Lord of Chaos, The Wheel of Time #6
I have another review of 'Lord of Chaos' floating around, a fragment from my last full reread of the series in 2009. I was not impressed, and while there are still problems with the series - the first reluctant nod to homosexuality goes to a villain first of all - but as I've been saying this latest reread has been refreshing and addictive. I missed these books.
'Lord of Chaos' takes place over ten or eleven days, but a lot of stuff is happening so I won't complain. Rand gets overconfident in Andor and Carhien and ends up in serious trouble.
Nynaeve, Elayne, Birgitte, Gareth Brynne, Min, Siuan and Leane are in Salidar with the Rebel Aes Sedai, the former trying to adjust to being Accepted again and making 'discoveries' - Nynaeve still has a block on her channelling ability, which holds her back. Gareth is building an army to take the White Tower, Min is preparing to go back to Rand, and Siuan and Leane are continuing to adjust to being cut off from the Power.
Mat is once more on his own, his initial desires to escape responsibility have led him to become head of his own private army.
Perrin, a hero and Lord in the Two Rivers now, heads out with another army and Faile and Loial and Three Aiel to join Rand - who he senses needs him.
There are plots within plots and this book in many ways creates a pressure cooker. The sheer number of characters - I'm not even bothering inserting the villains and Daes Da'mar nonsense - to move slows the narrative down. The existence of Traveling begins to ease this problem somewhat, but too many plot-lines for slim reasons don't take advantage of this.
This is still mostly a book to get through, but I found myself enjoying the pace.
The Wheel of Time
Next: 'A Crown of Swords'
Previous: 'The Fires of Heaven'
