A Crown of Swords (The Wheel of Time, Book 7)
by Robert Jordan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert JordanEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1997-11-15
ISBN: 0812550285
Number of pages: 896
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Book Reviews of A Crown of Swords (The Wheel of Time, Book 7)
Book Review: Slows down
Summary: 3 Stars
3.5 stars. This is the 7th book in the Wheel of Time series, and only a few days have passed since the conclusion of the last book, Lord of Chaos.
At the conclusion of Lord of Chaos, Rand had been freed from the imprisonment by the White Tower Aes Sedai sent by Elaida, the Amrylin Seat of the Tower, to capture him and bring him to her to guide and use as the White Tower chose. It is while on the march to Tar Valon that Rand frees himself, and a great battle is fought there with Rand and his allies being victorious. Due to this event, Rand forces the Aes Sedai there to swear fealty and oaths to him.
It's during this book, A Crown of Swords, where I believe the plot slows down considerably. It doesn't move forward much, but there was enough going on that kept me reading and I did enjoy it overall. Like in the past few books, we get character viewpoints mainly from Egwene, Nynaeve & Elayne, Mat, more from Perrin, and of course Rand the star of the series.
Rand continues to get more insane, he still doesn't believe the voice he hears inside his head is just that, "hearing voices". He still believes it is another person (Lews Therin) talking to him inside his own head. I've always wondered about his denial of the facts, with him refusing to acknowledge the fact that, "Ya know Rand, you *are* going crazy and it is a symptom of channeling tainted saidin!!".
He knows the fate of all male channelers, as he knows the male half of the True Source was tainted by the Dark One's touch during the War of Power thousands of years before. He understands this, yet he still believes that the voice he hears is a separate person from himself (although how he manages to convince himself that a separate person could reside in his own head and converse with him....heh).
Oh well, I don't think it's meant to be rational, Rand's belief the voice is separate from himself. I think in some ways he's desperate to believe Lews Therin's voice in his head *is* a real person, because in his eyes if it's not, he's already insane. Rand has a lot of struggles regarding this, his fate and trying to come to terms with his approaching insanity, not to mention his impending fight with the Dark One and Forsaken at the Last Battle. So, I can almost understand how he may be going insane already. It's already clear he's got some anger management issues (he flies off the handle quite frequently, rages and temper tantrums), and I thought Jordan did a great job over the last few books slowly giving you, the reader, a glimpse of Rand's descent into madness and how it is effecting him already.
Nynaeve & Elayne, with Mat in tow, also continue their search for an object, the Bowl of the Winds, in Ebou Dar that could correct the unseasonably hot weather. Their viewpoints are probably my favorite sections in the book (other than the bits from the Forsaken). Nynaeve & Elayne encounter other women that can channel that may be able to lead them to the Bowl. While Mat is disgruntled and frustrated with having to put up with the 2 women. I enjoyed reading his sections, his thoughts about women, which was hilarious to read about, especially the parts about how horrified he was at the thought of a Queen chasing him. Which was ironically amusing, as Mat's character is very roguish and something of a womanizer. Very funny to be privy to his thoughts concerning what he thought about that!
Egwene struggles to be more than a puppet Amrylin of the rebel Aes Sedai, and succeeds in subtly manipulating the Aes Sedai around her (with the help of the deposed former Amrylin Siuan, who is now an Aes Sedai again after being healed by Nynaeve in Lord of Chaos). One interesting thing with Egwene's section of the book, one of the Forsaken has attached himself (or should I say "herself"?) to Egwene and while it's not clear what his/her orders are, it's obvious the Forsaken was placed with the rebel Aes Sedai and Egwene to cause more trouble for the Light.
That leads me to the roles of the Forsaken in this book. Each book has given more glimpses into the Forsaken, so each new bit of information is like a puzzle piece that fits together into the puzzle of "What is up with the Forsaken?". Like I said before, while their orders aren't entirely clear it isn't hard to piece together what they are doing. Mainly to cause as much chaos and confusion for Rand and his allies. There is also a new Forsaken that appears in this book, named Moridin. It is actually quite easy to figure out who he was before, as Jordan gave clues and if you've paid attention to previous books it's quite easy to solve. Hint hint: the Dark One can bring dead Forsaken back into new bodies to cause more mischief! All the more so because only you, the reader, know this as the characters have no idea about this!
This is one thing I liked about Jordan. He teases with various clues, he doesn't outright explain to the reader, you have to take the pieces he gives you and figure it out. That is what makes this series such interesting reading, you can have many discussions with other readers of the series as there are so many theories, answers, and what if's that you could spend forever musing, "What did Jordan mean by doing it this way?"
Anyways, there is a short fight at the conclusion of this book between Rand and a male Forsaken, but despite the slower scenes and less action I still felt this was a good read. Not my favorite of the books, but not too shabby. There is a lot going on, and it just gets more complex as the series goes on, but IMO, in a good way. It takes patience to read this series, but I think it's worth it. The next book is A Path of Daggers.
Summary of A Crown of Swords (The Wheel of Time, Book 7)
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.
Robert Jordan has created a rich and intricate tapestry of characters in his Wheel of Time series. In this seventh volume, Rand al'Thor--the Dragon Reborn--draws ever closer to the Last Battle as a stifling heat grips the world.
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