Customer Reviews

A Crown of Swords (Wheel of Time)

5 star:		(289)
4 star:		(157)
3 star:		(108)
2 star:		(71)
1 star:		(54)

 

 

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Book 7 in the Wheel of Time series, Crown of Swords is the first one of the series where it took me some effort to get through some parts. This one, in my opinion, is the first one where RJ's attention to detail becomes a detriment as opposed to an asset. It begins with Rand reestablishing himself in Cairhien after the events in the previous book (Lord of Chaos) and ends with a pretty important battle.

What I liked:
*Mat and his adventures are as funny as ever!
*Mat vs. Gholam
*Introduction of Cadsuane (some people consider that a minus, but I actually like her character). Hers is a thankless job, but necessary.
*The battles in Illian and Shadar Logoth.
*The return of the Seanchan.

What I didn't like:
*Mat and Tylin moments. Something about that whole storyline really bothered me.
*Elayne and Nynaeve, particularly their treatment of Mat. If someone treated me that way, they'd never see me again no matter how close we had been in the past! Their quest is quite drawn out as well.
*Even though the slow parts had relevant information, these parts were too big and quite tedious.
*Faile

In Summary:
The Previous books in the series all had a certain excitement to them (for lack of a better term) that kept me going even through the occasional slow parts. That edge of your seat excitement was missing from this book at times. It only arose when the battles approached and made itself scarce during the overly descriptive slow parts. Still, there was story progression and the battles & Intrigue were great enough such that after finishing this book, I was greatly looking forward to the next one. I rounded the 3.5 stars up to 4 mainly as an offset to those individuals who rated this book based on their disappointment over the later books and also because the exciting parts were more than a makeup for the slow parts when all was said and done.

While Nynaeve tugged her braid, Elayne smoothed her skirts and Egwene folder her arms under her breasts, all of them wishing Rand, Mat, Perrin and/or Lan were there so they could give them the rough side of their tongues and then take off their clothes to admire their pretty buttocks and so on.

Meanwhile, Rand, ever mindful of the oily taint of saidin, wished he knew as much about women as Mat and Perrin did. Perrin, ever mindful of Faile's constant nagging, wished he knew as much about women as Rand and Mat did. And Mat, freshly bedded at knifepoint by Queen Tylin, wished lhe knew as much, etc.

Elsewhere, in Tear or somewhere, the cleavage was robust, the chamber pots were made of porcelain, the lace dresses with the little silver thingies in them were very pretty and the forked beards shone in the pale summer morning like flaxen straw or some crap. Earrings were bright and sparkly and horses wore intricate, ornate saddles and, and uh...did I mention the cleavage and how firm and robust it was? Darkfriends walked the streets and did...things. Whitecloaks arrested anybody who said the word "darkfriend" and looked at them funny. Several Aes Sedai were stilled and then just as quickly unstilled...then stilled again if they stepped out of line. Other Aes Sedai, meanwhile, searched high and low for various weather-altering kitchen utensils. And the Sean'chean invaded every so often, just to keep things mildly interesting...

...and stuff

This book doesn't have a beginning, middle, and end like most. It kinda seems like ONE BIG MIDDLE. But it is still entertaining .. and the plot keeps moving forward (some). Maybe I have been reading too long but what I have noticed in this seventh volume is that Jordan's style has suddenly shifted. There are whole chapters of characters going from city to city .. describing the columns or the dead grass or the scary Aeil and how they don't get along and they think wetlanders are crazy. I think I as a reader I ALREADY KNOW ALL OF THIS. I know that Perrin thinks Mat and Rand know girls ... and Rand think Perrin and Mat do. Oh, how ironic! The 70th time .. well, it is just annoying. There are interesting things .. such as Perrin and Faile's emerging relationship, Min and Rand's relationship, Egwene's struggles as Amyrilin. Mat is always fun. But the fact that Nynaeve, Elayne, Aviendha and Birgitte haven't changed in 3 books bugs.

To sum it up ... my problem with Jordan is that he pounds some of these ideas into our heads TOO often. No one is going to read Crown of Swords without reading the other books first ... but he keeps repeating the craziness of the Aeil, the Cairhienin stoicness, the Aes Sedai's nausea at men channeling ... y'know? I'm sure us readers could list a million of these.

Finally, the first 6 chapters of this book are difficult to get through becuase he throws out 100 names of lords and Aiel and Aes Sedai and such. The cast of this world is dizzyingly large and I think he uses all of them in those chapters. But get beyond Rand's return to Cairhein and Caemlyn and it settles down a bit.

This series started off well enough. By book 4 the story was starting to lag a little bit, by book 5 the series was going downhill, and by book 6 the story had ground to a halt. Still, I was willing to give the series another chance, and I opened up volume seven with high hopes. Much to my dismay, I found that it was absolutely, astonishingly awful.

For one thing, the story goes absolutely nowwhere. Rand is is still complaining, Elayne and Nynaeve(Light burn them!) are still searching for supernatural kitchenware, and Perrin is still as boring as ever. Jordan tries to bulk up his tedious narrative with needless details. Who cares what Nynaeve is wearing!

The female characters are even more annoying than ever. Elayne is the same chatering fool she was since book 1, but now she is even more vexing since half the book focuses on her. Nynaeve tugs on her braid some 22,000 times during the course of the book. The female characters are seem to have the sane annoying personality. It seems like Jordan couldn't write women if his ife depende on it.

In short, avoid this book at all costs.

This was the book where I finally gave up on the series. Some reviewers seem to believe those critical of this book, and the series as a whole, lack patience, or just want a hack-and-slash action novel. This is not the case for me, or a number of the other reviewers. Read Robin Hobbs' series of books, then come back to these novels. Robin Hobbs' novels are large, detailed, and in some of the books, have little action. However, that author knows how to create interesting, involving, rich characters who develop, drawing our empathy as we follow their changing personalities.

Jordan's characters do not develop. They are stuck in stasis, forever petty, stereotyped, incredibly annoying individuals. I cared for the first few books about the characters, but honestly, they just don't learn. Their experiences do not develop them. In the end, the characters do not feel like living, breathing individuals, but instead are charicutures that are made to get a reaction from the reader.

If you want world building, characterisation, and plot, read Steven Erikson, Robin Hobb, or read the Songs of Ice and Fire Series. If you want massive books with a degree of interest, read Tad Williams. I would strongly recommend that you not buy Robert Jordan past the fifth book.

I have got to say, reading review after review listening to people complain about how slow the books are, or how tired they are of the characters has driven me to finally write my own review. Yes, the books are sometimes a bit slow, but arent all books that way? If Jordan wrote these books with non stop action, would the important scenes really stand out anymore? This is a fantasy series, not a Jean Claude Van Damme flick.

Robert Jordan has created by far the most original and creative world that I have ever seen on print. You can get a feeling for the way people live, friendships, trusts, and relations between many many characters. It is not the cliche fantasy where the whole world is in peril, and 4 or 5 people band together alone and save humanity. This series throws you into an ocean of characters, story and imagination, and then all but drowns you with creativity and originality.

One good point I would like to make: yes, the woman all drive me crazy, I wish Nyneave would leave her braid alone, and all leave their skirts alone. I wish they were all nice and sweet to Mat all of the time too. However, that isnt the story. That would not represent the characters they way that they are supposed to be interpreted. The girls are meant to be naggy, arrogant and annoying at points. No appreciation for men is a massive plot point for this entire series. Look, this series is meant to place you into a world and submerge you in story. If the characters just changed traits because it was old now, or boring, or aggravating would that make any sense? Jordan stays true to his characters which is not necessarily true about other books or series.

So in closing, yes the books can be slow, and dull at points, but they are what you make them. If you are reading for only the highpoints you will not enjoy these books, and more than likely not fanatsy at all. Try reading from a different persepctive. Take in what he is saying, when he describes something, imagine it. That is how Jordan meant for us to read it, as surely he had a mind full of creativity, and knew his world very intimately. This series is meant to be read slowly, and appreciated so try another perspective, and give it another chance.

First off, I enjoy the series, and RJ has a remarkable gift with language.

However, I have a few peeves with his writing. For one, he seems to have a strange, juvenile fixation on nudity, especially breasts. Just take a highlighter and mark every reference; you'll run out of ink!

Secondly, his female characters are almost without exception ill-tempered and man-hating. The men, on the other hand, roll over every time a woman snaps at them. Min is about the only female character who is likable. I'm not sure what experiences RJ has had in dealing with women, but apparently they were far worse than mine have been.

Jordan has a fixation on the war between the sexes which is unsettling. Use a different highlighter to mark the women-against-men passages, and you'll use up another marker.

Thirdly, this book introduces so many new characters and subplots that I don't see how anyone can keep them straight without taking notes. Too much confusion!

Despite these very irritating flaws in the book, it's still fun to read. Jordan paints such good images that his novels do come to life. The concept of the series and the way he is unravelling it are brilliant. You just have to put up with some of the author's fixations.

I figure I'm about 5,600 pages into this series and while I've been entertained, I must agree with the other 553 reviewers who range from "I love it but it's a bit wordy" to "For the Love of God move the story!" I'm begining to feel taken advantage of. I've never read a series that has both entertained and annoyed me so much, which is a testament to Mr. Jordan's emotional connection with the reader. But everyone has a breaking point. After this much time and effort with relatively little payoff, I must encourage all new readers who are thinking of getting into this series to avoid it at all costs. And for those of us who are just too hooked to let go. Here's hoping we all get to the promised land some day.

After finishing this book, I wondered how Jordan managed to pack 100-150 pages of plot into 600 pages of text! What happened to the other 500 pages?

Well, most of that 500 pages, unfortunately, was pointless discussion about things that simply don't matter, like why Nynaeve is starting to dress more revealingly (I guess to make Lan happy, but who cares?). Why does it take the entire book for Elaine and Nynaeve to find the Bowl of the Winds, when they were in the same area the whole time?

The conversations that DO matter are written in Jordan's usual suspenseful style that keeps the reader guessing as to the intentions of the speakers (Forsaken, Aes Sedai, etc.). Very few loose ends are tied in this novel and in fact, many more are brought up. The ultra-powerful and mysterious Moridin is introduced, as is the True Power which even the Forsaken don't dare to wield. What is the relationship between Moridin and Shaidar Haran, who was introduced in Lord of Chaos? What about Slayer, what happened to him? What happened to Mat? Still no word on Moiraine and Lanfear.

Yet for all the disappointments, it's a must read because it DOES progress the story. You can't really skip it because several important new characters are introduced (Moridin, Cadsuane, etc.). If you're hooked on the series, buy it but be prepared for disappoint relative to the previous books.

I was ridiculously eager for this book to be published. And then, somewhat disappointed. To my mind, this is the weakest of the series so far.

This being said, it is still a ripping good tale. Jordan should be commended for being able to (more or less) successfully sustain such a mammoth story over so many volumes and such a period of time.

Although not the strongest effort, again (as with all previous volumes), the plot takes some interesting twists and turns, introducing new characters and new tensions.

My fear, though, is that Jordan really does not know how, when, or where the series is going to end. There are an increasingly large number of loose ends which will need to be tied together or the ending of the series will be a disappointment of major proportions.