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A review by isabellarobinson7
A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan
5.0
Third read: 20/02/21 - 25/02/21
Rating: (obviously still) 5 stars
Oops. I reread again. No one is surprised. Half way through, I was questioning my decision of putting this book so high on my series ranking, but then the second half happened and, oh! That's why I loved it!
Second read: 16/09/20 - 18/09/20
Rating: (still) 5 stars
Unpopular opinion: A Crown of Swords is one of my favourite Wheel of Time books. I just love all the stuff with Nynaeve and Lan, and then the dynamic between Nynaeve and Mat after her being his Wisdom for so long, with the shift in power in regards to the Band.
Min is also great in this book. I love her internal struggle with her feelings for Rand, wanting to impress him and do everything for him, but also wanting to stay true to herself. She didn't readily accept that she was going to fall in love with him whether she likes it or not when she first gets that particular viewing earlier in the series, and you see the after effects of that in A Crown of Swords. Several times she expresses fear she will become too subservient that she would loose herself entirely. It is an interesting aspect of romance that I have never seen before, and the awareness of it Robert Jordan arises is really good.
Ok, that was a little longer than my normal rereviews (but just as disconnected and incohesive), so I'll stop here.
First read: 20/04/20 - 26/04/20
Rating: 5 stars
A Crown of Swords is meant to be the unofficial start of the slog (the majority consensus is that books 8 through 10 are definitely in the slog, but it's debatable as to whether book 7 is) and I was well and truly ready to be bored. But this book was incredible! I do not understand how people can think this is the beginning of this slog. Yes, it was a little slow in the middle, but I feel like all the books are the same, so you can't single out A Crown of Swords specifically. But I cannot deny the slog's existence. I am fully prepared for the slog to be in full force by at least book 9, but as of right now, I'm not feeling any slowing down. I'm still amazed. I'm still giving every book five stars. I. Cannot. Stop. Reading!
Nynaeve had some amazing character development in this book.Everything from her getting freaking married to Lan, to basically getting rid of her block (once and for all hopefully) and more. I really have loved Nynaeve so far in the series (though I absolutely understand why she is so unliked) and A Crown of Swords just elevated her further.
We finally got some quality Min content! Not only was she actually present for a good portion of the book, she also got a decent amount of the POVs. And not a couple paragraphs here and there like she had previously. Chapters 35 and 36 were fully her. And those chapters were incredible! I love the trope where (I hope this makes sense) someone gives a fake name to someone else, and then that someone else talks to them about this amazing/terrible person they love/hate, not knowing they are telling all this to that very person. And then when the person's identity is revealed and everyone is in shock, they give a great display of their power and destroy their adversaries who thought they were nothing but a weakling... oooooh that's some good stuff! Anyway, Min is my absolute favourite out of Rand's three love interests (perhaps even my favourite female character in the whole series) and I hope (and pray) she continually is given the attention she deserves. Honestly, if she is there by Rand's side throughout the slog, I will love every single book.
I'm still not too happy about the romance situation going on with Rand, Aviendha, Elayne and Min. It's just weird. I do get it, because Rand is an extremely strong ta'veran, and so he's going to change people's lives around him. I can remember in The Dragon Reborn when Rand would just walk through towns and the whole settlement would go crazy, people getting married left and right. But this love square Rand is at the centre of... I just want Robert Jordan to choose one love interest for Rand, and then he can have other girls running after him as well, because of his ta'veran nature. Though I do suppose that Min, Elayne and Aviendha agreeing to share Rand is better than them cat fighting over him and it taking over every book, I am still far from "used" to it.
In regards to the other Wheel of Time romances, I just wish sometimes that the little word "to" could be swapped for "with" in the numerous instances of "s/he belonged to XYZ". Even though most the relationships are consensual, the idea of someone owning another person (usually women possessing men) takes away the freedom of choice. Though they may have originally chosen to be in the relationship, it seems like once they make that initial decision they have essentially sold themselves to their partner and backing out is no longer an option. The power imbalance between two people in a situation where they should both be treating each other the same and have equal say in matters that concern them both... it's bothering me.
I keep waiting for something to happen to Rand, because he's at the top of his game right now. So many people are subject to him; so many nations are under his control, and he's basically the strongest channeler alive (bar some of the Forsaken). He's got to have some kind of drop off. Maybe his insanity scares people off and causes them to hate him (more than they do already, mind you). The series can't keep going on with Rand being on top of everything, because when the last battle comes, there isn't going to be much of a fight the way it is now.
And I feel bad for Elayne (I know, who would've thought). Don't get me wrong, she still sucks, but she is being forced into a lot of things. For instance, Elayne's choice of Ajah is already made for her, because since she had already bonded Birgette as a Warder to save Birgette's life, but wanted also to bond Rand, Elayne was forced to choose the Green Ajah as they are the only Ajah that bond more than one Warder each. And she has to become Aiel sister wives or whatever with Aviendha in order for them both to marry Rand (I wonder, will Aviendha force Min to do the same...?), and essentially learns a whole other culture's traditions and has to abide by them. To be fair, Elayne is only forced into these situations because of her bordering psychotic obsession with Rand, so she only really has herself to blame.
In my opinion, A Crown of Swords was awesome and amazing. I will continue to along, though, hesitant and weary because I know book 10 Crossroads of Twilight is far from the best book in The Wheel of Time. Where I am in the series right now, no book has been bad bad, and I hope that this continues all the way through to A Memory of Light, however foolish a hope it is.
Rating: (obviously still) 5 stars
Oops. I reread again. No one is surprised. Half way through, I was questioning my decision of putting this book so high on my series ranking, but then the second half happened and, oh! That's why I loved it!
Second read: 16/09/20 - 18/09/20
Rating: (still) 5 stars
Unpopular opinion: A Crown of Swords is one of my favourite Wheel of Time books. I just love all the stuff with Nynaeve and Lan, and then the dynamic between Nynaeve and Mat after her being his Wisdom for so long, with the shift in power in regards to the Band.
Min is also great in this book. I love her internal struggle with her feelings for Rand, wanting to impress him and do everything for him, but also wanting to stay true to herself. She didn't readily accept that she was going to fall in love with him whether she likes it or not when she first gets that particular viewing earlier in the series, and you see the after effects of that in A Crown of Swords. Several times she expresses fear she will become too subservient that she would loose herself entirely. It is an interesting aspect of romance that I have never seen before, and the awareness of it Robert Jordan arises is really good.
Ok, that was a little longer than my normal rereviews (but just as disconnected and incohesive), so I'll stop here.
First read: 20/04/20 - 26/04/20
Rating: 5 stars
A Crown of Swords is meant to be the unofficial start of the slog (the majority consensus is that books 8 through 10 are definitely in the slog, but it's debatable as to whether book 7 is) and I was well and truly ready to be bored. But this book was incredible! I do not understand how people can think this is the beginning of this slog. Yes, it was a little slow in the middle, but I feel like all the books are the same, so you can't single out A Crown of Swords specifically. But I cannot deny the slog's existence. I am fully prepared for the slog to be in full force by at least book 9, but as of right now, I'm not feeling any slowing down. I'm still amazed. I'm still giving every book five stars. I. Cannot. Stop. Reading!
Nynaeve had some amazing character development in this book.
We finally got some quality Min content! Not only was she actually present for a good portion of the book, she also got a decent amount of the POVs. And not a couple paragraphs here and there like she had previously. Chapters 35 and 36 were fully her. And those chapters were incredible! I love the trope where (I hope this makes sense) someone gives a fake name to someone else, and then that someone else talks to them about this amazing/terrible person they love/hate, not knowing they are telling all this to that very person. And then when the person's identity is revealed and everyone is in shock, they give a great display of their power and destroy their adversaries who thought they were nothing but a weakling... oooooh that's some good stuff! Anyway, Min is my absolute favourite out of Rand's three love interests (perhaps even my favourite female character in the whole series) and I hope (and pray) she continually is given the attention she deserves. Honestly, if she is there by Rand's side throughout the slog, I will love every single book.
I'm still not too happy about the romance situation going on with Rand, Aviendha, Elayne and Min. It's just weird. I do get it, because Rand is an extremely strong ta'veran, and so he's going to change people's lives around him. I can remember in The Dragon Reborn when Rand would just walk through towns and the whole settlement would go crazy, people getting married left and right. But this love square Rand is at the centre of... I just want Robert Jordan to choose one love interest for Rand, and then he can have other girls running after him as well, because of his ta'veran nature. Though I do suppose that Min, Elayne and Aviendha agreeing to share Rand is better than them cat fighting over him and it taking over every book, I am still far from "used" to it.
In regards to the other Wheel of Time romances, I just wish sometimes that the little word "to" could be swapped for "with" in the numerous instances of "s/he belonged to XYZ". Even though most the relationships are consensual, the idea of someone owning another person (usually women possessing men) takes away the freedom of choice. Though they may have originally chosen to be in the relationship, it seems like once they make that initial decision they have essentially sold themselves to their partner and backing out is no longer an option. The power imbalance between two people in a situation where they should both be treating each other the same and have equal say in matters that concern them both... it's bothering me.
I keep waiting for something to happen to Rand, because he's at the top of his game right now. So many people are subject to him; so many nations are under his control, and he's basically the strongest channeler alive (bar some of the Forsaken). He's got to have some kind of drop off. Maybe his insanity scares people off and causes them to hate him (more than they do already, mind you). The series can't keep going on with Rand being on top of everything, because when the last battle comes, there isn't going to be much of a fight the way it is now.
And I feel bad for Elayne (I know, who would've thought). Don't get me wrong, she still sucks, but she is being forced into a lot of things. For instance, Elayne's choice of Ajah is already made for her, because since she had already bonded Birgette as a Warder to save Birgette's life, but wanted also to bond Rand, Elayne was forced to choose the Green Ajah as they are the only Ajah that bond more than one Warder each. And she has to become Aiel sister wives or whatever with Aviendha in order for them both to marry Rand (I wonder, will Aviendha force Min to do the same...?), and essentially learns a whole other culture's traditions and has to abide by them. To be fair, Elayne is only forced into these situations because of her bordering psychotic obsession with Rand, so she only really has herself to blame.
In my opinion, A Crown of Swords was awesome and amazing. I will continue to along, though, hesitant and weary because I know book 10 Crossroads of Twilight is far from the best book in The Wheel of Time. Where I am in the series right now, no book has been bad bad, and I hope that this continues all the way through to A Memory of Light, however foolish a hope it is.