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mattiedancer's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Writing: 3.5⭐️/5
Jordan has a vision for this novel, but this vision feels like it’s a bit surrounded by repetitive phrases and scenes. The writing itself is serviceable. It gets the job done, and is easy to read when it needs to be. But the overall impression of the writing is a bit unsubstantial. Apart from a few moments of truly good writing, the novel doesn’t shine in its prose. That being said, it also isn’t held back by its prose. It’s served by its prose: nothing more, nothing less.
Characters: 3.25⭐️/5
*Some Spoilers*
Where the first book truly drew me into the characters, this book offered a number of reasons to question their characterization. Min, for one, has a moment that seems completely out of character for her. Not to mention a lack of any growth towards many of the characters we grew to love in the first book. Plus, and I can’t emphasize this enough, we have the fridging of a minor character solely for the purpose of advancing Thom’s plot, which I must (and truly do) consider a cardinal writing sin. If I’m being honest, the only character who retained growth from my perspective was Nynaeve.
Plot: 3.25⭐️/5
I feel the plot of this book will be entirely necessary to the plot of the series. And yet, it left me with the same taste in my mouth as a filler episode of a sitcom. Much of the plot felt pulled at – lengthened where it wasn’t necessary – and padded with fluff. The truly adventurous or intriguing parts of the plot were quickly (and sometimes far too easily) resolved in order to advance the next section. Of course, all that being said, it’s not an unenjoyable read at all and did keep my interest, whether deserved or not.
Who Should Read This Book?
- Those who read book one of The Wheel of Time (The Eye of the World)
Content Warnings?
- Slavery, confinement, kidnapping, toxic relationships, toxic friendships, blood, gore, torture, abuse, child death, war, misogyny, sexism, death, murder, injury, injury detail, fire, emotional abuse, gaslighting,
Post-Reading Rating: 4.5⭐️/5
As much as parts of this book IRRITATED ME (hi, Rand), I am very excited to start the third one.
Final Rating: 3.25⭐️/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Body horror, Gore, Toxic friendship, Grief, Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Trafficking, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, and War
Minor: Addiction, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Self harm, and Racism
diazona's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
The continuing adventures of Rand, Mat, Perrin, and friends (or, "friends") start to get rather complicated in this book. It's the part of the fantasy epic where the party splits up and there are multiple storylines to follow; I think at one point it switches among six different point-of-view characters, each in a different part of the world. So it's certainly not the easiest story to follow.
But I think it's worth the effort, especially for a reader who likes richly detailed worldbuilding (as I do). For all the complexity, the different storylines do all tie in to the overall plot of the series, and it's not at all hard to get swept up in the grandeur of the quest that the protagonists are on. Plus, the different plot lines do all reference the common mythology, and they converge back together by the climax of the book. As long as you have some patience, it doesn't feel like you're being led off on irrelevant tangents.
Maybe I like this book more than I "should". But what can I say, it's exactly the sort of thing that appeals to me: a richly detailed and self-consistent world (within reason, it is fantasy after all) and a compelling plot. Ultimately what matters is that I'm happy to have read it and I'm excited to get cracking on the next book!
But I think it's worth the effort, especially for a reader who likes richly detailed worldbuilding (as I do). For all the complexity, the different storylines do all tie in to the overall plot of the series, and it's not at all hard to get swept up in the grandeur of the quest that the protagonists are on. Plus, the different plot lines do all reference the common mythology, and they converge back together by the climax of the book. As long as you have some patience, it doesn't feel like you're being led off on irrelevant tangents.
Maybe I like this book more than I "should". But what can I say, it's exactly the sort of thing that appeals to me: a richly detailed and self-consistent world (within reason, it is fantasy after all) and a compelling plot. Ultimately what matters is that I'm happy to have read it and I'm excited to get cracking on the next book!
Content Warnings
Minor: Slavery, Religious bigotry, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Sexism, and Physical abuse
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