A review by ampregnall
The Fires of Heaven: Book Five of 'the Wheel of Time' by Robert Jordan

4.0

Wow! A lot happened in The Fires of Heaven. Robert Jordan took a bunch of important characters in the Wheel of Time universe who had yet to see much of page time and made them play really important roles in the 800+ pages of this novel. We got to see several of the Forsaken in action like we hadn't before, and I really enjoyed watching the Rand and Nynaeve handle the different situations that arose out of the Forsaken's machinations. Other major characters like Perrin didn't even appear in the novel, which I think indicates how Jordan will balance his multiple major plot lines over the rest of the books in this fourteen novel series. Another aspect of The Fires of Heaven that I really enjoyed was that the stakes of the whole series finally felt real. I felt this way because of (1) a major event (plot twist!) near the end of the book and (2) Rand's apparent descent into madness. I have a feeling the plot twist will be reversed to some degree in future books, as will Rand's madness, but, for now, I am content seeing the real consequences of the characters actions and the world they inhabit. Overall, a solid entry in the series!