually sort of enjoying this one. Maybe it's because my expectations have dropped so low, or maybe because I swiftly powered through this one due to the little agreement/reward system I set up for myself (for every WoT book I finish, I get to read 3 Dresden File books as a reward). 3/4 of the way through I was ready to give this 3.5, maybe even 4 stars. But then Robert Jordan pulls a Robert Jordan and so much stupid shit happens that doesn't make any sense, or is vague and arm wavey (because he's a terrible writer). He tosses stuff in for convenience with absolutely zero regard for consistency and it's obnoxious, infuriating, and sloppy.
So, ignoring all of the stupid things that make no sense, I'd probably give this book a 3 for overall enjoyment of the story, but since he's a super shitty writer and it makes me angry, it's getting 2 stars.
So, ignoring all of the stupid things that make no sense, I'd probably give this book a 3 for overall enjoyment of the story, but since he's a super shitty writer and it makes me angry, it's getting 2 stars.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous