Elantris ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Elantris
Series: ----------
Authors: Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 621
Words: 205K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

Elantris was once a place of magic, and the immortal Elantrians were gods in the eyes of people, with the divine ability to create and heal with a mere wave of a hand. Anyone in Arelon had the potential to become an Elantrian through a magical transformation known as the Shaod. But ten years ago, a cataclysm known as the Reod somehow destroyed the magic of Elantris, the inhabitants of the city became "cursed," and the city was sealed off from society. Anyone affected by the Shaod is now thrown into Elantris to stay there forever, still immortal, but cursed with unquenchable hunger and unhealable pain.

The book focuses on three principal characters whose stories intertwine. Much of the book occurs in groupings of three chapters, one for each of the three main characters. The majority of the story takes places within the country of Arelon.

Main characters

There are three main point-of-view characters in the story:

Prince Raoden, the prince of Arelon, is transformed into an Elantrian at the beginning of the book. After the Reod, Elantrians were cursed with dark splotches on their skin and hair falling out. The cursed cannot die or be killed except by drastic measures, such as burning or beheading. A major part of the curse is that their bodies can not repair themselves, so they continue to feel the pain of a stubbed toe or bruise forever. Over time the minor injuries accumulate, eventually driving them all insane. Elantrians do not need to eat, but they feel torturous hunger when they don't. Once Raoden is transformed, he is immediately sent to Elantris in secret while his father pretends he has suddenly died. Raoden's storyline centers on his efforts to retain his sanity and improve the Elantrian way of life beyond the anarchy to which it succumbed when Elantris fell. He does this by displaying amazing skills as a leader and getting the Elantrians to focus on work, as opposed to their constant suffering. He also manages to calm and disperse or incorporate the gangs which were terrorizing new Elantrians upon their arrival.

Princess Sarene is the princess of Teod and would have been Raoden's political bride had he not been cursed. Raoden has never personally met her, so it comes as a surprise to her when she discovers upon her arrival in Arelon that they are considered to have been married if either of them dies before the wedding. Widow of a supposedly dead prince and a new member of the mostly ill-suited Arelon nobility, she struggles to find out what exactly is going in all affairs concerning the nobility of Arelon, the downtrodden common people of Arelon and Elantris, and what exactly happened to her now deceased husband. Sarene's storyline follows her attempts to stabilize and improve the monarchy and political system, which encouraged nobles to mistreat the peasants. While spending her time in Arelon, she learns of Gyorn Hrathen, and relies upon her knowledge and skills to prevent his religious revolution.

Gyorn Hrathen, a Derethi gyorn, otherwise known as a high-ranking priest, arrives in Arelon with a mandate to convert the country to the Derethi religion within three months' time, or his religion's supposed armies will come to destroy the entire nation of Arelon. He parades around the nation to spread propaganda with the intention to make Arelenes hate Elantris and Shu-Korath, and, in turn, convert to Derethi. He takes advantage of the corrupt nobility of the region in order to reach his end goal, often holding secret meetings with them that involve bribery. Hrathen's storyline focuses on his efforts towards politically maneuvering the Arelene aristocracy, with the ultimate intention being to place a converted Derethi on the throne. The novel occasionally focuses on his inward struggles as he feels he must come to terms with the religion he is supposed to believe, for even he questions his work ethic at times.

Aons

These are central to the book's plot. They are the means by which the Elantrians perform magic. Many characters' names are variations on the Aons, as is customary in this fantasy world. The images of the many Aons can be found in the back of the book. Raoden rediscovers many of the Aons while in Elantris, preserved in scrolls that have not been consumed by the decay of the city. He learns to invoke the Aons, but finds they have lost their power, which is the ultimate cause of Elantris' collapse. Near the end of the book, Sarene helps Raoden discover that the shapes of the Aons coincide with physical landmarks and natural features located around the country. A massive fissure in the earth that now cuts through the country 'altered' these landmarks, which in turn caused the Aons to lose their power. By 'reconstructing' the Aons to now incorporate the fissure in their design, Raoden restores the Aons' power. After realizing that Elantris and its surrounding cities are just one big Aon, he draws a giant line to represent the fissure, which restores Elantris and the Elantrians to their former glory.

My Thoughts:

Back in the day (from 2006 onward), Sanderson was the king of fantasy in my eyes. Everything he was writing was resonating with me. His stories were what I wanted to read. Then I got married, life happened and I've changed albeit so slowly that it wasn't really noticeable to me. Back in '19, Matt did a review of Elantris and while it has taken me almost 2 years, I've gotten around to re-reading it myself.

My recent re-read of his Mistborn books showed me that yes indeed I had changed. This re-read of Elantris really cemented that. I've been complaining about how Sanderson has gone the young adult route with his books and how I lamented that choice. Well, after reading his older stuff, it does appear that he's always BEEN young adult and I just didn't notice because it fit me so well at the time. Now that I've changed, I notice the rubs. Arggggg! Sometimes growing up isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I think Peter Pan would agree.

Overall, I did enjoy this re-read. Sanderson shows his ability to be creative with magic systems (something that nobody has surpassed him in yet, just copied in one way or another) and his propensity for wordiness and descriptive bloat are in full view. If you like having all that detail, then you won't be disappointed. If that type of thing bothers you, then I'd recommend not reading Sanderson. He's got the wordiness of Charles Dickens but without being “at that level”. He's definitely way above the majority of most authors in the SFF arena, but he's not a classic.

Sanderson wrote another series, Alcatraz versus ….., and it had been left in limbo due to publishing issues. He finished it up and I was planning on re-reading the previous books and then reading the final book. After this journey through Mistborn and Elantris, I think I'm going to wait a bit. I feel like I am in mourning for who I used to be.

This experience is one of the reasons I try to re-read books. They are yardsticks against which I can measure myself. Books don't change, I do but they do allow me to see that change.

★★★✬☆

• Elantris (2006 Review)

The Hero of Ages ★★★★☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Hero of Ages
Series: Mistborn #3
Authors: Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 675
Words: 242K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

The Hero of Ages is the prophesied savior of the Terris people, foretold to find and give up the power at the Well of Ascension, in a selfless act to save the world from the Deepness. However, the Terris prophecies proved to have been altered, in a ruse allowing the powerful force named Ruin to escape imprisonment.

Ruin wanted to destroy the world instantaneously but his power was too weak, as part of it had been taken and hidden by the opposing force, Preservation, long ago. Freedom from the Well of Ascension enabled Ruin to directly affect the world more, increasing ashfall from the ashmounts and summoning earthquakes to break the world apart; he could also influence people and control entire koloss armies. He used his thousand years of imprisonment to plot his escape and the subsequent destruction he would reap.

The Lord Ruler, in preparation of such an event, created storage caches containing resources such as food and water in cave complexes beneath certain cities, each one providing directions to the next. As Vin and Elend struggle to consolidate the remaining outposts of humanity, they hunt the storage caches, seeking hints left by the Lord Ruler and the missing atium stash. As they journey from cache to cache, the world itself begins to crumble, ash spewing forth in greater quantities, while the mists claim more people. The last two major unconquered cities are Fadrex City, which has reverted to the Lord Ruler's old structure of mass oppression under the obligator Yomen, and Urteau, a rebel city where the Skaa are free, the nobility overpowered, and a former commoner titled the Citizen rules with increasing violence.

Sazed tries to establish diplomatic relations with the people of Urteau, while continuing to struggle with trauma from the recent death of his beloved, the Terriswoman Keeper Tindwyl. He studies religions, but has lost his own faith and yearns to find a religion that makes sense to him. He and Breeze work with Spook (who has developed strange abilities) to try and help Elend secretly take over Urteau. Meanwhile, TenSoon the kandra is imprisoned and sentenced to death by the kandra elders, while still trying to convince them that the kandra prophecies of the world ending are now happening, and that they must work together with the humans to save the world.

Vin and Elend try to conquer the city of Fadrex and discover more about how their world works; they discover strange patterns in the numbers of people dying after being exposed to the mists, as well as secrets regarding the art of Hemalurgy, which is used to create the koloss, the kandra, and the Inquisitors. Fearing that Ruin will discover their plans, they are unable to discuss their plans with each other. Yomen, the King of Fadrex City, captures Vin on an infiltration mission gone wrong. Elend, left without any choice, takes another koloss army under his control, but the last remnants of Preservation appear to him, warning him to not attack the city. Shortly later, Preservation finally dies. On the verge of the attack, Vin escapes, and Ruin reveals his ability to seize ultimate control over the koloss. Ruin turns the koloss against Elend and Yomen's human armies, but before he can destroy them, Vin leads Ruin's attention and armies away to Luthadel. There, Marsh and the remaining Steel Inquisitors (who are under Ruin's control) battle Vin. On the verge of her death, Marsh briefly reasserts control and removes Vin's earring (which is actually a Hemalurgic spike), allowing Vin to draw upon the true power of the mists, Preservation's power. Vin ascends to become Preservation, trapped with Ruin upon another plane of existence, watching the world.

The kandra finally accept their doom, and Sazed finds his faith in the ancient Terris religion and the Hero of the Ages. Urteau is saved, at a great physical cost to Spook, who has discovered that Ruin was influencing him with Hemalurgy. Elend leads the last of humanity to the Kandra homeland, the Pits of Hathsin, where Ruin's power, or body, has been stored. Ruin has been fooling Vin and Elend into leading him to his body, which turns out to be the atium stash, hidden in the Kandra homeland all along. Surrounded, and outnumbered, Elend, realizes that the Mists have been snapping mistings, and that he has been provided with an army of atium mistings. He leads a desperate battle against the koloss, in vain. Marsh appears again, and faces down Elend. Though Elend receives mystical aid from Vin, giving him unlimited metallic power, Marsh strikes Elend in the chest with an axe, which proves fatal. As he is dying, Elend reveals that his soldiers have burnt away all of Ruin's body, the atium, in battle, so now Ruin can never recover his missing power. Vin realizes that Preservation gave of himself to create mankind so that mankind would be able to manifest both Preservation's ability to create and Ruin's ability to destroy. Having both abilities within her, Vin attacks Ruin directly, killing herself/Preservation, but also destroying Ruin.

Vin and many others thought that she was the Hero of Ages, but it is revealed to actually be the Terris Keeper Sazed. One major prophecy, "The Hero will bear the future of the world on his arms", referred to Sazed's Feruchemical copperminds on his arms. He uses the knowledge in these copperminds, along with the combined power of Preservation and Ruin, claimed from the fallen bodies of Vin and Ruin, to help reshape the world, re-aligning the sun and planets to stabilize the world, changing the red, volcanic ecology into a new paradise of blue skies, green foliage, gentle warming sun and rainbow flowers. Spook, Ham, Breeze, and the other survivors emerge to this newly reformed world, and begin their mission of rebuilding society.

My Thoughts:

Having read this back in '08 when it came out I remembered the basic gist and knew that there were LOTS of twists and turns in regards to the plot. I did not remember specifics though, so every “new” revelation on this re-read WAS almost new to me, again. It was one of the oddest sensations that I have experienced in a long time.

After my mixed reaction to the previous book I was a bit iffy on this. However, I enjoyed this quite a bit and didn't feel any mixed anything. Now, that's not to say it's a perfect book. Sanderson goes full on Dickens and describes stuff out the wazoo and there more times than I cared to count that I ended up skimming paragraphs at a time. That's the main reason why this stayed at 4stars even though I enjoyed it more than the previous book.

By the end of this book I had realized that Sanderson had been writing for a specific group, whether he realized it or not and that I no longer belonged to that group. So while I enjoyed this re-read, I don't think I'll ever be re-reading these again nor recommending them to anyone over 30. I have the 10^th Anniversary Edition of Elantris still to read and after that, I think I'll be done with Sanderson until he finishes up his Stormlight Archives magnum opus.

The cover I have used here is quite different from the one that was originially released back in '08 (https://aarongifford.com/images/heroofages.jpg) and I feel, that while not as cool, is much more in line with the contents. A bit more “truth in advertising”.

★★★★☆

• All of My "Mistborn" Reviews

• The Hero of Ages (2008 Review)

The White Tree (Cycle of Arawn #1) ★★✬☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The White Tree
Series: Cycle of Arawn #1
Author: Edward Robertson
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 432
Words: 190K

Synopsis:

From Cycle-of-arawn.fandom.com

Dante Galand is a teenager living in the nation of Mallon, not far from the capital of Bressel. One day, while exploring the woods around the village where he grew up, he stumbles upon a ruined temple of Arawn, god of death and the power of the nether, summarily banned in Mallon on religious grounds. In the temple he finds a copy of the Cycle of Arawn, the holy book of Arawn's followers. The temple is guarded. Dante kills the guard, takes the book, and heads to Bressel to research.

In Bressel, he hires Blays Buckler, an armsman of the same age as Dante, to watch his back while he studies, fearful of the other Arawnites who continue to hunt him and the Cycle. During a fight with the pursuing Arawnites in an alley, Dante subconsciously summons a shadowsphere, a basic trick of the nether. He and Blays flee Bressel and spend the next couple weeks camped by a pond in the woods outside Bressel before the Arawnites catch up and they move on. They make their way to the small city of Whetton, where they face down and kill another pair of Arawnite hunters, one of them a nethermancer. The next day, Blays is arrested by the guards of Whetton for the killings. Dante escapes by chance, having not been in their room at the time.

Unwilling to leave Blays to the gallows, Dante holes up in a mausoleum in the local graveyard where he meets an old man named Cally, who tells him about the Arawnites' scheme to use the Cycle as bait for new nethermancers and begins to teach Dante how to use the nether, starting with the use of your own blood to amplify the nether's power. Dante spends a good deal of the week reading the Cycle- particularly the story of Jack Hand- and contemplating ducks. On the day Blays is due to be hanged, Dante attacks the guards, causing a very large mess and saving Blays. As they ride away on stolen horses, Dante passes out after exhausting his control of the nether.

He wakes up in a temple Cally has been living in, and spends several days recovering and reading the Cycle- the part of it written in Mallish, at least. Cally eventually tells Dante, Blays, and the other two men rescued from Whetton that they'll have to leave soon. He recommends heading north, to the Dead City, Narashtovik. It's where Dante will be able to find teachers and knowledge about both the nether and the final third of the Cycle, which is written in Gaskan. It's also the source of a string of recent attacks and general unrest centered in Bressel and Collen. Cally suggests that if Blays and Dante are able to work their way into the city and kill Samarand, the current High Priestess of Arawn and ruler of Narashtovik, they will be able to avert a religious war directed at Mallon in the name of Arawn, who they plan to release from his godly prison.

Dante and Blays leave Cally's temple with Robert Hobble, one of the other men from Whetton. They're attacked on the road by half a dozen Arawnites led by Will Palomar. They drive their attackers off, but Robert is badly injured. Dante heals Robert as best he can, and they continue on. They stop in the town of Shay, where they meet Gabe, a norren monk of Mennok and an old friend of Cally's. While at Gabe's monastery, the town is caught up in the Unlocking, wherein all of the undercover Arawnites hidden in the Mallish temples of other gods revealed themselves and attacked the others. After a fight for the temple, Gabe sends the three of them on their way. They cross the Norren Territories without incident and make it the rest of the way to Narashtovik unmolested. Robert leaves them just outside the city and they continue alone.

After a few days of research and resupplying in Narashtovik, Dante presents himself at the Cathedral of Ivars with a copy of the Cycle. It's not the one he found in Mallon, the true original copy, but one of passably similar age found in a ruined building in Narashtovik itself. He and Blays walk right into the cathedral and all but throw the book at the first priest they find, which happens to be Nak Randal. Dante demands a place in the Arawnite order and a teacher. Larrimore, Samarand's Hand, is summoned to deal with them. They are eventually granted a place inside the walls of the Sealed Citadel. Dante spends his time learning Gaskan with Nak and Blays spends his time training with the Citadel's soldiers. After a brief stint in the dungeons over the issue of the non-original Cycle, a fact since discovered by the priests, Dante gets a minor promotion and Larrimore begins to send him and Blays on errands in the city like rounding up petty criminals with minor nethereal talents.

In time, Dante is set to creating reservoirs of nether by infusing old bones with the power and writing on them in blood. It also comes to light that Samarand was once a priest on the Council of Narashtovik under Cally. She spearheaded the effort to have him removed as the High Priest on the basis of advancing age. When Cally was finally forced out fifteen years before the start of the book, she took over the position. A week before the Council is set to leave to free Arawn, an assassin nearly kills Dante in the middle of the night, sent by Cally on suspicion that Dante had given up on the plan to kill Samarand. He and Blays hide the body in a haystack outside, and within a week they're riding out of the city with Samarand, Larrimore, half the Council, and a large escort of soldiers and priests for Barden, the White Tree. They're attacked by local rebels, displeased with Samarand's war, partway to Barden and defeat them.

Under Barden, Samarand and the six Council priests set to a massive, draining ritual to unleash Arawn. Dante and Blays wait, biding their time until they can strike. The ritual is nearly complete when the priests realize something isn't right. Dante steps forward with the true original Cycle and all hell breaks loose. Cally reveals himself, having been disguised as Jackson, one of the Council priests, for some time. He immediately goes into battle with Samarand while Dante and Blays turn on the rest of the priests and soldiers. One of the other Council priests, Baxter, turns on the rest of the Council, though he's quickly killed by Larrimore, who arrives from the bottom of the hill and demands answers. During the fighting, Dante knocks a limb free from the great bone tree. It's conveniently sword-shaped, and he takes it. In the end, the battle comes down Cally against Samarand and Dante against Larrimore. When Samarand and Larrimore both lie dead, along with the rest of the Council priests present, Cally speaks to the gathered soldiers and assumes command. On their return to Narashtovik, he tells the remnants of the Council what happened under Barden. Olivander, next in line for the seat of High Priest, nearly came to blows with Cally over his hand in Samarand's death, but in the end let it go in the name of rebuilding the decimated Council. Dante demanded a seat, and Cally supported it, making Dante by far the youngest Councilman at sixteen.

After a couple months of learning the city and his place in it and of generally relaxing, Dante talks with Blays. Spring is coming and Blays is restless, and means to leave. Dante decides to go with him. He gets nominal approval from Cally to make the two of them official delegates to Bressel, though they intend to do whatever they wish and Cally knows it. Cally tells Dante to consider how Narashtovik might help the cause of norren independence- he had apparently promised Gabe that he would fight for it, in exchange for help reclaiming his seat at the head of the Council. Dante and Blays leave Narashtovik and head south. They stop in Whetton and visit Robert Hobble before continuing on to Bressel.

My Thoughts:

If you've ever read Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, or are even a bit familiar with Welsh mythology, the name Arawn should be familiar to you. He is a death god and as such is considered to be a pretty bad guy. Robertson either digs deeper into Welsh Lore than I care to, or just does whatever the feth he feels like and makes Arawn the great god who helped humankind and was locked away because of it. Not going to get any sympathy from me. Death is evil and at some point will be destroyed, thank God.

Do you really want to free this guy?

Anyway, this had potential. But that was it. It was overlong, over written, confusing at times and odd word choices that removed me from the flow of the narrative were used. The most egregrious was the word “smited”. I can't find that word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. I have a feeling the writer used the rules of the english language and created that word based on that instead of looking up the proper form, which would been “smitten”. If any of you can find the word “smited”, please let me know.

The story contained should have been no more than 250 pages. Lots of extraneous detail (probably put in for “world building (heaven save us from that filthy thing)), little side journeys or happenings that didn't advance the plot but fluffed the page count, it all just added up to one big Bloviated book.

Then you have the character of Dante. He's this 16 year old who saw some guy heal a dog way back when and so decided to become a disciple of Arawn (or at least read the religious book of Arawn) to become what is in essence a wizard. How does he do that? He reads the book and his innate ability allows him to. There were a couple of times where he uses what is a huge burst of magic to push people back and I had to wonder why he didn't use a much smaller amount to twirl a sword through the air and kill people. Nothing says “cool magic” like a flying sword. While the magic system wasn't layed out for us the reader, that didn't bother me. What bothered me was that Dante didn't try to figure them out for himself. Or if he did, it was lost in all the wordiness and lost.

Finally, why did Dante interrupt the ritual near the end to prevent the return of Arawn? If he's such an upstanding god who just wants to be buddy buddy's with humanity, and whose religious book can empower people, why? The reason given is that then the acolytes of Arawn would go off to war. But don't you think Arawn himself might have something to say about that? If they bring him back, he's not going just be a puppet for them to use.

By the end of this book I was ready for it to be done and I had zero interest in the rest of the trilogy. Robertson isn't a good enough author to cut down his own work, so I'm not going to waste my time on any more of his books.

★★✬☆☆

 

Sins of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder #1) ★★★★✬

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Sins of Empire
Series: Gods of Blood and Powder #1
Author: Brian McClellan
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Flintlock Fantasy
Pages: 507
Words: 177.5K

Synopsis:

Ten years after the Kez-Adran War, General Vlora Flint, now head of the renowned Riflejack Mercenary Company, finds herself hired by the government of the independent colony of Fatrasta. Her mission is to find a dangerous insurgent leader named Mama Palo.

Benjamin "Mad Ben" Styke, former hero of the Fatrastan Revolution and convicted traitor, is released from prison after ten years thanks to the machinations of a mysterious benefactor, who asks him to get into General Flint's good graces and keep an eye on her.

Meanwhile, Agent Michel Brevis of the Blackhats, the Fatrastan government's secret police, is given orders to investigate the origin of a widely circulated political pamphlet titled "Sins of Empire".

Everything comes together as the Dynize Empire, which has been closed to any outsider for the last 100 years, sends a fleet and an army to Landfall, the capital city of Fatrasta, to recapture a magical artifact. An artifact that Taniel and Ka-poel have been seeking. An artifact that can create gods.

My Thoughts:

Man, what a rush! I haven't read a lot of epic fantasy recently (outside of my re-reads of the Wheel of Time and the Mistborn books) and it just felt “good” to slide back into this genre. While McClellan is fully a Flintlock fantasy kind of guy, his books do cross over into the Epic, what with their scope and literal size.

The Powder Mage trilogy was gritty. This toned that down as only one of the three points of view was from a powder mage. The inclusion of the political side of things made it feel more of a stiletto kind of story than a powder horn story. The revelation that the godstone could create gods has set some things into motion that I have no idea where McClellan is going to take it. The final revelation that there are two more of the blasted things makes me wonder why the world isn't overrun by gods. I'm hoping the author has some good explanations for all of that.

I am not a fan of Vlora. I didn't care for her in the original trilogy and nothing here makes her any more likeable. Her poor decision making skills endanger herself and by proxy the entirety of the Riflejacks on several occasions and while she is firm once she makes a decision, we as readers get the full view of her internal vacillating. Bleh. She's no Taniel. That and her irrational dislike of Ka-poel grates, as it was Vlora who betrayed Taniel by sleeping with another man during their engagement. Ka-poel only made a move on Taniel once it was clear Vlora disdained him on all levels. So Vlora's dislike just seems like a seed of bitterness that she's nursing. It's ugly.

I have not read any of the short stories (or the book where they are all collected) that McClellan put out on his website back in the day, so I was a complete stranger to Ben Stykes. He's definitely an interesting character. His “mad” added to his name definitely fits and yet he's quite the sympathetic guy too.

I am looking forward to the rest of this trilogy. Just the fact that it is a trilogy and not some bleeding sprawling forever series is a huge plus in my eyes.

★★★★✬

• All My "Powder Mage" Reviews

The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) ★★★★☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Well of Ascension
Series: Mistborn #2
Authors: Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 656
Words: 249K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

The Final Empire is in turmoil as various regions descend into anarchy following the Lord Ruler's death and the disappearance of the Steel Ministry. Elend Venture has claimed the crown of the capital city, Luthadel, and attempts to restore order, but various hostile forces converge on the city. Three armies lay siege to Luthadel because of its rumored wealth of Atium and political influence. The first army is led by Straff Venture - head of House Venture, and Elend's father. The second army is led by Ashweather Cett, self-declared king of the Western Dominance. The third army consists of Koloss, massive, brutish blue creatures once controlled by the Lord Ruler, and is led by Elend's former friend Jastes, who is buying the Koloss' obedience with counterfeit coins.

Vin and Elend discover a set of discarded bones in their keep, and with help from Vin's shapeshifting Kandra, OreSeur, realize that another Kandra has taken the form and identity of one of Kelsier's crew to spy on them. Vin becomes increasingly suspicious of everyone around her. At night, she begins sparring with Zane, Straff's Mistborn son and Elend's half brother. In the South, Sazed has come across suspicious deaths that appear to be caused by the mists. Marsh – Kelsier's brother and a Steel Inquisitor – leads Sazed to a Ministry stronghold called "The Conventical of Seran," the former base of the Inquisitors. They discover an engraving that was authored by the Terrisman who once claimed to have found the Hero of Ages, which begins "I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted." They leave quickly, Sazed taking a charcoal rubbing.

The Terris keeper Tindwyl arrives at Luthadel to train Elend to be a better king. Despite his personal improvements, the Assembly votes to depose Elend, using the very laws written by Elend, and elect Lord Penrod as their new king. Zane pressures Vin to kill her enemies and flee with him, abandoning the city. Misting assassins attack Elend at an Assembly meeting, and when Vin kills them in front of Elend, their relationship deteriorates. At Zane's urging, Vin lashes out, slaughtering hundreds of Cett's soldiers at his temporary Luthadel mansion. She becomes disturbed by her actions and flees without killing Cett, who decides to leave the city and abandon his siege. Vin decides to choose Elend over Zane and refuses him. He tries to kill her, and reveals that the real OreSeur is dead, having been replaced by Zane's kandra, TenSoon. TenSoon has grown to like Vin, however, and he helps her kill Zane before returning to the kandra homeland. Feeling liberated, Vin accepts Elend's longstanding marriage proposal. Sazed and the rest of the crew scheme to get Elend and Vin out of the city before it falls, and Sazed creates a false map to the Well of Ascension, which Vin is convinced may be able to save them.

Straff withdraws his forces, allowing the koloss army to attack Luthadel, planning to rescue the city after the koloss have destroyed most of it and suffered casualties. Jastes loses control of his army; he flees and is killed. Vin returns to Luthadel just in time to save Sazed and most of the city's civilians, though Dockson, Tindwyl and Clubs are killed. She discovers that she can control the koloss using her Allomancy; she stops their slaughtering and turns them and Luthadel's army against Straff's army. Vin kills Straff and his generals as Cett decides to ally himself with Luthadel. Vin forces Cett, Penrod, and Straff's last general to swear allegiance as kings under Elend, whom she names emperor.

Vin realizes that the Well of Ascension is in Luthadel itself, and finds a hidden doorway in the Lord Ruler's castle that leads down to the underground Well of Ascension, where a man made of mist stabs Elend. Vin is tempted to use the power in the Well to heal him, but ultimately follows the instruction of Sazed's rubbing, releasing the power for the good of the world rather than seizing it for herself. The moment she releases it, a powerful entity escapes, shouting out that it is now free. The Mist figure encourages Vin to feed Elend a bead of metal she finds in the room, which makes him a Mistborn; his life is saved through Allomancy by burning Pewter. Sazed travels back to The Conventical of Seran and inspects the engraving. He discovers that the words of the rubbing have been changed, presumably by the mysterious entity working to secure its own release.

My Thoughts:

I can imagine Sanderson chortling to himself as he wrote this book. He had already turned the Epic Fantasy world on its head by having the badguy turn out to be the hero but who really wasn't and in this, he turns prophecy on its head as the hero of prophecy actually hasn't come yet and it's a woman, ie, Vin the Mistborn of the series. Of course, right at the very end of the book you find out that even the Prophecy turned on its head was just a fake out. I also happen to remember vague details from book 3 that makes it all even more inverted. Like I said, I bet he was chortling away as he wrote this. I think the impact of all that twisty inversion has the greatest punch upon the initial read but upon a re-read you pick up on the foreshadowing that he includes.

When I read this back in '07 I was in my late 20's and still single. What I was looking for in books was that sense of fantastic adventure coupled with a slight bit of romance and boy howdy, it delivered all of that back then. It still does this time around too. The problem is, I have changed quite a bit in the last 14 years and unlike some books (Way-Farer, Galactic Odyssey, The Hobbit, etc), this book has not weathered those changes as seamlessly. The angst of the love me/love me not has zero appeal, the uncertainty of youth and inexperience isn't comforting but annoying and I've read a lot of Fantasy, epic or otherwise, since then. While Sanderson has reset Epic Fantasy, much like Tolkien did back in his day, that has spawned so much copycat and wannabes that it makes finding an original story that much harder. That's not directly relevant to this story, but I see the effects this series has had and I have to admit that I don't like that effect, not at all. So it colors my enjoyment here and now.

The story itself is just great though. Multiple armies and monsters and Mistborns all flying around and killing. And the world going crazy with mists starting to kill people. It is good stuff!

I don't like the cover for this edition. While pretty accurate (Vin carrying a big ass koloss sword) it just screams Young Adult. Plus, it's not the one that was originally released and that's what I read and so obviously that is the best one. Duh! I've included a small picture of the original. If you're really curious, just use Tineye.com to do a reverse image search for a big copy.

I don't regret selling my hardcovers for this series though. Which tells me the raw and gritty truth, that I've moved on and these books haven't. Now, where's my cane? And someone tell those bleeping kids to get off my lawn too! Kids, no respect these days. Back in MY day.....

★★★★☆

• All of My "Mistborn" Reviews

• Well of Ascension (2007 Review)

Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) ★★★★★

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Mistborn: The Final Empire
Series: Mistborn #1
Authors: Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 574
Words: 214K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

Three years prior to the start of the novel, a half-skaa thief named Kelsier discovered that he was Mistborn and escapes the Pits of Hathsin, a brutal prison camp of the Lord Ruler. He returned to Luthadel, the capital city of the Final Empire, where he rounded up his old thieving crew for a new job: to overthrow the Final Empire by stealing its treasury and collapsing its economy.

At the beginning of the novel, Vin, a wary and abused street urchin, is recruited by Kelsier's crew after Kelsier is notified by his brother, Marsh, that she is a Mistborn. Vin is trained by Kelsier's crew to develop her Allomantic powers, which include burning pewter to strengthen the body, burning tin to enhance the senses, and burning steel and iron to gain a limited form of telekinesis over metal. She is also given the duty of spying on the nobility by attending opulent balls in Luthadel (the capital and center of the final empire), where she poses as Valette Renoux, niece to Lord Renoux, a nobleman working with Kelsier's crew. During these balls, she meets and falls in love with Elend Venture, heir to House Venture, the most powerful of the Luthadel noble houses. Elend flouts the rules of nobility culture and secretly plans to build a better society with his noble friends when they ascend to their respective house titles.

Kelsier hopes to conquer the city by destabilizing it with a house war between the nobility and then invading with a skaa army. Once in control, he hopes to overthrow the Final Empire by stealing the Lord Ruler's hoard of atium, a precious metal which is the cornerstone of the Final Empire's economy. The crew succeeds in starting a house war by assassinating several powerful nobles and recruiting about seven thousand soldiers to join their cause. However, about three quarters of the soldiers are slaughtered when they foolishly attack an unimportant Final Empire garrison with the hopes of divine protection from Kelsier, who has spread rumors of his "supernatural" powers. The remaining soldiers are smuggled into Luthadel by Kelsier, who intends to continue the plan. Unfortunately, Marsh is discovered and seemingly killed, and Lord Renoux and his estate are seized and he is brought to be executed by the Canton of Inquisition, the police arm of the Final Empire. This Canton is made up of Steel Inquisitors, seemingly indestructible Allomancers with steel spikes driven through their eyes. Though Kelsier's crew manage to free most of Renoux's group and kill an Inquisitor, Kelsier is killed by the Lord Ruler himself in a dramatic confrontation in Luthadel's city square. Though these events appear to leave Kelsier's plan in shambles, it is revealed that his real plan was to become a martyred symbol of hope for Luthadel's superstitious skaa population. The skaa population reacts to his death by rising up and overthrowing the city with the help of Kelsier's army.

Before his death, Kelsier had attempted to unlock the potential of the "Eleventh Metal" that he had acquired, which was rumored to be the Lord Ruler's weakness. He was unable to do so before his death, and left it to Vin to finish the job. With the Eleventh Metal, Vin goes to the imperial palace to kill the Lord Ruler. She is captured by the Canton of Inquisition and left in a cell to be tortured, but Sazed, her faithful servant, comes to her rescue. Using a magical discipline called Feruchemy, he helps Vin escape and recover her possessions. Marsh is revealed to be alive, having actually been made into a Steel Inquisitor; he betrays his fellow Inquisitors and slays them. Vin fights the Lord Ruler, who is revealed to be both an incredibly powerful Allomancer and a Feruchemist, the combination of which grants him incredible healing powers and eternal youth. Vin is almost destroyed by the Lord Ruler, but with hints from the Eleventh Metal and the unexpected magical aid of the mists, she manages to separate the Lord Ruler from his Feruchemical bracelets that provide him with constant youth, causing him to age rapidly. Vin uses a spear to kill the Lord Ruler, who with his last words ominously warns her of a great doom. The Final Empire collapses, though Elend is able to avoid total societal collapse by uniting Luthadel under a new system of democratic government.

My Thoughts:

Recently I've been talking with other people about whether fantasy has gotten worse (in whatever form you claim is “worse”) or if there's just more drek or if authors are pandering to the idiots or whatnot. I do think we can all agree it has gotten bigger, literally. If it ain't a 10 volume epic of phat tomes, then the publishers will tell you to publish it yourself. Anyway, I have found myself despising the path that Brandon Sanderson has started going down. He's writing multiple Young Adult books, comics and starting new series while ignoring older series. He's also taken to putting his name on a cover and “co-authoring” books, which as we all know, usually means the other person did all the work and the big name is to sell the book. You might detect a hint of bitterness. If so, you are correct. When I was in my 20's, and him too, he wrote what I wanted to read. As I've gotten older, his output hasn't changed but is still geared towards a younger audience. What I wasn't sure about was whether my memories of raving about his early works were because they were actually good, or because they hit the spot for me.

So this re-read of the original Mistborn trilogy is a test to see if Sanderson was a good author or if his recent “decline” was just in my head. Sadly, this was pure awesome sauce and made me excited to read fantasy. I say sadly because it means Sanderson has pandered to the Crowd and stopped writing good stuff.

This is not a perfect book, despite my rating and love for it. This is early Sanderson and while nothing sticks out like a broken branch, it is not completely polished. It “felt” like an early work. The chosen words didn't flow perfectly, they didn't have the many shades of meaning possible. It was never bad or ever wrong, it just wasn't as good as I've seen him write in later books. But really, I don't expect a highschool athlete to perform at the same level as an Olympic Champion. But once they've reached that level, I expect them to stay there. And while early Sanderson was great, once he got beyond that there's just no going back.

Now, with that naysaying, this was just as good as I remember. I was excited to crack open my kindle each evening and read some more. I was even more excited when I got to the end of the book and to remember that I had TWO MORE BOOKS to read. You know something is good when you get excited about the books to come.

So to end, I had a fantastic time reading this, my faith in old Sanderson was restored and Fantasy HAS changed in the last 15 years and not for the better.

★★★★★

• Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006 Review)

A Memory of Light (The Wheel of Time #14) ★★★★☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: A Memory of Light
Series: The Wheel of Time #14
Author: Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 883
Words: 355K

Synopsis:

From Tarvalon.net

Note, this summary is neither in chapter order nor strictly chronological. Instead, it follows the individual plot threads insofar as that is feasible.

At the Black Tower, Androl and Pevara have realized that Taim is forcibly turning men to the Shadow and decide to try and work together. They practice linking but Androl doesn't release the link quickly enough and Pevara panics and bonds him when he does. He retaliates by bonding her. They learn that Welyn has been turned and he claims that Logain and Taim have patched up their differences and are working together. They realize that Logain must have been captured and Androl decides to free him. They invite one of the turned men, Dobser, to come and talk and ambush him knocking him unconscious and tying him up with air. When he wakes, Emarin interrogates him, apologising for what Androl did and telling Dobser that he only followed Logain for his own safety as he didn't want to reveal his true identity. Dobser assumes him to be a high lord of Tear and tells him where Logain is located. They go to rescue Logain, but Evin is caught and gives the plan away and they are captured. Taim tries again to turn Logain, but fails and also tries with Emarin, but fails with him as well. He manages to turn Toveine and Evin who urge Logain to stop fighting. Androl uses his knowledge of Evin, that his madness has made him extremely suspicious, to make him turn against Abors who he attacks, but the struggle is brief and Taim's men come out victorious. Hessalam arrives and criticizes Taim, who tells her he has the Seals. They decide to leave and he orders Androl and the others killed. He weaves balefire at Androl.

Perrin and Gaul enter Tel'aran'rhiod in the flesh, to better combat Slayer. They go to the Black Tower, as Perrin suspects there is another dreamspike He sees Lanfear there, who explains to him something of how it works enabling him to remove it. With the dreamspike removed, Androl is able to weave a small gateway and the balefire Taim aimed at him passes through it. Canler and other loyal Asha'man break in and the two groups begin to fight. Androl opens a gateway in front of Taim's men, with the exit behind them, and weaves meant for him and his allies instead kill many of them. Taim, Hessalam and the others flee.

At the Field of Merrilor, Rand tells the assembled leaders that he will have three conditions for agreeing to fight in the Last Battle. The first is that the nations sign a peace agreement, the Dragon's Peace, to last a hundred years, the second is that he be given the Seals to break and finally that he have complete control of all the armies. It is not going well until Moiraine arrives and repeats parts of the Prophecies of the Dragon that show Rand is right. He agrees not to break the Seals himself as long as Egwene agrees to break them when the time is right. The rulers agree to his demands and Aviendha asks him to include the Aiel. He says he trusts them to do what is right, but she insists and he changes the treaty to include them as peacekeepers between the nations. Moiraine also makes him realise he cannot have command of the armies while he fights the Dark One and he names Elayne to the role. When the time comes to give Egwene the Seals, he discovers they are fakes and the real ones have been stolen.

Mat goes to Ebou Dar to see Tuon and saves her from a gray man. Rand visits and manages to persuade Tuon to abide by the treaty. She and Egwene also have a meeting, that threatens to descend into conflict until Mat steps in and forces them to come to an agreement. She accepts that as the Sea Folk have not accepted her in any way, and Tremalking does not have a Sea Folk ruler, their rule there is illegitimate and the Sea Folk must be left to rule themselves They decide that the women who have been collared will not be freed, but that in future, the Seanchan can send emissaries to the other Westlands, asking women who can channel to come and be damane. She agrees that the Seanchan forces will fight in the Last Battle

They decide to fight the Last Battle on four fronts, with one of the Great Captains planning the battle for each of them but with Elayne in overall command. Bryne will lead in southern Kandor, Agelmar at Tarwin's Gap, Bashere in Caemlyn and Rodel will defend Shayol Ghul, while Rand fights the Dark One. Graendal uses compulsion on them however, to cause them to make mistakes and many men are killed. Rand enters the Pit of Doom and starts to fight Moridin. Demandred arrives from Shara, with a huge army including hundreds of channelers who take on the combined Aes Sedai forces. He has Sakarnen, a sa'angreal and a full circle of seventy two, but his effectiveness is limited as he obsesses about Lews Therin.

Baldhere and Lan realize that Agelmar is making mistakes that leave their army completely exposed, and they lose most of their army. Tam realizes that Bashere has left their army heavily exposed and Elayne realizes he has been under compulsion. Logain and the Asha'man arrive and manage to save Elayne's army by opening a gateway into Dragonmount and letting the lava block the path of the advancing Trollocs. Rodel realizes that he is being made to give bad orders and fights against it. Perrin sends Elyas to stop him, and Elyas is able to get there before the compulsion overcomes Rodel. When Mat arrives in Kandor, he realizes that Bryne is making mistakes that are positioning the forces of the Light to be wiped out. He sends Min to tell Egwene that Bryne must be a Darkfriend, but she just assumes Mat doesn't understand what is happening and laughs at the idea. She begins to reconsider if she really does trust him and when she hears that Bashere turned against Elayne, she begins to question some of his decisions and he is removed from command. Egwene realizes that because of Mat's medallion, he is the only one who can be trusted and he takes over control, moving to one location, the Field of Merrilor. They move all the forces apart from the ones protecting Shayol Ghul and wait for the Shadowspawn armies to arrive.

Faile waits in Tar Valon to take the Horn of Valere to Mat. Berisha prepares to open a gateway, but a bubble of evil hits and it the group ends up in the Blight, Berisha having being stabbed with a dagger. Harnan and Vanin open the chest containing the Horn and flee when confronted by Faile. The group make their way through the Blight until they come to a supply dump near the Town. They enter it, disguised as Darkfriends, but are given away by Aravine. An Aes Sedai arrives and opens a gateway, which they go through. Olver stabs the Aes Sedai and in the confusion, Harnan and Vanin free other captives. Faile kills Aravine to take back the Horn and gives it to Olver, asking him to try and get it to Mat.

The battle continues for days, with the forces of the Light outnumbered, but Mat managing to keep them alive. Demandred continues obsesses over Lews Therin and kills Gawyn in single combat and severely injures Galad. Taim is defeated by Egwene wielding Vora's Sa'angreal and is given sakarnen by Demandred. He uses it to weave balefire and with the Sharans, kills half of the Aes Sedai. Egwene discovers a counter to balefire and with this she defeats and kills him, drawing too much of the Power and sacrificing herself, taking out most of the Ayyad as she does. Demandred is killed by Lan and the forces of the Shadow lose their cohesion. Olver blows the Horn of Valere and the Heroes come to fight. Mat fakes a fight with Tuon and the Seanchan withdraw, encouraging the forces of the Shadow to attack for what they expect to be a final victory, but they stretch themselves too thin and are obliterated when the Seanchan return.

Rand fights Moridin at the Pit of Doom before engaging with the Dark One and being shown a range of possible worlds after the Dark One wins. He rejects them all. Moridin grabs Callandor and realizes it is a sa'angreal for the True Power. Nynaeve and Moiraine use its flaw to take control of what he is holding and link with Rand, who melds the three powers together, as Logain breaks the seals to reforge the Dark One's prison.

Perrin kills Slayer. A weave of compulsion backfires on Graendal, leaving her dedicated to Aviendha. Moghedien is collared by the Seanchan and Lanfear is killed by Perrin to stop her killing Nynaeve and preventing Rand from reforging the prison. Mat kills Padan Fain. Rand swaps bodies with Moridin and fakes his own death. He leaves, unable to channel but with an ability to alter reality by simply willing a pipe to be lit.

My Thoughts:

Well, the journey is done. Sanderson wraps up the Wheel of Time, something long time fans were not sure was actually going to happen. And in all honesty, he did a good job of it too.

My only gripe is that Sanderson brings his social justice attitude to the front several times and makes a point of pointing out which ash'aman are homosexual. It added nothing to the story and looking back, this was about the time I began diverging from Sanderson in his other works.

That aside, I was quite happy with how this went. The battle, one looooooong one really, was fantastically written and once one of the main characters turned out to be mindwarped by the Dark One and then another main character dies, well, it was obvious nobody was safe from destruction and death.

Lan's final sword fight was the epitome of epic and characterized him to a tee. I'm not sure about Rand, since he now appears to be able to control reality at will. Will he live forever? If so, what do the dreams of Rhuedin now mean to the Wise Ones?

Jordan, and thus Sanderson by proxy, left a LOT of questions unanswered and areas unexplored. I don't know if he was really planning on writing more in this universe, but it sure seems so. If he wasn't, then he was just a jerk for creating questions for the readers without any possible answers.

Overall, while I am glad I re-read this, I don't ever plan on doing that again. I saw too many of Jordan's weaknesses as a writer on display and way too many instances of his wife's bad decisions as his editor. I obviously have mixed feelings about this series but I don't unreservedly recommend it nor universally condemn it. I won't be reading it for a third time though.

★★★★☆

• A Memory of Light (2013 Review)

• Towers of Midnight (Book 13)

• The Gathering Storm (Book 12)

• Knife of Dreams (Book 11)

• Crossroads of Twilight (Book 10)

• Winter's Heart (Book 9)

• Path of Dagger (Book 8)

• Crown of Swords (Book 7)

• Lord of Chaos (Book 6)

• New Spring (Book 0)

• The Fires of Heaven (Book 5)

• The Shadow Rising (Book 4)

• The Dragon Reborn (Book 3)

• The Great Hunt (Book 2)

• The Eye of the World (Book 1)

Towers of Midnight (The Wheel of Time #13) ★★★★★

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Towers of Midnight
Series: The Wheel of Time #13
Author: Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 909
Words: 334K

Synopsis:

From Tarvalon.net

Fain corrupts an army of Trollocs and heads south with them.

Elaida's sul'dam has her demonstrate Traveling. Fortuona decides to use this to attack the White Tower in force.

Aviendha meets a strange Aiel on the way to Rhuidean, who makes her think of the toh the Aiel must pay, their sin and what they will do once it is paid. After going through the glass columns, she wonders if she can sense their purpose like she did with the other ter'angreal and manages to activate them so that they show her descendants rather than her ancestors. They show that the Aiel will be defeated by the Seanchan and reduced to pitiful honorless wretches.

Rand comes from Dragonmount and talks to Almen Bunt. As he talks, apple trees that had previously given shrivelled fruit re-bloom and give a genuine crop. He leaves to talk to Egwene and tell her he means to break the Seals. She decides this is the wrong thing to do and begins to organize resistance to him. He tells her he will meet her at the Field of Merrilor.

Perrin encounters the Whitecloaks, under the command of Galad. Bornhald and Byar tell Galad that Perrin killed Children, including Geofram Bornhald, so in order to avoid a battle, Perrin agrees to a trial, with Morgase as the judge, who Galad has identified. She pronounces him guilty, but declares it a fight between mercenary companies and says Galad should set the punishment. Perrin encounters Slayer in the Dreamworld and finds a ter’angreal that can prevent the opening of gateways. He follows Slayer to the White Tower where he walks into a battle between Aes Sedai and the Black Ajah under the command of Mesaana. Egwene tries to hold him, with rope and chains, but his abilities in Tel'aran'rhiod are too strong and he just shrugs them off. Slayer escapes, but Perrin destroys the ter'angreal, allowing gateways to be formed once more. He realises there is a trap ahead of them and arranges his men to fight Shadowspawn, who arrive through a Portal Stone, with one lone male passing them through. He is able to save the Whitecloaks. Bornhald accepts he is no Darkfriend but Byar does not and tries to kill him, but is killed by Dain. Perrin persuades Galad to give him his allegiance until the last Battle is over. Galad tells Perrin that his punishment will be to pay reparations.

In the Tower, the Bloodknives murder Aes Sedai, but Egwene believes it to be Mesaana. She arranges a meeting with Windfinders and Wise Ones and suggests an alliance, and a new bargain with the Windfinders to replace the one that Elayne made. They decide to think on it. Mesaana and members of the Black Ajah attack and they are forced to battle. Several Black Ajah are killed before Mesaana captures Egwene with an a'dam. Egwene refuses to accept it and it falls away. She then crushes Mesaana’s mind.

Mat discovers the gholam has tracked him. He sends an urgent letter to Elayne and is granted a meeting. He persuades her to make the Dragons, but she insists that Andor will own most of them. He agrees the Band will work for Andor until Rand needs them, but that they can refuse any commission. He tells her about the gholam. He offers her his ter'angreal to study as an encouragement and gets a deal out of her. She is able to make imperfect copies that deflect weak weaves, but not strong ones and do not allow the holder to channel. She decides to tie the Kin to her and arranges for them to be permanently based in Caemlyn, hoping that Egwene will agree. While Mat and Birgitte are out, she visits the Black Ajah, disguised as one of the Forsaken to trick Chesmal into revealing secret information. She gets some, but Temaile, Eldrith and Mellar are freed by Jaq Lounalt and attack her. After a struggle, Mellar escapes with a copy of the foxhead medallion, but the three Black Ajah sisters are killed.

After meeting Elayne, Mat arranges to kill the gholam. He entices it into attacking him, wounding it with his ter'angreal and copies Elayne made. He is able to force it back and through a skimming gateway that Sumeko had opened, where it would fall forever.

Nynaeve Heals Naeff's madness. She Travels to Tar Valon and takes the test for Aes Sedai, which she passes after some discussion. She then Travels to the Black Tower and takes Lan's bond. Rand sends Naeff to the Black Tower, to find men loyal to him and tell him he was wrong about Taim.

In the Black Tower, Androl leads the men loyal to Logain. They discover they are unable to open gateways. They note that Kurin seems no longer to be himself, indeed seems to be empty. Pevara also discovers she cannot form a gateway, but when she tries to talk to Tarna, finds that Tarna is behaving oddly and seems unconcerned about the restrictions Taim has placed. Androl comes to her to try and arrange an escape.

Rodel fights a massive Trolloc force, keeping them free of Maradon against all odds. As they are about to be overwhelmed, Bashere arrives and saves them. Rand joins them and obliterates the Trolloc army. Rodel is taken away by Rand, who has found Alsalam.

Mat meets up with Perrin and they tell each other their news. Perrin leaves to meet with Elayne and they arrange a treaty, Perrin is to be High Lord over the Two Rivers which is to be given to the Dragon Reborn and will not pay taxes. Perrin and Faile's children will be encouraged to marry into Andoran nobility. Perrin heads to the Field of Mellitor, where he aligns with Rand. Elayne strips Arymilla, Elenia and Naean of their titles and offers their estates to powerful Cairhienen lords, promising the Andorans estates in Cairhien. She enters Cairhien to take the throne, though Birgitte has to prevent an assassination attempt.

Mat takes Noal and Thom to the Tower of Ghenjei. They enter and use Mat's luck to navigate, soon arriving at a room with Moiraine. They tell the Aelfinn they want her and that Mat is willing to pay the price, the loss of his eye. As part of the bargain, he insists the Aelfinn allow them to leave, but forgets to insist on the same with the Eelfinn and they are attacked. Noal admits to being Jain Fairstrider and stays back to fight them off. He is defeated and the Eelfinn approach Mat, Thom and Moiraine. Mat thinks on the last bargain he made and realises that as he didn't ask for a weapon, the weapon must be something he did ask for – a way out and uses it to slash the sides of the room and they escape. Moiraine tells them her strength in the Power is greatly reduced and that she will marry Thom. She bonds him.

The armies of the Westlands gather at the Field of Merrilor, to oppose the Dragon Reborn.

My Thoughts:

This. This was everything that a Wheel of Time book was supposed to be, every time. Massive in size, in scope and in story yet racing right along with intricate action scenes and politics galore. Sanderson brings the magic back into the storytelling and reminds us of why we stuck it out for over 20 years to see where Jordan was going to take us.

All 3 of the ta'averen, Rand, Matt and Perrin grow up. While it felt rather abrupt, it really fit in with everything that had happened to them before. This was the tipping point where they chose whether to become good men or to stay boys.

This also had one of the saddest parts of the entire series, where Aviendha sees the future instead of the past when going through the Aiel ter'angreal (a magical item). It is sad because you see the descent of the Aiel from feared warriors to scavenging animals and Sanderson really sells it. I could feel the descent, if that makes sense. It is sad also because you see the land and kingdoms we've spent the last 13 books reading about eventually being conquered by the Seanchan. I found it amazing how Sanderson managed to describe the next couple hundreds of years and convey the wealth of information that he did in only one chapter. On a third front, it also perfectly expressed how the Wheel of Time kept on rolling after the events chronicled here. This was NOT the Last Battle. Just A Battle.

That brings me to the one thing I am not ok with in the entire Wheel of Time series. The whole Creator and the Dark One entities. The Creator appears to have abandoned the universe after imprisoning the Dark One while the Dark One seems to have been given free reign to escape if he can. Jordan, and thus Sanderson, don't really go into the theological details of this and that gaping hole bothers me just as much as the apparent Dualism theology presented. Obviously, as a Christian I have a VERY different outlook. I don't expect my fantasy to align with my beliefs but neither do I simply ignore it.

★★★★★

• Towers of Midnight (2013 Review)

• The Gathering Storm (Book 12)

• Knife of Dreams (Book 11)

• Crossroads of Twilight (Book 10)

• Winter's Heart (Book 9)

• Path of Dagger (Book 8)

• Crown of Swords (Book 7)

• Lord of Chaos (Book 6)

• New Spring (Book 0)

• The Fires of Heaven (Book 5)

• The Shadow Rising (Book 4)

• The Dragon Reborn (Book 3)

• The Great Hunt (Book 2)

• The Eye of the World (Book 1)