A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms

Author: George R. R. Martin
First Published: October 2015
Publisher: Bantam Books
Series: A Song of Ice & Fire
355 pages (hardcover)

I'm a huge Song of Ice & Fire/Game of Thrones fan, but I never read the novellas that went along with this series because they were originally published separately in various anthologies and I wasn't going to go hunt down/buy three anthology books just to read one story from each. But! At last! The Dunk & Egg novellas are bundled together for the first time, complete with gorgeous illustrations!

The three stories in this book follow the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall, a hedge knight, who, through a series of events, ends up having the child Prince Aegon as his squire. All these stories take place about 90 years before the events of A Game of Thrones. You don't have to have read the Song of Ice & Fire series to read this book, though I personally think it makes A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms more interesting if you have.

The first story, The Hedge Knight, is about how Dunk became a hedge knight and how he met Egg/Aegon. He competes in the Ashford Meadow tournament where unfortunately, Dunk is accused of unjustly harming Prince Aerion. Dunk must battle in a trial-by-combat to prove that he was in the right.

In the second story, The Sworn Sword, Dunk is taken into the service of Ser Eustace Osgrey, an old knight. Dunk tries to stand up for Ser Eustace against his neighbour, Lady Rohanne, who has built a dam on her lands preventing the flow of a river into Ser Eustace's land. Dunk's loyalty is put to the test when he realizes Ser Eustace has not been completely honest with him.

In the third story, The Mystery Knight, Dunk and Egg attend a Butterwell-Frey wedding where he decides to join the tourney as a mystery knight named The Gallows Knight. To their surprise, they realize the entire wedding/tourney is actually a part of a treasonous plot against the King.

I loved all the stories in this book. I'm so glad these stories were finally bundled together, because I could read them back to back and enjoy the continuity. While you could read them separately as well, the three stories flow together very well so I think reading them all at once is the best. Plus, they were great stories that really illustrated what it meant to be chivalrous and loyal.

And of course, since I am such a big fan of A Song of Ice & Fire, it was great having new reading material come out of Westeros, even if it wasn't directly related to the present Game of Thrones time period. It was really neat to read about Westeros during the reign of Targaryen rule.

Lastly the illustrations were fantastic and made me wish all novels are accompanied by drawings!

I heard Mr. Martin plans to write several more Dunk & Egg novellas in the future and I am so excited for them. Though naturally, I want him to finish The Winds of Winter first .... !

My Rating: 5/5

The Name Of The Wind

This post first published September 19, 2012.

Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Series: The Kingkiller Chronicle #1
First Published: 2007
Publisher: DAW
736 pages (mass market paperback)
 
I can’t believe I left this on my bookshelf for so long. This book was amazing to read and just what I needed to pull me back into fantasy novels! I can’t wait to read the second book now, although I’m going to wait for it to come out in mass market paperback as well, so my books match on my bookshelf, heh.

This story begins in third person with Kote and his apprentice/student, Bast. They’re innkeepers. A man called the Chronicler enters their inn one day and the Chronicler discovers that Kote is actually a very famous hero/arcanist called Kvothe (pronounced “Quothe”). The Chronicler wants Kvothe to tell his life story and let him write it down, as he is a scribe and interested in dispelling or proving all the various myths and rumours about Kvothe that has accumulated over the years. So Kvothe and the Chronicler sit down, and Kvothe tells him it will take three days to tell his life story. This first book, The Name of the Wind, is basically the first day of their conversation, in which Kvothe tells the Chronicler about his childhood in his parents’ traveling troupe, the years spent as a homeless orphan in the streets of Tarbean and him entering the University as the youngest accepted student in years.

My little summary above really doesn’t do this book justice. It’s a really great story, even though you don’t actually find out why Kvothe is so famous. This book is very much a foundation book, it’s setting up the stage for lots of cool stuff to come, though that does not mean this book is boring or not essential to the story. I loved reading this, could read it for hours without stopping, simply great!
The Name Of The Wind is a little different from your typical fantasy book. I say this only because the vast majority of adult fantasy books I’ve read are very Lord of the Rings-esque (not that there’s a problem with that, mind you). This one is structured differently — a first person narrator, for the most part — and the fantasy-ness of the story is made to be as “realistic” as possible. What I mean is, any magical elements in this book had its “why” and “how” explained. For example, there is a beast called a draccus in this book, which is basically a dragon, and its fire-breathing mechanic is explained and theorized by the main character in a very scientific manner.

This book also is a bit reminiscent of Harry Potter, just because of the school setting. If you love Harry Potter but want something more ‘adult’, definitely give this book a go. I am by no means saying it is similar to Harry Potter since this one is more mature and has a science-y take on “magic”, but there are a few overlaps like the school setting and Kvothe’s parents being killed very early on in his life. I know a lot of non-fantasy lovers really enjoy Harry Potter, and I think the same can be said for this book. If you don’t normally read fantasy, perhaps this book will be a good one to start out with, since it doesn’t throw you to the wolves like some other fantasy novels tend to do.

As you can expect, in a story that’s kind of biographical in nature, characters are important — the people we meet and pass by in our life. In this case, in Kvothe’s life. I thought for the most part the characters were quite well written. Kvothe was generally likeable, although sometimes a bit too cocky for my tastes, and his University rival, Ambrose, was a little bit of a stereotypical bully to me, but other than that, I thought every character was pretty well done. They are each memorable and I got to see the major characters’ dreams, ambitions, and why they act the way they do.

Overall — I am in love with this book and am so looking forward to the second one. I hope book two comes out in mass market paperback soon since it’s already been a year since it was first released! Definitely recommend this to everyone.

My Rating: 5/5

Gardens of the Moon

This post first published July 5, 2012.


Author: Steven Erikson
First Published: January 1999
Publisher: Bantam Books
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen #1
752 pages (mass market paperback) 
 
Oh god, I’m finally done this book. I’ve had this book for just over a year, I totally bought it impulsively. I had heard nothing about it before I got it, just wanted to read a fantasy novel. Well, now I’m done this book, and it was, unfortunately, an ordeal to get through it. I cleaned out my bookshelf yesterday, and I think this book is going in my “to donate” pile of books to bring to the thrift store.

I’ve got a lot of issues with this book. The biggest thing is that it’s difficult to follow. The writing isn’t the best, and there’s weird scene transitions and absolutely no explanations about anything. My copy of the book includes an introduction by the author, and he says in his introduction that he purposely didn’t want to have to explain everything because he didn’t want to dumb down his story, which in turn may be insulting to his readers’ intelligence. Okay, fair enough. However, I don’t think it was handled very well. Some explanation or hints would have been nice. I don’t know how I’m supposed to know which characters were on which side, are what ranking, etc. without a little help. A lot of terms also went right over my head; I still don’t really know what a Warden is, or what a T’lan Imass is. I have a vague idea but still not really sure.

So, the book was confusing. I’m usually prepared to be a little confused at first when I start a new fantasy series. Fantasy series seem to like to drop readers into the middle of the world and have you work your way around the story-verse yourself, which is fine. I usually am able to sort everything out 50-100 pages in (which is nothing, considering how long these books usually are) and then just enjoy the story from there. With Gardens of the Moon, I was on page 600 out of 752 and still had no idea what I was reading about, just a lot of assassins, gods and running around on rooftops …

I mean, I sort of got the gist of the story. The Empire, led by Empress Laseen, tried to take over the city of Pale in the beginning. Pale was helped by Moon’s Spawn (which I had to look up on the Internet — it’s a floating fortress), but eventually Pale falls. Then the rest of the book shifts to the characters wanting to take over or save, depending which side they are on, the last free city of Darujhistan. And there’s some gods who are involved with these mortals’ affairs, which is really putting a kink in Laseen’s plans. So yeah, I kind of get the story, but at the same time, I feel like I didn’t understand the story at all.

The characters and dialogue were rather poor as well. The characters were on the dull side. I didn’t feel invested in any of them, it was like no big deal when any of them died. The dialogue was overly dramatic and corny, also dull. It just wasn’t very engaging.

I do think the world was very intricately built and well done though, from what I can tell with my limited understanding. It’s obvious this book takes place in an immense world with a deep and rich history that spans thousands of years. I do feel a little sad that I was unable to enjoy this world; I did want to like it, but there were simply too many obstacles preventing me.

I have read that the first book is considered the weakest, even amongst fans of this series. I read somewhere that new readers are advised to simply start with the second book (there are new characters and stuff, so it’s not like a direct continuation from book one). At this point in time, I’m not sure if I want to give the series a second chance. I feel quite burnt out from fantasy reading this book, so if I do try the second book, it won’t be for a long time. Perhaps after I read some reviews/opinions on the second one first, then I will decide. As for this first book, I think if you are really, really into epic fantasies, into world building and super complicated fantasy plots, you can give this a try, but for any one else who just reads fantasy from time to time, you’ll probably want to skip this one.

My Rating: 1/5

The Dragon's Path

This post first published March 3, 2012.

Author: Daniel Abraham
Published: April 2011
Publisher: Orbit
555 pages
 
Ahhhh it’s been so long since I finished a book. This happens every year though — I read virtually nothing from January to March (due to school) and then the spring through summer I read like a madwoman. Anyway, I actually read the first 500 pages (that’s pretty much the entire book) in December, but for some reason, stopped at one point. Anyway, I recently remembered about it and plowed through the last 55 pages. I didn’t have any major trouble remembering the plot, so I don’t think it affected my liking of the book very much.

This is the kind of story where there’s multiple plots going on. The chapters are divided by characters. Marcus is a known hero of some sort who has a tragic past. He just wants to stay out of the politics and war, but is unknowingly drawn into the plot when he becomes a mercenary guard for Cithrin. Cithrin is an orphan and raised by a banker. Helping her adoptive uncle/father figure hide a large stash of money, she smuggles it away from the people who need it for war. The last major character I’ll add in is Geder, a noble who is sort of a laughingstock and gets bullied around initially. However, nobody will expect how he will eventually get the last laugh.

What I liked about this book best were the characters. I think they are the strongest part of the novel. I found them multi-faceted, intriguing and complex. While I didn’t have one particularly favourite, I did particularly like reading Cithrin’s chapters in the book. At first she seemed like the typical weak female who rises above and beyond her capabilities, and I suppose, the foundations of her character is based on that, but I really liked how it was about her intelligence and her being a bit of a financial whiz. She experiences moments where she just wants to give up everything and not bother, but manages to pull through anyway.

I quite liked the characters, but I can’t say I was really a fan of the story as a whole. The fact that I sped-read almost the whole book and didn’t bother finishing it for two months says something, I think. I didn’t find it interesting enough to bother with the ending. Some scenes grabbed my interest more than others, but overall, I just wasn’t captivated. The entire book was very political-ly and financial-ly, which isn’t really my cup of tea. I was expecting drama, but it seemed kind of mild.
From what I can tell, most people are generally favorable to this book. I can’t really decide if I liked it or didn’t like it, to be honest. I don’t think it was a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, but I wasn’t into the story very much. Perhaps it’s simply not for me.

My Rating: 2.5/5

The Path of Daggers

This post first published October 9, 2011.

Author: Robert Jordan
Published: October 1998
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Series: The Wheel of Time #8
672 pages (mass market paperback) 
 
Been a while since I read another WoT book. I’m still determined to finish the series, but I admit, the series is progressing in such a way that it’s been difficult to find the motivation to read it sometimes. I was already starting to see plot progression slow down a few books back, and in The Path of Daggers, it’s really starting to grind to a halt. I literally cannot pinpoint what was the overall plot of this book.

From what I can remember, this is what generally happens to the characters in the book: Egwene deals with people treating her like a puppet Amyrlin, but she’s determined to rise above them. Perrin is on some sort of mission for Rand but gets sidetracked by his crazy wife wanting Perrin to be more bossy (WTF?). Elayne, Nynavae and Aviendha are … I don’t know, actually. They were trying to right the weather with the Bowl of Winds, but I can’t remember what the heck happened after that, just that Elayne eventually ends up taking back the Lion Throne (which, by the way, her return to the throne was rather anti-climatic). And Rand. Ohhh Rand. I don’t even know. I think I started skimming some of his chapters, they just bored me to death. There was a lot of fighting going on, he’s conquering cities, he’s trying to fight back the Seanchan, he tries to use Callandor and all hell breaks loose, he’s trying not to be crazy … I don’t know. I have a feeling there were too many pages spent trying to describe what Rand was doing when in reality you only needed maybe ten, and as a result, I ended up confused.

To me, very little plot occurs in this book. I think it tried to pass itself off as an in-between book — you know, those books that happen in the middle of the series that aren’t as great as the beginning or end books of a series, but has to exist just to progress the story. That’s this book. Except I’m pretty sure you can put all the important things that happened in this book in the next book and it would still have been fine. So much of this book was just long and boring descriptions. I know, I know — descriptions are important in books. I’m not saying get rid of all of them, but there is a limit to how much description a reader wants to take in. I do not need to know every little detail about every body’s clothes or rooms or whatever, especially if they are nothing more than some barmaid or innkeeper or whatever.

Robert Jordan provides even more evidence that he does not really know how to write love relationships in this book. Some past examples include Egwene and Rand *suddenly* realizing they don’t love each other romantically, Perrin’s dislike for Faile and then *suddenly* she’s the love of his life, Lan and his ambiguity towards Nynavae (sure, Jordan says Lan loves Nynavae, but Lan has said or done nothing to convince me of this). Siuan’s one of my favourite characters, but she just got butchered in this book. Essentially, Siuan’s become Nynavae — she has completely taken her personality and her attitude and is Nynavae. And for some reason, Siuan’s in love with what’s-his-face but, like Nynavae, treats him really bad and pretends she hates him when really she secretly loves him. WHAT IS THIS, KINDERGARTEN?

Then there’s Faile and her desire to have Perrin dominate her, so to speak. She wants him to be assertive and boss her around, which, in her mind, will show that Perrin believes her to be a strong enough wife to put up with his shenanigans. I actually can be okay with this bizarre logic if it was only Faile, but it turns out every woman who is Saldean (like Faile) thinks like this. What kind of bizarre culture do Saldean women have? It’s actually kind of almost offensive. The weird thing is, in Robert Jordan’s books, there are never any exceptions. If you are a female from Saldean, you want a dominating husband so you can play the who-has-the-power-in-the-relationship game. I can’t think of more examples right now, but it’s the same with characters from X, Y, or Z places. If you come from such-and-such a place, you are automatically like this or that. So weird.

Okay, so if you can’t tell by now, I didn’t really enjoy The Path of Daggers. It was difficult for me to get through, as the majority of it is just fluff. Honestly you could probably skip this book in the series and continue without it — that’s how unimportant the “plot” was in this book to the overall story. I do look forward to Winter’s Heart, the next book, because I was tipped off (accidentally) what happens in it and it sounds exciting …

My Rating: 1.5/5

A Crown Of Swords

This post first published September 17, 2011.

Author: Robert Jordan
Published: May 1996
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Series: The Wheel Of Time #7
880 pages
 
Seven down, seven more to go. (Okay, six more to go really, because the last one isn’t published yet). I am going to warn you right now this ‘review’ is more of a collection of thoughts, and is a bit all over the place.
A Crown of Swords begins pretty much right after the final events of the previous book, Lord of Chaos. To be honest, I don’t feel a whole lot actually happens in this book, and what did happen certainly did not require 880 pages to tell. Rand is trying to keep control and stability in Cairhein, and also tries to convince the Sea Folk that he is the Coramoor of their Prophecies. It’s all very political and all the discussing and arguing occurs at a snail’s pace; frankly, not very interesting to me. Egwene sends Nynavae and Elayne off to find the Bowl of the Winds, and doesn’t really pop up after that. Nynavae and Elayne’s chapters were fairly interesting, but their search progresses so slowly. And then there’s like a couple chapters regarding Morgase and whatever’s up with her, and her chapters inched by as well. I guess what I’m trying to say is, the entire plot moved very, very slow.

Then suddenly at the end, it’s like the entire story realized it was moving at a slow speed and it decided to fast forward the last handful of scenes! (Spoiler, highlight to read: The reason it feels this way is that all of a sudden, Rand just pops up in Illian and takes down Sammael. Seriously. It happened so freaking fast, I was like, “Isn’t Sammael supposed to be super strong or something? How did Rand kill him so easily?” Then again, Rand is not 100% sure he killed Sammael … ) So I was not very satisfied with the ending. It was too sudden and abrupt.

Character-wise, I’d say everyone is pretty much the same, though there is a few developments. Like Nynavae.  Spoiler: She marries Lan and now, suddenly, she’s trying to be all nice and perfect. It’s a bit weird. I never really cared about Nynavae — she’s actually my least favourite character, because I find her way too bitchy and angry, but I guess such events change women … maybe …

Also, there is a surprising amount of sex in this book. Not that I have a problem with reading sex (and it’s always off-camera and/or suggested, so it’s not like anything was described in detail), it’s just that the previous books had none, or very little, and then suddenly in this book, everyone’s hooking up! Okay, not everyone, but it sure feels like it. It’s not really a complaint, more of an observation.
Speaking of which: Min and Rand. Min has always been a practical, down to earth kind of girl but around Rand, she’s become this huge flirt. It’s weird! I mean, I know this isn’t unusual behaviour, for girls to act a bit more flirty and girly around the guy she likes, but it feels like almost too big of a personality shift. Then again, I don’t think Min really ever had a solid, concrete personality like Nynavae.

There’s also a new character introduced in this book, Cadsuane. She is a very old, highly respected Aes Sedai and it sort of feels like she’s come in to take Moiraine’s place. Certainly she is trying to “teach him manners”. I am not sure how I feel about her yet. Her role in the story is not really defined at all, I don’t really know why she suddenly decided to appear. All it was said was that she finds such events like the Dragon Reborn interesting. Regardless, I am a little intrigued by her presence and I have a hunch she’ll have a much larger role in future books, but I really hope she wasn’t written in to be the new Moiraine. Moiraine is my favourite character, no one can take her place!

Not going to complain about the lengthy clothing descriptions or Jordan’s female character I’ve been over that. It’s still present in the series.

Overall, I think I have mixed feelings towards this book. It was slow, but the events that did happen were fairly interesting and I enjoyed reading the book when the plot decided to actually progress, though not all plot progressions were satisfying. I am a little wary of the books to follow in the series, because I have been warned by several friends that the plot continues to slow down more and more — possibly to milk the series — so we shall see.

My Rating: 3/5

Lord Of Chaos

This post first published September 5, 2011.

Author: Robert Jordan
Published: October 1994
Publisher: Tor Books
Series: The Wheel of Time #6
1011 pages (mass market paperback)
 
I give this book a 4, but I think it’s really more like a 3.7 or 3.8 … However, I’m not going to get into decimals, heh, so I rounded.
Continuing on with The Wheel of Time series, I finally finished reading book six! This one was quite long, hence the lack of updates around the blog while I was trying to get though this phonebook-sized novel …

So what happens in book six? Well, truth to be told, I cannot remember much that happened in the first 500 pages or so — it felt like nothing much was going on and it was difficult to get through. I just didn’t care about Rand’s problems, or Morgase, or even Mat in this book. And I usually love Mat! I think it’s because those characters’ parts of the stories are becoming increasingly political, which normally isn’t really my cup of tea. But the last half of the book was amazing to read, and I was so hooked. Especially all the Aes Sedai stuff. I love the concept of Aes Sedai in this story, it’s one of my favourite things about the series. There are a lot of very important plot points that happen in Lord Of Chaos, events that I am sure are going to play very large roles in future installments.

It’s very difficult to write synopsis for books in a series without spoiling what happens in previous books (so skip this paragraph if you’re worried). The White Tower, as established in the previous book, has split, which is not a good thing at all. The White Tower (or, Elaida, the Amyrlin who usurped Siuan) sends emissaries to Rand, the Dragon Reborn, at the same time as the Hall of the Tower (the Aes Sedai in Salidar). Rand is basically confronted with two schools of Aes Sedai, each wanting him to be on their side — but the truth is, the Aes Sedai need Rand more than Rand needs them. Not to mention the fact that Rand feels he can’t trust any Aes Sedai anymore. That’s the major plotline of this book, I believe. There are lots of other very important events though, such as Rand founding his school (the “Black Tower”, the students affectionately call it, haha, I love it!) and Egwene, Nynavae and Elayne and their becoming Aes Sedai. Egwene, in particular, has something tremendously exciting happen to her that I don’t want to spoil, but I was quite shocked when it happened!

The ending was really great too, it reminded me of the endings from books one and two, where something large and profound happens that forever changes the story world. Definitely makes me want to start book seven right away.

I get the impression that as the series goes on, each individual book becomes hit-or-miss for many readers. I totally understand;  for me, this book was mainly a hit, though a belated one. Like I said before, the first half of this book was quite long and boring, and it really felt it could have been pared down considerably. It’s just that, nothing much happens in the first half. I can’t even remember what I read in the first half. The prologue alone used up 70 pages! I would not be surprised to hear that people just give up this book in the middle … which would be a real shame, because the last half is so not worth missing out on.

Also there is a lot of repetition in the series which I am sure readers (who are not die hard fans, and thus, less likely to overlook) may be sick of. I’m a little sick of it myself, but I guess since I am what you would call a fan of the series, I am more willing to forgive it. You know, the constant description of everyone‘s clothes (really?); certain phrases like ‘good Two Rivers woolens'; necklines on dresses and, if they are low, how their boobs are popping out; Rand, Mat and Perrin constantly thinking each other are expert on women; the women constantly thinking men are all ‘woolheaded'; the men constantly thinking women are all confusing; Nynavae and her damn braid-tugging … If you’ve read books in this series, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

But like I said — I do like this series and I am determined to finish it. And as much as I complain about the occasional lack of plot or repetition, I’m fan enough of the series to ignore it. I do completely understand readers who cannot finish the book (or any other book in this series) because of said cons though. I do agree that this book felt stretched out. In fact, some of the previous books felt that way as well. However, there is something about the series that still has me hooked onto it. It simply hasn’t failed in delivering epic-ness yet. Granted, it’s not a continous or even distribution of epic-ness, but I am still loving this series, and this book’s last half was truly fun and amazing to read — so much that I think it makes up for the beginning half’s lack of story.

My Rating: 4/5

The Fires Of Heaven

This post first published August 3, 2011.

Author: Robert Jordan
Published: October 15, 1993
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Series: The Wheel of Time #5
989 pages (mass market paperback)
 
I don’t normally write spoilers, but since this book has been out for over ten years, I’m not going to hold back on the spoilers too much. Besides, it’s kind of hard talking about the fifth book in the series without revealing things anyway. You have been warned!

Ummmmm … WOW. I really, really enjoyed this one. This book was what I needed to rekindle my interest in the series (because if you have noticed, my ratings for the previous installments of this series have been steadily declining, heh). It took me 4 weeks to finish this, only because this was my commuting book, so I only read it on the bus, to and from campus. Despite reading it in small doses at a time, I was hooked into the story world each time I opened it up. Yeah, there were a few sluggish parts — for example, some of the scenes near the end involving Rand and the war. Those were kind of too political-ish for me and I’ve never really been a fan of reading war scenes — but overall, I think this is one of the better ones in the series.

In The Fires Of Heaven, a lot of things happen to everyone, and pretty much all of it is going to be spoilers because, well, that’s the nature of the series. Each book doesn’t seem to have a very cohesive plot, but the entire series as a whole has a cohesive plot … if that makes any sense at all.

Almost everyone was doing something interesting in this book. The book begins with Min, Siuan and those people trying to find the secret gathering of Aes Sedai who have broken off from the White Tower, while at the same time, being chased by a Lord for burning down a barn. This was interesting because Siuan is no longer the Amyrlin Seat — no longer an authority that even kings and queens bow to. So reading about how she is adjusting to her very low status now was exciting, particularly because she refuses to remain in such a low status. She wants revenge. I also enjoyed Nynavae and Elayne’s part of the story. They have joined a traveling menagerie … the circus! And they do tricks! That’s always fun and exciting. What’s more is that they find Brigitte in the dream world and she actually comes to life in the real world after a mistake of Nynavae’s. So we have a newish character join our heroes now, and Brigitte is pretty awesome, being a legendary expert marksman (markswoman?) and all. And in Caemlyn, we also have the whole Morgase being smitten by Gaebril plotline, which finally progresses in this book. Morgase finally realizes Gaebril is slowly taking over her kingdom, but it’s a little too late to find out so she has to escape her own kingdom. This sets in motion a whole separate series of events at the end of the book.

The only plotline in this book I wasn’t too crazy about is, as already mentioned, Rand’s. I was a bit mixed with his plotline — sometimes it was great, sometimes I had serious trouble paying attention because it was boring. However … and this is a big spoiler … one part near the end of the book totally caught my attention and I was absolutely stunned. Moiraine died! I couldn’t believe it! She’s one of my favourite characters! In fact, even though all the characters were talking about her dying, and even Lan says he can no longer feel he connection he had with Moiraine and leaves (no, Lan!), I still couldn’t believe it. I refuse to believe it until I read the entire series and Moiraine still hasn’t come back alive. Moiraaaaine!

While I greatly enjoyed the story, and this book has totally got me craving for the next one, I did find the characterization in this book (and probably the previous ones, though I kind of noticed it more here) very one-dimensional. Most of them anyway. Nearly all the female characters can be grouped as one, all stubborn and proud and believing men are fools and women know best. The men have more ‘categories’, but only a few more — those who find women complicated, those who live life as honorably as possible, etc. I hope for more variety, but it is the 5th book, so I have a feeling I will be stuck with these one-dimensional characters for the rest of the series … not neccesarily too bad of a thing for an epic fantasy, since plot has always seemed more important than character development in the genre, but you know — just a wish.

My Rating: 4.5/5

A Dance With Dragons

This post first published July 27, 2011.

Author: George R. R. Martin
Published: July 12, 2011
Publisher: Random House
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire #5
1016 pages (hardcover) 
 
Ohhhh at last! The long awaited fifth book of my beloved Song of Ice and Fire series. Get ready for a long post. Granted, I didn’t have to wait as long as some of you (the full five years) because I had discovered the series only two years ago, but I was just as excited to dig into this book as the rest of you. I love the series and I really enjoyed this book as well, though I am not without some negative news.

Some background information: A Feast For Crows (book four) and A Dance With Dragons (book five) were originally meant to be the same book, but due to the length, it was split into two books. The book was not split in half chronologically though, but rather, half of the characters’ POVs were in one book, and the other half in the second book. So actually the events of Feast and Dance happen side by side. Well, up to around the 600-page mark of Dance, then the timelines come together and move on from there. With all that being said, I think the fact that I was less enthusiastic about Feast than the first three books contributed to me also feeling less enthusiastic about Dance since they were meant to be all in the same book. Now, don’t get me wrong — I really liked Feast and I also really liked Dance, as that is what I mean when I give a rating of 4 (Dance has a slightly lower 4 than Feast, for me). I just don’t feel book four and five aren’t as good as the first three. Still wonderful books … but not quite the same.

(There are spoilers in the rest of this review — you have been warned!)

Unless you’re also a reader of the series, a plot summary of Dance will only be confusing without the context of the overarching story, but for those of you who are readers — Dance consists mainly of the chapters of Jon Snow, Tyrion and Daenerys, Theon and some others, who were not included in Feast. These are some of my most favourite characters, so I was very excited to be reunited with them. Jon Snow is still at the Wall and dealing with King Stannis trying to boss the Night’s Watch around. He also has to make a difficult decision of whether or not to ally with the wildlings to fight their common foe, the Others. Tyrion Lannister has been sent across the narrow sea to Pentos (hello again, Illyrio!) by Varys to help him escape the manhunt his sister, Cersei, has set on him. He’s trying to get to Daenerys, supposedly to help her exact revenge on his own family, but ends up getting captured as a slave instead. Daenerys herself is stuck in Meereen, unwilling to leave her new people to slavery and hunger, despite a bunch of people telling her that she’ll never get back the Iron Throne for her family if she just sits in Meereen all day. Some of the Meereen people want her gone as well.

That’s pretty much all I’m going to say, plot-wise. There’s just way too many things happening for me to properly summarize the book, but that is the gist of what was happening to these characters in the same timeframe as Feast. After the 600-page mark, the story moves past Feast’s timeline and we are reacquainted — briefly — with some other favourites, like Arya and Jaime and Cersei, for example. Just a few chapters each though. No Sansa, Catelyn or Samwell, etc.

I really did enjoy this book, there is no mistake about it. I love being reacquainted with the characters, I love finding out what’s happening to them. When you compare where the characters were when they first began in Game of Thrones to where they are now in the story, it is really quite shocking, and makes me realize just how epic and grand the scale of everything is in this story. I’ve even started liking characters I never really cared for before, like Theon … although maybe I’m just feeling really sorry for the poor guy, now that he’s been kicked off his high horse. Or I’ve been influenced by the TV show and Alfie Allen‘s acting.

Speaking of characters, I’ve read some people are a little upset that the author is “bringing dead characters back to life” or “Hey! Just kidding! He’s not really dead!” I admit, the author does seem to do this for some characters, but I think the character everyone was upset about coming back to “life” was Aegon, because he is 1) an important character and 2) proclaimed dead for the last four books. However, there have been theories around for years that baby Aegon is really alive, so I don’t think this is really out of the blue — only if you never thought about it, or came across such theories. I actually think it’s really clever. But yeah, for some of the other characters, I can see the “Just stay dead!” line of thinking, but frankly, those other characters aren’t nearly that important, so I don’t really care.

I think the thing I noticed the most in Dance was the plot. I know some people will find Song of Ice and Fire‘s plot just plain confusing, but I embrace that complexity and enjoy unraveling it. The thing I noticed though, at least in comparison to the earlier books, is that the plot seems to be slowing waaaay down. The author is taking a lot of pages to describe … not much. Daenerys spends a lot of chapters hanging around Meereen and thinking about whether to get a husband. I don’t see the point of the Victarion chapters because he never really did anything to contribute to the plot in Dance. In fact, he doesn’t even reach his destination in this book, it’s just all about him sailing. I dreaded Victarion’s chapters, truthfully. There’s also a bunch of chapters involving Quentyn Martell sailing to Daenerys, which I find kind of unnecessary. I’m sure those chapters could have been skipped to the part when Quentyn finally meets Daenerys. You might not really notice the lack of actual plot progression in Dance until you actually sit back and try to remember what has happened to each character. And then you realize … not a whole lot. Honestly, I think Dance has too much ‘fluff’ in it and could have been shortened so the plot actually feels like it’s progressing at a decent pace.

I really enjoyed the ending, even though it was kind of almost shocking to see Varys appear after almost an entire book without him. I’ve never really been a fan of Varys, but what with the whole Aegon-is-really-alive business going on, I am starting to wonder if I was hasty in brushing him aside as a minor character in the beginning. It’s a very intriguing ending. As for individual POV endings, I must admit … I think they were poor cliifhangers. Jon Snow’s in particular; I’m sorry, but you have to be a moron to think that Martin is actually killing off Jon Snow. It ends with Jon Snow maybe dying, but we all know that there is NO way Jon is going to be dead. It will completely ruin all the plot that’s been happening at the Wall, making it absolutely meaningless, so of course he will survive. I don’t know why Martin chose to end it like that, it’s more aggravating than suspenseful.

I have my pros and cons with Dance, but there are generally more pros. I disagree with those who think you can just skip Dance as not much seems to happen — things happen, it’s just slow. I am not disappointed by the series’ direction or anything, just the pacing. I do wish for a tighter plot next time though. Hopefully that next time won’t be too far away. I can’t wait for The Winds Of Winter.

My Rating: 4/5

The Shadow Rising

This post first publisjed June 22, 2011.

Author: Robert Jordan
Published: September 1992
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Series: The Wheel of Time #4
699 pages (hardcover)
 
Four books down now, ten more to go in the series!

In this noticeably lengthier installment of the series, the story begins with more or less all of the major characters in the city of Tear, after Rand has claimed the sword Callandor, but this does not last for long as all the characters set out on different paths. It’s not exactly safe for all of them to be gathered in one place, especially all three ta’varen, as they create “bubbles” in the Pattern (of time, fates, destiny), causing all sorts of dangerous things to happen to themselves and the people around them. The separation of the characters create roughly three major plotlines in this book. Rand decides to follow the People of the Dragon, or the Aiel, to their homeland and hopefully fulfill their prophecies of uniting the Aiel clans. He is followed by Moiraine, Egwene and Mat.

Perrin, having heard about troubles back in their small village at Two Rivers, travels back in hopes of somehow helping them. He is followed by Faile (who he met from the previous book), Loial and Gaul, an Aiel. He eventually meets up with two Aes Sedai, Verin and Alanna. The group helps the Two Rivers with their war against the Trollocs that are trying to invade, all the while Perrin is trying to keep the Children of the Light away from him, who want to capture him as they believe he is a Darkfriend.

Nynavae and Elayne travel to Tanchico, still hot on the trail of the Black Ajah, still trying to figure out what they’re up to. They are accompanied by Thom and Juilin (from the previous book).
Lastly, Min returns to the White Tower in Tar Valon to deliver Moiraine’s message to the Siuan, the Amyrlin, but ends up having to remain in the White Tower at Siuan’s request. Elaida Sedai senses there is something fishy going on between Siuan, Min, Moiraine and this Dragon Reborn business and more or less causes mutiny. This last plotline is not as prominently focused on as the above-mentioned three, but I thought it was the most interesting and exciting.

Whew. So, what did I think? Overall, it was good, but I just wasn’t as into the book as I was when I read one, two and three. The beginning of the book, about the first 200 pages or so, was rather dull. I had become accustomed to the fast paced action in the first three books, so the beginning of book four felt a bit like running over a high speed bump and having to slow way down. After the first 200 pages, it was alright — the exciting parts seemed to come randomly, in spurts. It wasn’t one consistently exciting story, if you know what I mean.

Sometimes I felt like I was reading more description than story as well. This is a really long book, and I feel that it could have been edited and parred down so that the narrative is “tighter”, if that makes sense. But overall, my thoughts are that this is a good book, but to me, slightly disappointing compared to the first three books of the series.

One thing I noticed, particularly the first 200 pages of the story where nothing much seemed to be happening, was that there was a focus on the romantic aspects of relationships Rand and Perrin had with the ladies. I mean, it’s always been there, but the relationships suddenly changed, and it was surprising to me. Egwene suddenly decides she’s going to stop liking Rand so that her friend Elayne can get with him, for one. And Rand just … goes with it! Elayne and Rand are pretty much described as making out all over the place! That was a bit sudden. Also Faile and Perrin become totally in love in this book, which was odd because last book left off with Perrin finding Faile quite annoying. Oh there were hints, I admit, but I thought they were more like kids with a crush on one another, rather than this undying devotion I witnessed.

This is the first book in the series so far that I have read where all their individual plotlines didn’t join up at the end. I had thought that was the going to be the standard in this series but now that it didn’t happen, I’m wondering what is going to happen next.

Anyway, I will definitely be reading book five. I mean, I can’t expect to find every single book in this series exciting on equal levels. As a whole, the series is very enjoyable.

My Rating: 3/5

Eragon

This post first published June 16, 2011.

Author: Christopher Paolini
Published: 2002
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Series: Inheritance #1
730 pages (mass market paperback)
 
I remember eight or nine years ago, seeing this book everywhere in bookshops and there was the movie and everything too. I didn’t get around to reading it then, but I picked it up now because I know someone who likes this series so when I saw it, by chance, at the library, I decided to take it out.

An elf named Arya is trying to smuggle a dragon’s egg to a safe location, away from the evil Empire. When it seems they are about to catch her, she uses magic to make the egg appear leagues away, in front of a boy named Eragon, who thinks he’s found a polished blue stone. Eragon is a realtively normal fifteen year old kid, living on a farm, but his life is turned upside down when he realizes the Empire is trying to find this mysterious stone (that he later realizes is a dragon’s egg). After the Empire burns down his farm, killing his uncle in the process, Eragon flees while vowing to get revenge. He is found by an old storyteller named Brom, who turns out not to be who he is — he is actually part of an ancient order of Riders, men who had dragons and rode the skies protecting the land. With Brom on his side, Eragon journeys to where he believes the killers are, while being taught swordplay and magic.

There’s more, but if you haven’t noticed by now, you just read the basic plot of Star Wars: Episode IV. The rest of the book is also quite similar to the ending of Star Wars, but since I didn’t want to give away “spoilers”, I didn’t continue describing the plot (which is, I know, silly, if you already know the plot of Star Wars).

Eragon is written by then-teenager Christopher Paolini, and all I can say is that it really shows. I couldn’t stand the writing and I’m certain there was some thesaurus abuse. He over-describes everything, every room, every piece of clothing, every action. This also applies to the general story: every little action was described. He doesn’t take advantage of the fact that words can make the passing of time go much faster or slower — you’re just stuck with Eragon the whole time in everything he does. An entire chapter is devoted to describing an eventless trip through the desert, which I think could have been summed up in a paragraph, if not a sentence or two. I remember there was a scene where Eragon is talking to someone, mentions he’s feeling a little grimy from all his traveling, so he goes takes a bath, and comes back to resume the conversation. I mean, really? Did you have to insert a bath scene right then? It didn’t add anything to the story at all. It was utterly pointless.

The characters were rather boring. Eragon started out bland and one dimensional, and as the story continued, I actually started disliking him. Other characters scraped by with maybe two character traits. For the majority of the book, the characters were very evenly split into good guys versus bad guys, with no gray area. Such black and white characters. There was a little bit of an attempt to give Durza, one of the main villains, a sympathizing back story near the very end of the novel, but it was done rather clumsily and hastily, so it didn’t really work. As for the races, they were incredibly cliche: elegant, beautiful and wise elves; short, strong, hardy dwarves; young, ambitious humans. Yeah.

Move along, nothing new here.

I’ve no doubt that the author put lots of time and effort into this book, as all authors do, and I don’t think the similarities to Star Wars are intentional, but I can’t help but wonder how this book became as popular as it did. My overall experience with Eragon was cringe-worthy. I spent the last 200-ish pages wondering why this story just won’t end. I definitely have no interest in continuing this series.

My Rating: 1/5

The Way Of Kings

This post first published May 12, 2011.

Author: Brandon Sanderson
Published: 2010
Publisher: Tor Books
Series: The Stormlight Archive #1
1004 pages (hardcover)
 
Like many other Wheel of Time fans, I became interested in Brandon Sanderson’s works after him being chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series. This is the first work I’ve ever read of Sanderson’s, and it actually is his most recent. The Stormlight Archive is planned to be a 10 book series at the moment, which is kind of daunting given the first book is just over a thousand pages on its own (but wait! you might be thinking. The longest book you’ve read is 1200 pages! Yes, but this book is a large hardcover novel. In paperback, I’m sure this will be about the same, or exceed). My general feelings towards the book is mostly positive, though I did find some issues with it, which I will explain after I attempt to summarize this behemoth :P

To very briefly summarize the setting, a long time ago, the Almighty made Shardplate and Shardblades (magic armor and weapons) for the Knights Radiant who fight against the Voidbringers. One day, the Knights Radiant gave up their Shardplates and Blades and left, abandoning mankind (so the legends speak). The regular humans started fighting over the Shardplates and Blades that the Knights left behind. In present time, there’s a bunch of highprinces fighting on the Shattered Plains against a people called the Parshendi for gemhearts from monsters, as well as trying to claim Shardplates and Blades from one another.

The world this story takes place in has quickly become one of my favourite fictional worlds. There are frequent storms called highstorms, and somehow, these storms give off a sort of energy or light. This light is found in their money, which are spheres. People like to leave their spheres out in the storms so they can be infused with stormlight. It doesn’t really up the value of the money or anything — it’s like the difference between a crisp new dollar bill and a wrinkled one. Anyway, the stormlight also seems to be the thing that empowers the Shardplates, and one of the characters, Kaladin, seems to be able to use stormlight too … Anyway, the frequency of the highstorms in this world has completely shaped the terrain, the flora and fauna, and the way humans live in this world.

There’s many characters, but three I consider the main characters — Kaladin, Dalinar and Shallan. In the context of this first book, I only really consider the first two to be of any significance, but anyway … each character has their own separate plotline for the most part, only vaguely related to one another. Kaladin is my favourite to read about in this book; I found him the most interesting. Kaladin was betrayed by his highprince and sent to work as a slave in bridgecrews. Kaladin has the pleasure of meeting Syl, who he believes to be a windspren (which I think is like a little fairy thing … and super cute). She follows him around and later, they develop a supernatural bond to one another. Dalinar is a highprince of Alethkar, the uncle to the current king, and currently leading his troops in fighting on the Shattered Plains. He gets strange visions whenever there’s a highstorm. And lastly, Shallan is a young woman trying to become a ward of the Princess Jasnah, with an ulterior motive.
One of the issues I had with this book was that for a long time, I wasn’t sure what the overall plot was. I understood the characters’ separate stories perfectly well, but I wasn’t sure what tied them together. By the end of the novel, I have a better understanding, though truth be told, it is still not crystal clear to me (most of all, Shallan’s part of the story). I’m not really sure who the villain is either, if there is one, though to be fair, the characters provide enough internal turmoil to fight against already, haha. The characters are really wonderfully thought out.

This is a very long book, and in my opinion, unnecessarily lengthy. I’m almost positive it can be shaved down to 800 pages or even less.The beginning was quite slow and a little difficult to get into, and there is a lot of background information thrown at you. There are some chapters, scenes and interludes that had me wondering what the point of it was. However, if you remain patient, the book begins to pick up around the 500-page mark (yes, you must be really patient). After that point, it becomes quite exciting and intriguing. The last 150 pages or so? I was glued to the book. For a book that started off kind of so-so, I’m very excited for the second book to be published now.

This is an epic fantasy, but not really in the same vein as Tolkein or Robert Jordan where we have a bunch of characters going on a journey to vanquish some evil. Like I mentioned earlier, this has a lot more to do with characters. The biggest theme in this book was leadership. I was actually quite impressed with a lot of the leadership philosophies presented in this book. Another theme was truth. The characters struggle with themselves for the most part, in trying to figure out what is right and what is wrong, legally and morally. As much as I love a good plot-driven book, I also love stories that deal with humanity trying to differentiate between black and white.

Do I recommend this book? I’m going to say yes, but not to everyone. This one book alone is quite a time investment, because like I said, the beginning can feel drawn out and the lack of a unified plot may be a bit frustrating. However, if you are optimistic like me … or maybe just want to explore a unique world … and believe there’s great things in store for this series, then I think for sure, you should check this out :)

My Rating: 3.5/5

The Dragon Reborn

This post first published May 2, 2011.

Author: Robert Jordan
Published: 1991
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Series: The Wheel of Time #3
674 pages (mass market paperback)
 
Long time no update! With final exams and personal life related stuff finally settling done, I found time to continue my reading endeavors, specifically with the Wheel of Time series. It’s been a long time since I read book two, but luckily I seem to have no trouble remembering what happened in previous installments of the series.

In the last book, Rand is proclaimed the Dragon Reborn and has to deal with knowing he is a man who can channel the Power. Men who can channel the Power are often thought to go mad, and Rand becomes pretty unstable in mood and even in personality, because sometimes the Power gets to him, and he is afraid to become mad. Rand eventually starts getting dreams about the sword Callandor which is located in the Stone of Tear. Prophecy says only the Dragon Reborn can hold that sword. Wanting to know if he is truly the Dragon Reborn, or simply a man going mad with the ability to channel, Rand escapes from his party towards Tear, prompting Moiraine, Lan, Perrin and Loial to chase after him.

In the meantime, Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne travel with the Aes Sedai Verin back to Tar Valon with an extremely weak Mat, who is slowly but surely dying from the cursed dagger he carries with him. The three girls are informed by the Amyrlin that while they were “away”, Liandrin — the Aes Sedai who “sold” them in book two — is actually of the Black Ajah, and has run away along with twelve of their Sisters (who are Black Ajah as well) and a bunch of stolen items. Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne are then given the task to reveal any more Black Ajah hiding amongst them in Tar Valon. Their mission eventually leads the three girls to Tear as well.

For a book titled “The Dragon Reborn”, Rand has a surprisingly small amount of chapters dedicated to him. Not that I really cared (as Rand is not a favourite character of mine or anything), or that it affected the story badly, but just something interesting to note, since he was the main character in the previous two books and I guess I assumed he would continue to be the main character in later book; however, I can see the series heading in more of the style of A Song of Ice and Fire, where there’s a bunch of main characters each with their own plotlines happening at once. Of course, Rand will always remain the one character whose presence is the most important! Well, we’ll see how it goes.

Oh, by the way, I am so happy that Mat has a bigger role in this book! I didn’t mention it when I was summarizing the plot, but Mat has a little bit of his own separate plotline as well in this book where he travels away from Tar Valon after being Healed by the Aes Sedai and anyway, long story short (because you should read this yourself!) he also ends up in Tear, where the climax of the story takes place. I’m really digging the whole idea of Mat being a gambler with Lady Luck on his side, haha.
Anyway, if you are reading this series, you will most certainly enjoy this book as well. I actually don’t have that much to say about this particular book besides just saying that I really enjoyed it and that I look forward to reading book four and seeing what the characters will do now, considering how this novel ended. I think with series books, it is much easier to talk about a series as a whole than individual books, but that’s just me.

My Rating 4/5

A Feast For Crows

This post was first published March 21, 2011.

Author: George R. R. Martin
Published: 2005
Publisher: Spectra
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire #4
976 pages (mass market paperback)
 
I finally got around to reading this fourth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. I surprised myself by finishing it rather quickly compared to the previous (and longer) books, but actually I found this one less interesting than the first three. I’m not saying I didn’t like it; I’m just saying, in comparison to the others, it didn’t hold my interest as well, despite me practically speed reading through it.

In this book, the War of the Five Kings is more or less ending since most of the kings have died. The kings that are left are Stannis and Tommen. Stannis has offered his assistance to the Night’s Watch in the far north, taking himself out of the war if only temporarily. King Tommen, only eight years old, sits the Iron Throne at King’s Landing, but in reality, his mother Cersei, is the regent and is the true ruler. Cersei seems to be going on a downward spiral in this book: she has the makings of an alcholic, is overly paranoid about Queen Margaery, the little wife his son Tommen married to solidify an alliance between their families, and is promoting and getting rid of all the wrong men.

To me, Cersei’s story seemed like the ‘main plot’ of the story, but of course, there are always many characters in this series, and each character has their own story to tell too. My favourite/interesting characters: Jaime Lannister seems to have had a change of heart since the last book and is disgusted with his sister’s actions, as well as trying to regain his lost honor and become a trustworthy person again. Sansa is playing the part of Petyr Baelish’s bastard daughter as he arranges a way for the two of them to take both the Eyrie and Winterfell.

Arya has managed to travel across the narrow sea to the eastern continent and work in the Temple of Black and White (which according to the Wikipedia page on this book, is some sort of assassins’ temple. I didn’t realize my Arya may be becoming a little assassin! That would be cool … except, based on how her chapters ended, I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen to her now that she’s possibly, uh, disabled). Arya, as I’ve mentioned before, is my favourite character, but I’m becoming increasingly disappointed with how far away from the main plot/action she is becoming, and her chapters in this book weren’t the most interesting to be honest. Actually, I’m kind of sad Winterfell and the Stark family in general is so removed now. They were the first characters you encountered in the very first book, they were so honorable and good, I fell in love with the family and it’s just so sad that for the past two books, they’ve had such small parts (well, so it felt, to me. I guess that last point is always arguable).

Brienne, normally one of my favourite characters, was pretty boring in this book to me. All she did was wander around looking for Sansa. Her chapters did end up being a little more interesting when she ran into none other than the living corpse of Lady Catelynn!

There were some other characters, like Victarion Greyjoy and Samwell and whatnot, but frankly I wasn’t really interested in those chapters. I think it’s just that there’s already SO many characters in this series, my brain is turning itself off from new characters being introduced or something. I don’t know. If something really cool happens with his story and plot, my mind will probably change. I was kind of hoping for more Asha because I like kick-ass women in this story, but sadly she has apparently ran off after unsuccessfully becoming Queen of the Iron Isles.

A Feast For Crows is actually part one of a larger book. You see, the author was writing the 4th book of the series but it turned out to be so long that he had to split it into two books; the first one being A Feast For Crows, and the second will be A Dance For Dragons, which will be released this July! It is not split right in the middle of the story, but rather by characters. In this book, we had the perspectives of Cersei, Samwell, Arya, etc. but none from Tyrion, Daenerys, Jon Snow and a bunch of other people who I have grown to miss. I’m very excited for book five to find out what they were up to while the events of A Feast For Crows was going on.

Anyway, my feelings about this book are generally positive. I don’t know, for some reason, it just didn’t seem as exciting as the first three books, but I definitely do like it and I eagerly await book five!

My Rating: 4/5

The Eye of the World

This post originally published December 30, 2009.

Author: Robert Jordan
Published: 1990
Publisher: Tor Books
Series: The Wheel of Time #1
814 pages (mass market paperback)
 
Summary: Rand al’Thor is a young sheepherder living with his only family, his father, on a farm on the outskirts of the town of Two Rivers. The night before Bel Tine, a festival to celebrate the coming of spring, Rand — along with his two friends Mat and Perrin — find themselves the targets of an attack by Trollocs, large beast like creatures. Thankfully most of the town is saved thanks to two mysterious strangers, Moiraine, an Aes Sedai, and Lan, her Warder. Moiraine and Lan explain to Rand, Mat and Perrin that they cannot stay in the Two Rivers as it would endanger all the villagers, given that this was a planned and targeted attack. Moiraine insists that they travel with her to the Aes Sedai city of Tar Valon where they can be protected. Moiraine explains that the Dark One wants to use the boys for his own purposes, though why and for what, the boys do not understand.

My Thoughts: Wow, what an adventure it was to read this book! My boyfriend bought this book ages ago upon recommendation by a friend but he never got around to reading it and lent it to me to read. I had zero idea as to what the story was about when I started (‘Oh, a book for me?!’), besides understanding that it’s sort of Lord of the Rings-ish in fantasy level. The story starts off simply, with Rand, Mat (who I love) and Perrin, simple farm boys who don’t know anything about the world beyond their small town. And on the surface, the plot also appears simple — the characters embark on a journey to reach a certain destination. But it is definitely not a simple story at all, far from it. The story twists itself and branches off in several directions, and by the end of the novel, you realize that what felt like a thrilling epic journey was actually just the beginnings of one. It was such a great read and it sort of stuns me that this was just a beginning. There are a total of twelve books in the series (14, if you consider the fact that the last book is split into three volumes).

I’m in awe not just with the book but the whole world it takes place in. It’s unfortunate I can’t divulge more information about the plot because then I’d just be giving too much away. The world is richly described, the characters are great — I am particularly fond of Mat because I like the trouble-maker, funny guy kind of characters, and Lan, because I also happen to like guys with giant swords (hahaha!). I’m just so amazed that a story that started so simple could end so deep and complicated (seriously, I am doing my very best not to blurt out the various twists and “Omg I did not see that coming!”‘s. Gawd, I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out sooner, I’m usually pretty good at predicting plots!) I was completely drawn into the world.

It may be difficult to wrap your head around at first. The writing is beautiful and not overly complicated, so it’s not hard to understand, but there are a lot of terms in the story that aren’t explained, that must be figured out by the reader. Lots of mentions of the Forsaken, Myrrdraal, Ajah, etc. You’ll figure out what all of these mean eventually, but there’s a nice glossary at the back of the book in case you’re simply too curious or forget. The book is quite descriptive, it describes the journey in great detail — and sometimes, this was a bit burdening to the reader, it stirred a little boredom in me from time to time to read long, long paragraphs that describe a particular scene, and parts of the story where the characters’ journey isn’t particularly action-packed or thrilling in any way made me feel as exhausted as the travelers (thankfully, such moments aren’t common).

But overall, this was an amazing book. I could probably continue rambling about it, but I don’t want to give away spoilers. If you are a fan of high fantasy, you definitely must read this series. I will certainly be returning the book to my boyfriend to force him to read it, haha! I found out afterwards, when I finished the book, that they are even planning a movie for 2011! (I, for one, am usually excited about books turning into movies even if they turn out horribly, hahaha). No doubt I am going to hunt down the rest of the series!!

My Rating: 4/5