A Crown of Swords (original 1996; edition 1996)

Firmly in the Dreaded Middle. Egwene in Salidar is one of my favorite plotlines - Egwene in general is one of my favorite characters, maybe my favorite overall - but I loathe Ebou Dar (minus about three scenes,) I have zero patience for Cadsuane, and while there are still lots of good crunchy minor-character bits, there's not enough major-arc movement to suit me.

Note: In general, I can't review this series with any objectivity. I've been reading it since I was eleven years old, and it's thoroughly embedded in my brain. ( )

Cadusane is possibly the single most loathsome and unnecessary character that I have ever been presented with in any book that I have ever read. This is saying something. ( )

A Crown of Swords is a well balanced installment of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, especially when looking at it as part of the series' 2nd Act. The book's various story lines pick up where they left off in the previous volume, Lord of Chaos, and either continue or come to a conclusion that quickly leads to a new one taking its place and either bringing together or separating the large cast of characters. Unlike the previous installment, A Crown of Swords seems to be better paced as Jordan stuck with a story line for several chapters in a row until it came to an appropriate place to transition to another story line or for the next book. Throughout the book, a variety of character developments take place with the most important happening with Nynaeve followed by Mat and Rand.

There were a few things that were somewhat of a drag, mostly the usual complaints one hears from longer time fans like in-depth detail on clothing, hair pulling by a certain character, the interactions of various women with one another, etc. The one that continues to be a personal problem to me is that the climax at the end of the book seems rushed with all of it occurring during the last chapter of the book. But since these "problems" or complaints have been present throughout the series an objective reader does get use to it.

Overall, A Crown of Swords is a good read and I recommend you continue reading The Wheel of Time series with this book. ( )

Hmm. Not much happens here. Jordan has so many characters he's keeping track of that to span the amount of only a month, if that, he takes this whole book. While not much happens, most of it is very important. The end seems a little rushed but only because it has taken two books for Rand to get to Sammael. While some of the women still retain their haughty inequality, most of that has disappeared for which I am grateful for. Now, more often than not, I can laugh out loud when Elayne and Nynaeve interact or when Mat groans about the both of them. Looking forward to getting to the next book. ( )

"And the beat goes on". (I couldn't help agreeing with Min, though when she thought Rand sounded like "a pillow stuffed full of haughty.") ( )