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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
It's hard to distinguish my feelings about The Fires of Heaven from my feelings about any of the books apart from the first, for the main reason that I can't remember what events developed in which books. I had a lot of trouble getting started with this one, as the first few hundred pages served as a recap and scene-setting for what was to come in the last third or so of the novel. That may have been important for someone picking up the books as they were published, but reading straight through makes these loooong recaps time-waste-y and frustrating.
A few remarks about recapping: in epic fantasies running to tens of thousands of pages and hundreds of characters major and minor, some recapping is necessary. Particularly given Jordan's style of introducing a question or plot point only by noting that other characters didn't have perfect information about it, hinting at the reveal for several chapters, and then leaving the issue to resolve possibly one hundred or more pages later.
(For example: (SPOILER FOR SHADOW RISING) Rand's slow ride to meet all the Aiel clan chiefs at Alcair Dal and his intention to reveal the truths of Rhuidean to them and thereby "break" the Aiel. He continually frets over whether it's a good idea, over how he's not telling anyone what he's going to do -- including the reader! -- and whether Moiraine and others will approve or not.)
I think this deliberately opaque style ruins the flow of a novel -- the point of having an omniscient third person narrator is to reveal information to the reader so they can watch character development play out while still following the key narrative with relative ease. But Jordan likes to leave us in the dark; hence, the necessity of recaps.
He also occasionally needs to reintroduce us to minor characters we may have forgotten and are afraid to look up in the WoT Wiki because there are spoilers in EVERY LINE OF THAT WEBSITE. For me in TFoH, that was every single Tairen and Cairhienin lord/lady. They are not well differentiated as characters and they are always scheming, and I cannot follow it because I don't know them and don't care. However, reintroducing us to Nynaeve and Elayne by beating us about the head and neck with their annoying sniffs and hair pulling and chin tilts?? I REMEMBER WHO THESE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE, THANKS. Thank goodness for Nynaeve's slight growth in maturity, and Aviendha's change from being always shitty to Rand to a slightly more nuanced person, but I feel like Jordan is afraid to let anyone change without reminding us first that THEY WERE SOME OTHER WAY FOR A LONG TIME. REMEMBER? He does the same to Mat. This is annoying to me.
ANYWAY, moving on. A prayer of thanks for Rand learning to accept his new role as Hegemon and start using his powers, because boy was his sulking getting old. And only by Rand moving his Aiel army is the plot moved forward, finally. But given that there are no apparent limits on the kinds of things the One Power can do apart from heal death, I'd love to see some more creative one-on-one battles. Enough flinging balefire and lightning!
I enjoyed the battle for Cairhien, although it was a bit hard to follow. I often wish Jordan provided us more frequent smaller-scale maps. I was also flabbergasted by (SPOILERS) the number of Forsaken who were done away with in this one. Asmodean is basically sorted but also Lanfear, Rahvin, Moghedien all dealt with in the last breathless fifty pages of the book. Hopefully Sammael will be a more interesting Big Bad.
All things considered, I was pretty excited to see actual THINGS HAPPEN in #5. But I don't feel that these books are by any stretch particularly well-written. Perhaps they are well-plotted but the digressions and obsessions and unnecessary descriptions and catfights and repetitions really throw things off. I'm forced to wonder who Jordan's editor was and, more importantly maybe, were these books EVER LONGER AND CRAZIER before an editor got her hands on them?? Impossible to imagine.
A few remarks about recapping: in epic fantasies running to tens of thousands of pages and hundreds of characters major and minor, some recapping is necessary. Particularly given Jordan's style of introducing a question or plot point only by noting that other characters didn't have perfect information about it, hinting at the reveal for several chapters, and then leaving the issue to resolve possibly one hundred or more pages later.
(For example: (SPOILER FOR SHADOW RISING) Rand's slow ride to meet all the Aiel clan chiefs at Alcair Dal and his intention to reveal the truths of Rhuidean to them and thereby "break" the Aiel. He continually frets over whether it's a good idea, over how he's not telling anyone what he's going to do -- including the reader! -- and whether Moiraine and others will approve or not.)
I think this deliberately opaque style ruins the flow of a novel -- the point of having an omniscient third person narrator is to reveal information to the reader so they can watch character development play out while still following the key narrative with relative ease. But Jordan likes to leave us in the dark; hence, the necessity of recaps.
He also occasionally needs to reintroduce us to minor characters we may have forgotten and are afraid to look up in the WoT Wiki because there are spoilers in EVERY LINE OF THAT WEBSITE. For me in TFoH, that was every single Tairen and Cairhienin lord/lady. They are not well differentiated as characters and they are always scheming, and I cannot follow it because I don't know them and don't care. However, reintroducing us to Nynaeve and Elayne by beating us about the head and neck with their annoying sniffs and hair pulling and chin tilts?? I REMEMBER WHO THESE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE, THANKS. Thank goodness for Nynaeve's slight growth in maturity, and Aviendha's change from being always shitty to Rand to a slightly more nuanced person, but I feel like Jordan is afraid to let anyone change without reminding us first that THEY WERE SOME OTHER WAY FOR A LONG TIME. REMEMBER? He does the same to Mat. This is annoying to me.
ANYWAY, moving on. A prayer of thanks for Rand learning to accept his new role as Hegemon and start using his powers, because boy was his sulking getting old. And only by Rand moving his Aiel army is the plot moved forward, finally. But given that there are no apparent limits on the kinds of things the One Power can do apart from heal death, I'd love to see some more creative one-on-one battles. Enough flinging balefire and lightning!
I enjoyed the battle for Cairhien, although it was a bit hard to follow. I often wish Jordan provided us more frequent smaller-scale maps. I was also flabbergasted by (SPOILERS) the number of Forsaken who were done away with in this one. Asmodean is basically sorted but also Lanfear, Rahvin, Moghedien all dealt with in the last breathless fifty pages of the book. Hopefully Sammael will be a more interesting Big Bad.
All things considered, I was pretty excited to see actual THINGS HAPPEN in #5. But I don't feel that these books are by any stretch particularly well-written. Perhaps they are well-plotted but the digressions and obsessions and unnecessary descriptions and catfights and repetitions really throw things off. I'm forced to wonder who Jordan's editor was and, more importantly maybe, were these books EVER LONGER AND CRAZIER before an editor got her hands on them?? Impossible to imagine.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Si bien a esta altura ya debería estar acostumbrada a la escritura tan desbordante de detalles de este autor, la verdad es que muchos pasajes de esta historia se me hicieron tan áridos como el Yermo de Aiel, en especial, los relacionados a Rand.
Si bien en este tipo de historias, con mundos tan bien construidos, se agradece el poder de la descripción para dejar al lector totalmente inmerso en la historia, en este caso en particular tuvo el inconveniente de que empantanó la lectura y me tomó más de un mes leerla.
Sin embargo, la experiencia en general sigue siendo buena. Los episodios de Elayne y Nyaneve, así como de los de Min y compañía, dieron agilidad a la historia. ¿Extrañé a Perrin? Sí. Pero Mat adquiere un tipo de protagonismo que estoy atenta a ver cómo será su evolución.
¿Y qué decir del clímax? Como ya es habitual nos deja en pie para desear seguir con la próxima lectura cuanto antes.
Si bien en este tipo de historias, con mundos tan bien construidos, se agradece el poder de la descripción para dejar al lector totalmente inmerso en la historia, en este caso en particular tuvo el inconveniente de que empantanó la lectura y me tomó más de un mes leerla.
Sin embargo, la experiencia en general sigue siendo buena. Los episodios de Elayne y Nyaneve, así como de los de Min y compañía, dieron agilidad a la historia. ¿Extrañé a Perrin? Sí. Pero Mat adquiere un tipo de protagonismo que estoy atenta a ver cómo será su evolución.
¿Y qué decir del clímax? Como ya es habitual nos deja en pie para desear seguir con la próxima lectura cuanto antes.
Pleasantly captivating, the story is consistently moving.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
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