With the Wheel of Time, Jordan has come to dominate the world that Tolkien began to reveal' New York Times Robert Jordan was a giant of fiction whose words helped a whole generation of fantasy writers, including myself, find our true voices. I thanked him then, but I didn’t thank him enough.” —Peter V. Brett, internationally bestselling author of The Demon Cycle series In total, despite some series fans hailing this book as one of the best in the series, after the pain of the last many books (Three? Five or six? It depends on what series aspects are your particular triggers), I can't isolate this volume and hold it in particularly high regard, simply for containing the minimum amount of plot advancement that every book should have.

Mat's chapters were lovely; his relationship with Tuon made progress, and that last scene with them together gave me chills. Lastly, and most importantly, Sashelle reveals that she and many other sisters have sworn an oath to obey the Dragon Reborn until after Tarmon Gai'don, after she and two other sisters, Irgain Fatamed and Ronaille Vevanios, were healed by Damer Flinn from stilling. And yet, I want to know what happens in this long, drawn out series. Having struggled my way to book eleven, I think I will eventually conquer it. Now I must hope that the ending isn't a complete let down (and I realize that Jordan didn't write the conclusion, but please tell me that he left notes or an outline of how he intended things to go). In the meantime, I have to say this was one of the better books in the series. Rand isn't being a complete a-hole, although one wonders how trustworthy his Asha'man are. Elayne gets her hold on Andor, without Rand's intervention. Go, Elayne! We learn that Lan is much more than we have been led to believe (and that Nynaeve is more pragmatic that I would have given

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New Spring · The Eye of the World · The Great Hunt · The Dragon Reborn · The Shadow Rising · The Fires of Heaven · Lord of Chaos · A Crown of Swords · The Path of Daggers · Winter's Heart · Crossroads of Twilight · Knife of Dreams · The Gathering Storm · Towers of Midnight · A Memory of Light

Which just goes to show, sometimes there are worse options than the stupid one. But still, I must fling a general ARGH toward our narrative future: ARGH, future! And then there was Perrin finally finding the location where Faile is held captive and gathering enough forces - I cheered once Rand's father made an appearance with the Two Rivers folk! :D She wanted to cry, to scream at him that he was a fool, that his place was with her, not dying alone in a futile private war with the Shadow. Only, she could not say any of that. Bond or no bond, she knew he was torn inside, torn between his love of her and his duty, torn and bleeding as surely as if he had been stabbed with a sword. She could not add to his wounds. She could try to make sure he survived, though. Jordan is able to take ... familiar elements and make them his own, in a powerful novel of wide and complex scope. Open religious and political conflicts add a gritty realism, while the cities and courts provide plenty of drama and splendor. Women have a stronger role than in Tolkien.... Each character in this large cast remains distinct.... Their adventures are varied, and exciting.... The Eye of the World stands alone as a fantasy epic.” — Locus Balthamel: Killed bodily by the Green Man. Resurrected as Aran'gar, now in a female body but still uses Saidin, which at least raised interesting questions about whether souls have genders. All that power and disguise put to great purpose giving Egwene a headache, oh no.This is not the first rape in the series, but this one is the most pointless and impossible to overlook. When Morgase was raped, it was portrayed as an evil act, and it had further consequences. When Mat was raped, it was distasteful, but one might see how Jordan as a man of a certain age and culture might not have understood it as rape, and fortunately we are evolving as a society. Myrdraal sometimes rape their victims but they are literally evil monsters who serve Satan. This book’s instance is unforgivable in its tacit expectation of audience approval. Truly tragic was the Ogier taking up arms (literally) and entering the fray. I knew it had to happen. I mean, what we're getting to is the FINAL battle. It's not named that for nothing. But while I don't love the Ogier as much as Tolkien's Ents, it sent a shiver down my spine with a sense of darkest foreboding. My Lord Dragon, I will serve you where you command, but I can serve best on my native soil. I know these rebels, know where they can be trusted and where-“

Rand's chapters were interesting as well. But the numbness he experience is beginning to worry me. The fact that even Lews Therin thinks he is a harder man than he was is bad. The revelation about this mental illness he is suffering felt like a death blow. For so long I assumed that Lews Therin's voice in his head is the result of the taint but now things seem pretty hopeless. I thought that it could be something like that after the cleansing didn't help but knowing that it'll eventually kill him is too much. The guy deserves to live after all the sacrifices he made and have a happy little (or not so little) family with Elayne, Aviendha, Min and all the little munchkins they can give him.For a moment, he thought neither man would speak, but then Gorenellin was on his feet, tears glistening in his eyes. “The Golden Crane flies for Tarmon Gai’don,” he said softly. Cadsuane nodded. “As I thought,” she murmured, half to herself. And what was that supposed to mean? Nynaeve: Well, sh*t, I continue to love Nynaeve ti al’Meara Mandragoran. She has one POV in this book, and it’s not even a full chapter, but god, is it brilliant. This is character respected, like she annoyed me here and there but never quite hated her. I did dislike her attitude toward Mat in LoC, but it’s evident from PoD onwards that she does care for him. Even if she was being obnoxious about it. I liked her arc in FoH, which I can tell is polarising for some folks, but it explored her trauma quite well. But yeah, from CoS onwards, I started loving her much more, especially during Winter's Heart, and without any hesitation, joined Rand on his mission, which seems like a suicide mission. And her affection and care for the people close to her are very much felt. But yeah, in this chapter in particular, she was quite sweet. I even liked the romantic aspects with her and Lan, it was quite cute. I do think the set-up for Lan and her relationship is terrible, but being married was the best thing that happened to Nynaeve. I loved her with her conversations here, her affection for helping Rand in his POVs, etc. Despite all her powers, at her core, she is still the Wisdom who wants to take care of her people (and loved ones). His companion waved a plump, dismissive hand even while staring at the Maidens. “Worms?” he said absently. “Everybody knows silk grows on trees.” The Forsaken meet in Tel’aran’rhoid and Moridin instructs them not to kill Rand, but to find and kill Perrin and Mat. Semirhage has murdered the Seanchan empress and the entire royal family (excluding Tuon), plunging Seanchan forces on both sides of the Aryth Ocean into chaos.