"Winter's Heart" (The Wheel of Time Series, Book 9) by Robert Jordan

 

 

Author : Robert Jordan

Description : Winter's Heart picked up the pace in the plot, and it was a lot easier to read than the previous book. There are a few more character perspectives included in this book, more on Cadsuane, a mysterious Aes Sedai that had come out of hiding in the 7th book, A Crown of Swords, to assist in guiding the Dragon Reborn. I'm still not entirely sure of her motives, although in this book, you get a glimpse of them. In the previous books I was left wondering what exactly her agenda was (like 99% of the characters in the Wheel of Time world!LOL), but in Winter's Heart Jordan gave a small clue as to what one of her goals are regarding Rand and why she behaves the way she does with him. At first, I didn't really like this character, she seemed as arrogant and high-minded as the other Aes Sedai, but given the little glimpse into her motives in this book, I could understand a portion of her personality.

Another mysterious entity, the Seanchan, was only briefly alluded to in prior books. The Seanchan people were suddenly thrust upon the scene in book 2, The Great Hunt, when an invading Seanchan army landed, and throughout the series up until Winter's Heart you, the reader, are only given bits and pieces of information about these intriguing people from across the ocean of the known world in the WOT world. However, in this book, you learn more about the Seanchan, their customs, culture, and people. One important character introduced in Winter's Heart is Seanchan, the High Lady Tuon, and I won't spoil by saying who she is, but this character is more than she appears to be.

Rand has been on the hunt for the renegade Asha'man that tried to kill him, and you learn in this book where the kill orders came from. I think this will prove interesting for later books, and I look forward to what Rand will do when he realizes what has been going on in his Black Tower full of Asha'man.

Nynaeve & Elayne, both in Camelyn, deal with the all the problems that come with different factions of women channelers all jostling for power and suspicious of each other. In addition to that, Elayne has to contend with securing her claim on the Lion Throne as there are still enemies waiting behind the scene to see her fail in that and in other things. One thing I'll note here, Nynaeve has changed very much from the young woman first encountered in the first book. I think her change was for the better, and although she's still prickly and has a temper, she has reigned it in considerably. Not sure if that is due to the fact she is Aes Sedai now and has to show a facade of calmness to the world, or due to the fact she's now married to Lan (Moiraine's former Warder). I enjoyed seeing Nynaeve change and become more flexible with others around her instead of only seeing "her" way or the high way.

The one main character not given chapters in this book is Egwene, she is only briefly seen, and in one of Elayne's chapters during a meeting in the World of Dreams. There was also not many chapters from Perrin's perspective, and the ones given only showing him very upset and frustrated at Faile's disappearance so the plot doesn't move forward much in either of Egwene or Perrin's chapters.

One character that was noticeably absent in the last book is Mat Cauthon. He is back on the scene in this book, and I enjoyed reading his chapters again. He is one of my favorite characters, and his wariness around Tuon is very funny to read about. He is one of the characters that lighten the story, giving humor, and it's a part of his character personality as the ever irrepressible rogue and gambler. In one interview Jordan gave, he was quoted as saying he took some traits from mythological gods (such as Odin, Loki, the Trickster, etc) to flesh out the character of Mat.

In fact, Jordan did this with all his main characters (where he took from well-known myths or legends from the real world), and in some characters it is more obvious than others, but know when you're reading these books that everything about the Wheel of Time world and its characters were not done without intention on the author's part. Everything was painstakingly crafted, from the cultures of the various nations, to the personalities of the many characters. Nothing was done without a reason.

In another interview when Jordan was asked where he got his ideas for his fictional fantasy world he freely admitted to taking from cultures from various countries (Imperial China and Japan, the Middle East, medieval England and Europe, Africa, etc) to create his fictional countries and cultures, mixing and creating his own ideas from the real ones. Jordan had thousands of pages of notes on the histories, customs, and cultures of the Wheel of Time countries. For instance, on the history of the Aes Sedai and White Tower alone, there were hundreds of pages written on the subject. Just on the character profiles there were probably enough to fill a book as well. Added together, he was able to create a very rich and complex world that you expect to be real once you stop reading, that it takes a moment or two to realize, "Wait a second, this is just a fantasy world!".

I found this book had a quicker pace, and my favorite scene was the ending scene. I won't explain what happens in the scene, but it was described in very good detail and had some good action too. I'm sure I'm not getting everything in the book down in this review, and what I thought of it all, but these books are so incredibly intricate that there really isn't a good way to summarize each book by itself, or the series as a whole, without needing dozens of pages to explain it all. There is so much going on in the books, and right when you know one thing, and given one answer, Jordan drops another clue or question that makes you ponder and think, "Oh...what is going on here now??" (case in point: one of the Aes Sedai that was introduced early on in the series, Verin Mathwin, has always been an enigma and that hasn't changed in this book and I still question what is her agenda).