I am rather relieved to say that, despite all expectations, this book did not leave me sobbing in the end. There was a tear or two, but I wasn’t brokeI am rather relieved to say that, despite all expectations, this book did not leave me sobbing in the end. There was a tear or two, but I wasn’t broken. I was glued to the page, though, and have no doubt I’ll be rereading this again soon.
”If I die, I’ll either take him with me, or leave him so crippled he’ll be not threat. So help me, I will protect Valdemar with my last breath, and if there is a way to protect her after my death, I’ll find it.”
Magic’s Price is the final volume in the Last-Herald Mage trilogy, and, at last, we learn the reason for the series title. Set 8 years after Magic’s Promise leaves off, Vanyel is now in his mid-thirties and, with Randale at death’s door and Jisa still young, has had to assume the burdens of leadership. To cope, he separates himself from others and hides behind a blank facade. When Stefen, his nephew Medren’s roommate, becomes key to Randale’s care, however, Vanyel can’t help but admire the young bard and, despite his best intentions, his walls begin to crumble. And then the last of the Herald-Mages begin to die, and Vanyel realises the nightmares of his childhood weren’t the fictions he’d once hoped.
”You are quite alone, Herald-Mage Vanyel.”
We’re told from the start how the series ends: with Vanyel alone, fighting and dying for Valdemar. I was therefore surprised that the ‘end’ forms such a small proportion of the overall book. In the first three-quarters, we’re treated to the joys of a budding romance – visit home to meet the parents and all. And, at last, we learn that Vanyel’s parents are proud of him, and I almost cried for reading it.
”There’s only one way you ever disappointment me and–I don’t know, Van, but–it just doesn’t seem that important when you stack it up against everything else you’ve ever done.
I read most of Magic’s Price with trepidation, fearing what the next page would bring, but I needn’t have. Things don’t begin to pick up until the three-quarter mark. At this point, audiences should be warned that there is an incredibly gruesome on-page rape scene. Meanwhile, the final battle, which I’d been vividly imagining since book one, never actually happened. Well…it happened, but we’re shown nothing more than the opening volleys before we switch perspectives, and then we arrive back too late. I was actually rather sad that Lackey made this choice, though my tear glands thank her.
When we first met Vanyel, he was a boy, and a whiny, broken boy at that. By the end, he’s a man, and more than that, he’s a hero – the true stuff of legends. The transition is incredible to witness, particularly as seen through the eyes of Tylendel and Savil to start, and then Stefen to end.
”I can’t not help. Not anymore, anyway. And it doesn’t matter if anyone knows what I’m doing or not; I know, and I know I’m doing my best. And because of what I’m doing, things are better for other people. Sometimes a great many other people.”
Story and characters aside, I find Valdemar a comforting place to be. It’s a medievalesque world which values virtue and justice, where magical horse-like beings, Companions, choose paladins, or Heralds, who protect the weak and uphold the rule of law. It’s a place I’d be happy living, and one which gives me hope.
The Last-Herald Mage is one of the best epic fantasy series I’ve ever read and I’d recommend it highly. Geographically and politically, it’s not on the same scale as the Stormlight Archive or Wheel of Time series, but it packs its emotional punch and its characters will not soon be forgotten. Next, for me, in the wider series, will be the Heralds of Valdemar, the first Lackey wrote.
NB. For those interested, Lackey has actually written and set to music a lot of the songs mentioned in the Last Herald-Mage series. You can find these on YouTube here....more
I now have a thing for stories within stories. This is the second in a row (The Empress of Salt and Fortune being the first) and both were brilliant.
“
I now have a thing for stories within stories. This is the second in a row (The Empress of Salt and Fortune being the first) and both were brilliant.
“You didn’t hear the story I told,” he goes on. “A shame. It featured a handsome boy with a heart of stone and a natural aptitude for villainy. Everything you could like.”
Set after The Queen of Nothing concludes, Jude, Cardan, and Jude's siblings, are on their way to the human world to investigate reports of a faery crime. As they travel, Cardan flashes back to scenes from his childhood that went on to make him the Cruel Prince he was. Again and again, he's told a story about a boy with a wicked tongue and a wicked heart and how he grew. Even now, Cardan is doing his best to remake that story to give him the ending he so longs for.
“You don’t think monster girls and wicked boys deserve love?”
I loved the outward simplicity of the inner story, reminiscent of a true fairytale told around a warm campfire. With each retelling, Cardan takes away a different message, a different moral, and he learns; just as I, in turn, take lessons from his story. In short, it's a story about the importance of stories and I found its layers, its self-contemplation, satisfying.
“Boys change. And so do stories.”
If you didn't enjoy or haven't read The Folk of the Air series, you're unlikely to enjoy this novella. If you have read and did enjoy the other books and are unsure as to whether to dive back into the world again, do. On the one hand, its a chance to spend time with some of our favourite characters and see some tender moments between them. On the other hand, it's its own story and a beautiful tale too. Recommend.
NB. I listened to the book but I hear the illustrated paper edition is WONDERFUL....more
4.5*s. In just 43 pages, this story evokes a wonderfully exotic and intriguing world that I hope to see more of in future. The story is free to read h4.5*s. In just 43 pages, this story evokes a wonderfully exotic and intriguing world that I hope to see more of in future. The story is free to read here on Tor.
Set in 1912 in a Cairo that has traded British colonials for magical beings (an excellent trade if you ask me), the story follows Fatma el-Sha’arawi, Special Investigator for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, as she investigates the death of a very large, blue djinn.
Fatma is one of those people who's so cool she has her own style - a three piece British suit with accompanying walking stick. Whether she's going for exotic or ridiculous or both, you'll need to decide. A surprising Ministry choice given her gender (female), her age (24), and her roots (the backwaters), she's more than capable of doing her job and positively oozes confidence and inquisitiveness. Whether's she gay or just curious, I'm intrigued to discover.
In her investigations, Fatma introduces us to djinns and janns, angels and ghouls, necromancers, sorcerers, mechanos and more. There's huge potential just waiting to be mined and I can't wait to see where Clark takes it. That this fantastical veneer is laid over an alternate version of 20th century Cairo really is the icing on top. I've read books based in ancient Egypt, but none that were even vaguely modern and I loved it. It felt exotic without being overdone and genuine without being boring. Listening to the audiobook, with the names and the terms pronounced as they should be (as oppose to mangled by my British interpretation), I couldn't help but feel as though I were there.
I highly recommend this story. It won't take you long to read and it's good to mix up the usual medieval European fantasy setting with something a little different. I will most certainly be continuing on with The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and A Master of Djinn....more
This book was ok, maybe even good, and I can see why some people really like it, but it just wasn't for me. It was too sad, too dark, too detached. FuThis book was ok, maybe even good, and I can see why some people really like it, but it just wasn't for me. It was too sad, too dark, too detached. Full review to come....more
4.5*s. I LOVED this book. I admit, I was expecting to cringe at the teen drama, roll my eyes at the tropes and groan at the cookie-cutter characters, 4.5*s. I LOVED this book. I admit, I was expecting to cringe at the teen drama, roll my eyes at the tropes and groan at the cookie-cutter characters, but I couldn't have been more wrong. It's still very much a young adult novel, and certainly includes a lot of tropes, but it does so calculatedly and I thoroughly enjoyed both the writing and the concept.
Always famous but always fading, the way old movie stars were, carrying ghosts of their younger selves in their faces. It was a strange thing, to know with certainty that you had peaked.
As teens, Sloane, Matt, Esther, Albie and Ines were named Chosen Ones, prophecised to fight and kill the Dark One. Ten years ago, they did just that. Today, they continue to feel the effects of that fight and struggle to find a place for themselves in society. And then magical incidents begin to happen again and Sloane and her friends must consider that maybe they didn't kill the dark one after all.
“The line between a Chosen One and his opposite is hair-fine, so don’t get too cozy on one side of it.”
Obvious tropes include:
- The Chosen One/Chosen Many - The Dark Lord - A Prophecy - A Pseudo-Orphaned Hero - A Fellowship of Friends - The Reluctant Hero - The Mentor - The Powerful Artefact - The Waiting Evil
There are so many, and they are such a fundamental part of the story, that it wouldn't surprise me if Roth looked up a list and intentionally decided to write a book around them. Her characters certainly reference them explicitly and mock them ruthlessly.
“Are you saying I’m … ‘the One’?” With finger quotes around the phrase “the One.”
“Did you go for a wand?” Ines said. “Or, like, an orb? Or is it a giant hammer? Please say it’s a giant hammer.” “No,” Sloane said. “Yeah, you’re right, it’s the government, so it’s probably a boring box,” Ines said.
That Roth, with such unimaginative source material, still manages to create a unique and compelling book is impressive.
I think the main reason that I liked the book so much was that it discussed the dark side of heroism. Like Ender in Ender's Game (my favourite book of all time), Sloane is globally celebrated for the worst thing that ever happened to her. She struggles to cope, to accept the accolades, knowing the hard choices she had to make and the small evils she had to commit to win. And the very shrewdness, the distrustfulness and the determination that allowed her to do all that, will not suddenly disappear now that the situation has passed. She cannot, she will not, smile for your cameras.
“I’m tired of being special,” Albie said with a shaky laugh. “I’m tired of being celebrated for the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
Another element that I really liked was the blending of magic and technology that we see later on in the book. When magic can fulfil most of your every day wants and needs, there is little need for computers and the internet and I enjoyed seeing how society changed as a result. That that magic was based upon a system of sound was ingenious - I've not come across another system like it.
“At home, people carry the internet around in their pockets,” Sloane said. “Everything you could ever want to know, in any language, is right there. That’s how I’m used to getting information.” “And you say you don’t have magic.” “It’s not magic,” Sloane said.
Character-wise, Sloane, the main character, was by far the most developed and distinctive; she was also my favourite. She wasn't perfect and she was all the more interesting because of it. Frustratingly, Albie and Ines, the two secondary characters that were shaping up to be the most interesting, were also those of which we saw least. Matt, the golden boy, and Esther, the social media queen, were rather cookie-cutter I'm afraid, though I actually quite liked Esther.
They all fit together in different ways, knew different pieces of each other best. Esther knew how to make Albie laugh, Ines could almost read his mind, and Matt knew how to get him to talk. But Sloane was the Albie expert on his bad days, and there was no way today wasn’t one of them.
I'd give the first 30% of this book a smashing five star. My enjoyed then slipped quite considerably when I realised that Roth was employing multiple realities. I've read a few of these recently (Burn, The Midnight Library) and none of them were great. As it happens, Roth actually did a rather good job of it and I forgave her the inclusion, bumping her back up to five stars. The last 5-10%, though, gets three stars, maybe even two. The Dark One's back story is NOT good. Ah well. Ultimately the book ends in an interesting place and I can forgive Roth her blips.
I thoroughly recommend this to all those of you who liked Ender's Game. If you liked Six of Crows, Steelheart, and maybe even The Eye of the World (assuming you like YA books too), I'd recommend this to you. It's a quick, easy read and doesn't shy away from the gritty emotions of life after heroism....more
‘A golden jinni bound by magic, a dark-eyed ahira shackled by a king. Dreams of joy despite our impossible love.’
4.5*s. I wished for this book on NetG
‘A golden jinni bound by magic, a dark-eyed ahira shackled by a king. Dreams of joy despite our impossible love.’
4.5*s. I wished for this book on NetGalley and my wish was granted. That this book, about jinnis who grant wishes, should come to me in this way is beyond perfect. And what a read! I devoured it and can only hope that Thornton finds encouragement in the reception of her first novel and continues to write.
Emel is an ahira, one of the twenty-six daughters of the Salt King who must sleep with and woo visiting dignitaries and, with their eventual marriage, form important alliances for their father. Should they not be taken as bride by twenty-three, they are thrown into the streets with nothing and no-one. After over a dozen close but ultimately fruitless courtings, Emel has just over a year until this becomes her fate.
Saalim is a jinni, a channel through which the goddess Masira grants wishes, though not always in the way that the wisher intends. Bound to serve the Salt King, he is surprised one day to find Emel opening his vessel. Whilst Emel is wary of taking the jinni from her father, and wary of the jinni himself, a bond is formed between the two, and soon Emel must decide who’s freedom means more, hers or that of the one she loves, for both cannot get what they wish for.
“I want to see you more. If that means I must steal time from the gods, then I will. If you’ll allow it, that is.”
I admit, I do love a desert romance. Like every other genre, they suffer their tropes and this book does contain its fair share: sleazy despot, rather pathetic harem, standard desert setting with tented habitations, etc. However, I enjoyed that this book did three things rather differently. Firstly, the jinni was not all powerful and conceited, but gentle and kind, enjoying life’s small pleasures. Secondly, the King’s daughters were not all wilting virgins, but experienced bed partners with many a raunchy suggestion. And lastly, Emel does not own and control the jinni, spending her whole time wishing away the difficulties in her life. Instead, she fights her own battles and enjoys the jinni for his company and not for what he can do for her.
I liked Emel. She was brave and inquisitive, hard-working and kind. Some of her sisters considered her selfish, but only fear held back those that did not follow her. I appreciated that she didn’t demand or expect miracles. In fact, at times, I felt she was more abstemious than she should have or needed to be.
“Beware of the man in gold, for he will steal your heart.”
Saalim has my heart. He was confident, without being cocky; patient and gentle, without being wet. After hundreds of years of imprisonment, he’s resigned to his fate and yet hasn’t lost his capacity to hope for change. He may have the power of a god at his finger tips, but I found I just wanted to wrap him up in a hug and keep him safe.
The book was well paced and compelling. Towards the end, I got a little confused by Emel’s plan and the consequences of the magic wielded, but it all came clear eventually. I respect Thornton for not gushing at the end with a million and one epilogues spelling out the future of Emel and Saalim, but at the same time, I wouldn’t have complained if we’d gotten a little more. Material for the next book perhaps!
Would I recommend this? Yes! It’s a great, easy read; young-adult for sure, but not eye-rollingly so. Fans of The Wrath and the Dawn are sure to like it. Please do continue to write, Thornton. I’ll be on the look out for your next book....more
The best of the series by far. We know the characters, we know the world, we know the stakes, and we've got everything to play for - love by no means The best of the series by far. We know the characters, we know the world, we know the stakes, and we've got everything to play for - love by no means the least of it.
A prophecy was made when Cardan was born.
He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne. Only out of this spilled blood can a great ruler rise.
Because of it, his father rejected him, his mother neglected him when she didn't encourage his cruelty, and the people feared him. He grew up to be just as awful as one would expect. Except Jude saw something she could use, and under her attention, he thrived. And then he exiled her. But when Taryn comes calling, needing Jude to pretend to be her to escape a murder charge, she doesn't hesitate. She sneaks back: to Faerie, to Cardan and to power.
"My sweet nemesis, how glad I am that you returned."
Jude is hard as nails. She's shot with an arrow, stabbed, beaten and she still gets up and carries on. In book one, I struggled to believe the transformation from lowly mortal to scheming spy. Now, two books on, her violent tendencies have mellowed and her scheming improved. She can at last play the game well enough to know when the gaming needs to stop. Meanwhile, Cardan has stopped trying to live up to his awful image and started just living. He's softened; more in touch with his feelings than Jude and more willing to go with them. He's not perfect, nor does he think Jude is, but he likes her anyway, and can see the magic they make together.
As with books one and two, there are twists I didn't see coming, dark times when I can't see how they'll come out on top, and characters, old and new, I didn't know whether to trust or stab in their sleep. I wouldn't last a minute in Faerie, and, knowing that, I respect Jude all the more for what she achieves.
All in all, a solid ending to series I'm glad I read....more
"Come to me, and I will try to love you. I will try to love you, if you but come back."
Another sweet book by Amy Harmon. Definitely second fiddle to T
"Come to me, and I will try to love you. I will try to love you, if you but come back."
Another sweet book by Amy Harmon. Definitely second fiddle to The Bird and the Sword, but a warming read nonetheless.
Written largely from Kjell's point of view, The Queen and the Cure begins with Kjell's rescue of near-dead slave, Sasha, a seer damned for her attempts to save. When Sasha refuses to be left behind in the village that did her wrong, Kjell has no choice but to take her along with his company as they return home. But Kjell can only resist the fiery red-head so long, and Sasha has been waiting for Kjell to arrive for a long time, and she won't take no for an answer.
If one can guess that Kjell, a Healer, is the 'Cure' in the title, then that leaves us wondering just how Sasha might end up the 'Queen'. Never fear, I'll give you the relief of knowing that she doesn't usurp lovely Lark! But the world is a bit place and the Volgar have left huge destruction in their wake.
Written in a fairy-tale like fashion, the twists in both this book and the first are not hard to see coming, once you're given the building blocks. I found comfort in that, rather than frustration. Well I did on the whole. There was one 'twist' that was so obvious to everyone but the characters that I actually rolled my eyes: (view spoiler)[of course the people of Dendar are disguising themselves as trees! Sasha herself told the story of the people waiting for their princess' return, and Padraig told us that Sasha's stories are no mere fiction. (hide spoiler)]
One thing The Queen and the Cure did hold over its predecessor was setting. I loved Dendar and its thriving greenery, ancestral trees, and back-to-nature populace. It is a place where the Gifted are not only accepted but welcomed, and their culture one of peace and community. I think I could be quite happy there.
Definitely recommend. Do note, this is a sequel and so not suitable as a standalone read....more
One daughter was given the word spin, for she could spin all manner of things into gold. The grass, the leaves, a strand of hair. One son was given th
One daughter was given the word spin, for she could spin all manner of things into gold. The grass, the leaves, a strand of hair. One son was given the word change, which gifted him the ability to transform himself into the beasts of the forest or the creatures of the air. The word heal was given to another son, to cure the illness and injury among his brothers and sisters. One daughter was given the word tell, and she could predict what was to come. Some said she could eve shape the future with the power of her words.
This was SUCH a sweet story. Huge comfort reading. I feel warm and cosy inside now having finished it.
The story follows Lark, daughter of Lord Corvyn and a Teller like her mother, able to to make her words become reality. But Lark hasn't spoken since the day her mother died and swore her to silence.
"Swallow Daughter, pull them in, those words that sit upon your lips. Lock them deep inside your soul, hide them 'til they've time to grow. Close your mouth upon the power, curse not, cure not, 'til the hour. You won't speak and you won't tell, you won't call on heaven or hell. You will learn and you will thrive. Silence, daughter. Stay alive."
One day the King comes a'riding. Tiras takes Lark hostage in order to ensure Corvyn's contribution to the war effort. But what he doesn't know is that Corvyn's fate is tied in with his daughter's, and if she dies, so does he. Corvyn wants her back, but Lark discovers that life as a captive under Tiras is far better than any under her father, and she decides to stay, to help, and maybe even to love.
Lark, waif-like and quiet as she first appears, has a backbone of steel which is satisfying the see. Her budding relationship with Tiras is beyond sweet. Slowly they learn to trust and to accept one another, and to rely on them when the whole work seems to turn against them. Fortunately Harmon steers clear of the usual, oh but I can't marry you, I'm a King. Tiras will marry whoever the hell he wants, and he wants Lark. He's soft and kind and gentle with her, but also loves the fire she holds inside and the challenge she poses.
Harmon's system of magic is both simple and yet infinitely complex in its iterations. And, with a power that depends on words, words and language form an important part of the story. Harmon beautifully sculpts them in to spells, but also examines them in a way that seems alien to those of us who are taught to read and write from a very young age. It gave me a new insight into the way I experience language and the things I take for granted using it.
Highly recommend to all, and it's on Kindle Unlimited to boot.
"I don't want to be the gift someone gets when they've already lost. I don't want to be a happy inevitability. I want to be chosen. I want to be wante
"I don't want to be the gift someone gets when they've already lost. I don't want to be a happy inevitability. I want to be chosen. I want to be wanted."
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. It got a final rating of 2.5* from me.
I liked the concepts - superpowers, fates, new worlds, autocratic struggles - but I felt there was something missing in the delivery. Or maybe not missing but just slightly missing the mark. Like Roth wanted to write a write a dark piece but she only really managed medium grey.
"Why so afraid?" we ask ourself.
It started well. We heard from Eijeh for the first time - Eijeh, or Ryset, or some amalgamation of the two. In a kind of twisted way I wanted Eijeh to hide that he now had a dual personality and then make a behind the scenes play for power. Sadly, his role was much as it ever was: to whimper and hide.
It was nice to have some new players involved - Lazmet, the Assembly, the Shotet exiles, Ast - and to hear some new voices - Cisi and Eijeh. It was a shame Cisi turned out to be a bit of a shit. A self-deluded, supposedly well-meaning shit too. Talking of self-delusion, it seems to be a family trait. The idea that Akos is only with Cyra because he believes he is fated to be is total rubbish and runs contrary to the feelings he expressed in book 1. It was an annoying way of amping up the tension surrounding the protagonists' fates and so the big reveal that (view spoiler)[Akos and Cyra were switched at birth and so so were their fates. (hide spoiler)]
It wasn't all bad. I loved exploring Ogra and it's flesh-eating plants; I liked the growing friendships with Jorek and Teka; and, overall, the story was reasonably compelling. It was just clunky.
I'm glad to have finished the duology but I think I'm done with Roth. ...more
I am also the Commander of the Earth Defense Corps, technically another military force with a single, gigantic weapon. As Commander, I have two soldie
I am also the Commander of the Earth Defense Corps, technically another military force with a single, gigantic weapon. As Commander, I have two soldiers under my command. Make that one solider. The other is technically a Canadian consultant. I also have sixty-eight scientists working for me. They didn’t exactly phrase it like that when the y offered me the job because they know I don’t like scientists. Scientists are like children: They always want to know everything, they all ask too many questions, and they never follow orders to the letter. That, people, is the EDC. A big robot, one soldier, a linguist, and a whole lot of disobedient children. What we need, what the world needs right now, is them, my insubordinate kids.
This book was brilliant and not at all how I imagined it to be. I was expecting what happened in this book to happen in book three. I suppose what I was expecting was a bridge book, a filler. This is not that. Things happen, the world goes to shit, and we sort of, kind of, semi get to meet the aliens.
The book begins nine years after the end of the first book. That in itself was unexpected. A lot can happen in nine years. That said, had this book begun where the previous ended, we probably would have had the bridge book I was expecting. But nine years on, a robot has landed in London. As a proud Brit, I was pleased we were given our time to shine. I was not surprised when we failed to (#Brexit). Would I have evacuated? I really don’t know. Probably. Maybe. It’s a big city and forms the heart of our country, evacuation is no easy task, nor are its consequences easily borne. Easier to bear than what happened, though. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I find it amazing that a book featuring such utter carnage as this, also manages to maintain a lightness about it, a sense of humour and gentle constitution that allows you relax into the plot rather than flinching with every plot turn. A perfect balance between a thriller that’ll have your heart racing and a more thoughtful exploration of what it means to be human.
As in the first book, Vincent and Kara remain main characters. They’ve grown into themselves between books and so have a slightly different feel about them. They’re still weird and their relationship is weirder still, but it works. Rose is alive, but not Rose. It’s pretty confusing; more so for her I imagine. The “science” around what happens to her is fascinating. Sure, it’s made up, but it’s also 100% true in a lot of salient areas.
Was you’re made of isn’t really important. Everything in the universe is made of the same thing. You’re a configuration. Your essence, as you call it, is information. It doesn’t matter where the material comes from. Do you think it matters when it comes from?
Talk about putting things in perspective. Alyssa is also back and, predictably, with a child.
Best of all, we find out who the interviewer is! I literally squealed when I got to this part. It wasn’t what I was expecting but it was believable - well as believable as these things go. More shocking was that (view spoiler)[those killed in the gas were killed because they had alien DNA in them, saving those found to be 100% human. (hide spoiler)] I would have bet good money initially on the opposite being true. I suppose that’s what makes a good book.
All in all, a lot of surprises. Some things I never guessed, and most of the rest I guessed wrong. Sometimes shit happens when you expect a happily ever after and sometimes you get a happily ever after when you expect shit to happen. It keeps you on your toes. Highly recommend. And what a teaser Neuvel’s left for us at the end. On to book three!...more
With 14 books in the series and other things to do, I'm going to write my review here for the Wheel of Time series as a whole, rather than just the laWith 14 books in the series and other things to do, I'm going to write my review here for the Wheel of Time series as a whole, rather than just the last book. To summarise, I LOVED it. I feel such fondness for the characters, having spent so long with them, and feel a deep understanding of the world and its many facets. That said, these feelings were a loooooong time coming.
I almost stopped reading the series half way through the first book, writing it off as just another copy of Lord of the Rings. I think this is quite a common occurrence actually. I now know this to be wholeheartedly false. This series was infinitely more complex than that. But as with any grand fantasy series, there were teething troubles as you're thrown endless knew concepts and words and people, and through it all you have to keep a handle on the plot line too. It didn't help that RJ insisted on naming every. single. person. we came across, even if they were only bringing the chamber pot. This adds up to a cast of thousands of characters. To be fair, many of these do end up cropping up again and again but I recommend using the Fandom site to help remind yourself where and when you've seen them before. In fact, I think I spent as long on the Fandom site as I did reading the books themselves. It is a VAST repository of knowledge about the Wheel of Time universe.
Until a good few books in, I disliked most of the characters - especially the female ones despite being female myself. My least favourite was Matt. So no one is more surprised than me to say that, in the end, Matt ended up being my favourite. He alone managed to keep a smile on his face, a joke on his tongue and the doom and gloom at bay. Overall, the transformation of the main characters, from shepherds and blacksmiths to leaders and generals, was phenomenal, particularly when placed in Brandon Sanderson's deft hands. Don't get me wrong, they took time to change, but by the end of the series they have fully grown into themselves and their destiny. Controversially perhaps, I'd say that George RR Martin's character development is better, however, this is made up for by the grand scale of the story that sits behind the characters.
Clearly, the books are not without fault. Numbers 9-11 are particularly hard going. However, they are worth all the pain. I have a feeling that, as with Game of Thrones, when the world is visualised on screen (and maybe whittled down a little), that pain will vanish and you will be left with the most epic tv series the world has seen. I. Cannot. Wait!...more
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