The Fires of Heaven

*spoilers*
Well I just don't know what to say!! This series is great and just leaves you wanting to know more. I'm glad there are plenty more books for me to read!! I still love Nynaeve! I think she will be my favorite character until the end! Rand is just getting crazier but I suppose that is too be expected. I'm still not a fan of Egwene. I don't know what it is about her but she just drives me crazy. I love reading from Siuann POV too. I'm ready to read more about her fun with Gareth Bryne... I am wondering what is going on with Perrin and Loial though. The completely disappeared from this one! Poor Moiraine. It just is not going to be the same without her. Good riddance to Lanfaer. And who the heck did Asmodean see!!?!?! Bah...I think I need a little break before I start the next one.

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Rating the series as a whole, because I can't remember them individually without reading them again. Originally read the early ones in 2007, then the whole series in 2009.

Nobody can spoil a mediocre book with an epic ending quite like Robert Jordan can. Four Forsaken taken care of in just a few short chapters. I think that is the main reason why he was able to keep a fan base at all.

I am so sick of being inside Nynaeve's head. Yes, I get that her self-denials and men bashings are supposed to be funny, but it is way over done and is just plain obnoxious. I like Nynaeve more than most people do, but until she stops being a compulsive liar and control freak and starts acting more like a grown woman, I won't respect her.

I enjoyed the circus scenes more this read-through. Jordan wastes so much time on side plots and gender issues that it takes so long for anything to happen, but that's not so stressful when you know you don't have to wait at least a year for the next book to come out. These books really should be read straight through—it is far too easy to lose focus if you have to take a break.

Rand doesn't bother me as much as he once did. His efforts to harden himself against all emotion and to take on everything himself breaks my heart more than frustrates me. Every now and then we still see that little boy inside of him, the little boy who takes care of the sheep and gets into mischief with Mat, but he is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he is shouldering it the only way he knows how. It's going to get worse before it gets better, but I think he'll be a true savior in the end: compassionate, powerful, and strong.

It bothers me that so many people complain about Perrin resisting his fate, but Mat fights it just as hard, if not harder. It must be that Perrin is all emo about it, while Mat is rascally-funny-yet-awesome about it. Mat is growing on me; he's a lot more awesome than I once thought he was. But of the three boys, he is definitely the least mature.

And you can't forget about Moiraine. She was Aes Sedai to the core, but she wasn't stupid like a lot of the other ones were. She truly fought for her cause, rather than her power and authority. The way Jordan sets up the whole scenario leaves the reader with pretty much no choice but to miss Moiraine. And the fact that she thinks Rand is ready says volumes.

As for Lan, my heart is breaking for him, too. He deserves so much more than he lets himself have. Good thing Nynaeve is more stubborn than he is.

Was this the book that Suian, Leanne, and Min made it to Salidar? I think it is. It is impossible to rate a book this long and complex in one simple review. Yeah, I don't think I have much to say about them.

All in all, this book wasn't terribly exciting. So begins the long haul—the next 5 books or so are going to get progressively worse. But at least we'll get Perrin back. ( )

OK. Another 1000 pages. The problem with these books is that 10,000 or so pages over 10 or 12 books is way, way, way, way too much to spend on one set of characters in a fantasy universe. Feist has it down: stories happen, people get old and die, new characters take their place, the world continues to develop. I never got to the end of the series (this was the last book I finished), but readers have told me that towards the end, an entire book take place over a few DAYS??? Please, I can't, stop, my head hurts. ( )

Summary: Now that Rand has been to Rhuidean and proclaimed himself the Car’a’carn as well as the Dragon Reborn, he is beginning to fulfill the prophecies - including the one that says that he will break the Aiel. Many Aiel that learned their true history are succumbing to the bleakness, and joining the Shaido, one of the clans that refuse to accept Rand as the Car'a'carn. Rand worries about uniting the Aiel behind him in time for the last battle, but he is also worried about more personal secrets - such as the loyalty of Asmodean, one of the Forsaken, who is bound to teach Rand how to control the male half of the one power before he goes mad. He has other advisors as well: Moiraine, who seems to feel the need to reach Rand what she knows more urgently than ever before, and Aviendha, who is tasked with teaching Rand Aiel customs, much to her own discomfiture. Egwene continues her learning with the Aiel Wise Ones, and Mat continues to try to escape the pull of Rand and ta'veren.

Meanwhile, the split in the White Tower has left Elaida as Amyrlin; Min, Leane, Siuan, and Logaine on the run; and the "rebel" sisters who refuse to accept the coup setting up a White-Tower-in-Exile in a small town in Altara called Salidar. Nynaeve and Elaine, fleeing from the Black Ajah in Tanchico, join a traveling circus to avoid notice, not only by agents of the Black Ajah, but also by Whitecloaks, the Forsaken, and agents of the White Tower - for Elayne's mother, Queen Morgause, is pressing Elaida for her daughter's safe return, when she is not wrapped up by her new romantic interest, Lord Gaebril, who is more than he seems on the surface.

Review: I remember this book as being one of my favorites (maybe in close runner-up to The Shadow Rising), but in trying to summarize it, it seems like this book is a lot of people traveling to other places in order for the real action to begin. Not that this book doesn't have plenty of action - Aviendha's (accidental) discovery of gateways and flight to Seanchan lands, Mat's first (accidental) turn as a battle leader in the fight with the Shaido, Moiraine and Lanfear's fight on the docks in Cairhien, Nynaeve's fight with Moghidien in Tel'aran'rhiod, Rand and Rahvin in the Royal Palace in Andor. But most of that happens towards the end of the book, so most of the rest of it feels like a very extended road trip. (or rather, several road trips.) There's a lot of things that are set up in this book that become hugely important later - Salidar, the (re-)introduction of Gareth Bryne, the discovery of gateways, the consequences of Moiraine's fight with Lanfear, the escape of Morgause, the dice in Mat's head, the first meeting with the Prophet, etc. There's also a number of smaller scenes that I'd largely forgotten about since the last time I read the series - Nynaeve & Elayne's kidnapping, for one - that are actually very vivid and tense.

However, despite the fact that in summary it feels like a long time of waiting followed by a rush of action, that's not at all what my experience listening to it was. I was involved in the story throughout, and I rarely felt like it bogged down, even when there wasn't a ton of forward momentum in any of the story lines. The one problematic thing that I did notice is that this is when Jordan's gender relations start to acquire the blunt "men think women are silly and frivolous; women think men are careless idiots; neither gender can understand the other" cast that plague the rest of the books. This is largely down to the amount of time spent with Nynaeve's point of view; the device of "Nynaeve derides other people for being/doing [X] while obliviously doing [X] herself" gets tired very quickly, and it's used almost as much as her tugging on her braid and sniffing. Other characters do it too, which is why I got so annoyed with it, but Nynaeve's the worst offender, which is why my notes-to-self about this review simply say "Shut up, Nynaeve."

Overall, though, The Fires of Heaven is still this series on the upswing, and if it's not the best installment, it does contain a LOT of good stuff, and while it's easy to find something to complain about in a book of this size, the fact remains that it tells a good story with compelling characters, and is still engrossing enough to keep me involved for almost a day and a half's worth of audiobook time. On my original read, I gave it 5 out of 5, on the re-read and with a little more reflection, it's still 4.5 out of 5 stars. ( )