Customer Reviews

The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time, Book 5)

5 star:		(123)
4 star:		(65)
3 star:		(46)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I am rereading the series for the umpteenth time, in anticipation of reading "The Path of Daggers." I just finished TFOH. It seems each book in the series is better than its predecessor. Unlike Knight Michaels, who writes nearby, I found a lot of character growth in the book. And, I don't see what he means by his comment about "...murdering characters...."

In TFOH, we see a lot of Rand. He emerges as a complex person. He seems somehow to fully understand that almost everybody wants to kill him or to use him for their own purposes, whether or not it helps the cause. He's the only one who has a holistic view about the nature of the conflict. He hardens himself like iron, using and commanding whole nations against his own nature. And yet, three pretty girls can put him through agonies of uncertainty and self-doubting.

Prior to this book, we knew little about Elayne. Sure, she's a spoiled brat. She's also delightfully spunky and adventurous, and she too is learning how to deal with smart, energetic people like Thom Merrilin in a way that will help her become a ruler.

Nynaeve has a ton of conflicts gnawing at her - her relationship with Lan, her feelings about Aes Sedai and Moiraine, being challenged by Egwene, etc. The stable, quiet world in which she lived for 25 years has been replaced by a maelstrom of currents, and she's having a hard time coping. But, she's tough as nails and fierce as a tigress, and she's a heavyweight with the One Power. The scenes with her and Moghedien in the Royal Palace are absolutely riveting.

Mat continues his march to becoming my own favorite character. He would take the easy way out in every situation, but The Wheel won't let him. He is a reluctant hero at best. We see his powers growing in stages, and at each stage he surprises with his capability. Rand sees it too, and tests it and exploits it as he can. The scenes in the battle with the Shaido are gripping.

As far as the general relations between men and women - hey, that's pretty much on target. That's why that other book about Mars and Venus was an all-time best seller. Let me introduce you to my half-dozen sisters-in-law sometime. They make Aes Sedai look like Brownies. They even sniff at stupid men just as do Jordan's women; and we men employ that same look that Thom and Juilin use when being put upon by Nynaeve or any others.

Anyway, by the time this book is ended, all sorts of momentous and exciting things have happened. It's a delightful and essential building block in this epic series. Finally, keep in mind two things. First, only about two years have passed since Rand and gang, who except for Nynaeve were all teenagers, were routed out of the Two Rivers at the start of the series. The character changes they show seem reasonable to me.

Second, those who suppose that Jordan is dragging this out to extort more money out of us: think a minute. Think about placing yourself behind a typewriter 8 to 12 hours a day, day in and day out, for YEARS on end. Think about devoting your life to pleasing all sorts of unappreciative people - for however long it takes to finish the stories. I'll be happy to pay $25 or whatever pittance he asks each year or two for as long as it takes to resolve this great story.

I'm going to start this review with an assumption; that you've read the first 4 books in the Wheel of Time series. I'm going to make a second assumption; that you're not sure if you want to embark on a 1000 page long journey to...wherever the next one goes.

That's a start. If those assumptions are right, then this review may help you. If not, maybe this review will serve to give you an idea of how Jordan writes. Failing those 2, I have no idea why you might be reading this. But I'll do my best to entertain you.

Jordan can put words together. Like a bricklayer, he can slap words down and cement them in place with the best of them. As you read the book, you never stumble through pages of narrative. If the procession of words is a foundation, Jordan builds a good one. It's fairly easy to walk through the pages of the book because Jordan is, in general, a good wordsmith. What's he not necessarily good at is getting to the point. His well built foundation often times supports a minimal structure.

This book is better than the 4th in the series. But after several hundred pages, you begin to seriously wonder why you're still reading it. After roughly 600 pages, I asked myself, "Is this going anywhere?" I was reminded of the Talking Heads song, Road to Nowhere. I'm actually being serious.

Eventually it does go somewhere, and that's what makes this book better than the 4th in the series. That, and the fact that the last 100 pages serve as the conclusion. In contrast, I think book #4 was wrapped up in about 5 pages. However, I'd be lying if I said I had trouble putting it down. The truth is, Jordan slogs through another loooooooong book to tell a relatively normal length story; but with a lot of words added to describe things you don't necessarily want to read.

Jordan must work under some restriction where he is required to maintain a conservation of feminine anger in any book he writes. One of the problems I have with the average Jordan character is that they more often than not act like a pre-teen with a sour disposition. Resonant with this is Jordan's lack of character development. This book does a better job in that regard. However, some characters regress. Some that acted with composure in the previous books suddenly get, as strange as it sounds, immature.

Another annoyance I have with Jordan is his vocabulary. In one sentence, he actually uses the expression, "Languid hauteur." Are you serious? I feel as though I am the object of Jordan's attempt to learn a new word every week. I'm not here to build my vocabulary. I just want to read a fantasy story. Others have commented on this same phenomenon, so I'm not the only one who thinks that reading "haughty" 20 times in a 300 page stretch of narrative is odd.

Another of Jordan's shortcomings is his ludicrous depiction of women. I'm not sure how many feminine rituals there are in the series now, but rest assured of this. No ritual exists in this book without female nudity. Whatever Jordan aims for with this, he misses so widely that I think he shot the wrong way. I won't even offer suggestions as to what exactly is going on there.

I think we're supposed to be led to believe these books are built with a strong female presence. The reality of the matter is that most women in the book act like teenage girls who still think that boys might actually have cooties. The reverse is true also, with most male characters randomly veering off on his own train of thought in which he deduces every woman is 51 cards short of a deck. Maybe that's a fair assessment, considering the way Jordan portrays most of them.

Even with all of this, the story is better than the last. The angry female characters are becoming less of an issue with Jordan, while building strength is becoming his predominant theme. The idea of the characters "building strength" is one I took from another reviewer, who suggests these stories are like a game of D&D being played out in a book. I think there's a lot of truth to that opinion. Every chapter we have a new skill being developed or learned.

All of that said, again, it is a decent read. You cold do worse. Yeah, I'm sure you could do better but I'm not very well versed in fantasy stories to be able to say. So I'll probably pick up the 6th book because I am compelled to find out what happens. Truth be told, as lengthy as the book is, it's refreshing to get your money's worth when you buy it. As opposed to some of these 250 pages books, Jordan's sure have a lot of meat on them.

A final tidbit about the story. At this point, there are over 30 characters in the book. Each occupies a story line, no matter how trivial the character. Granted, they are often intertwined so we're not reading three dozen narratives at once. Still, there are so many that Jordan left out at least 5 major characters this time. An entire book went by with no mention of Perrin and that story. Mind you, there were 1000 pages in which to do this. That tells you just how laboriously the narrative thickly flows through these 1000 pages.

Jordan's acceptance that not all the good guys can get out scot free is a step forward. As is his character development and the more robust final showdown. I still think he's got some work to do in terms of shoring up the details of his story. Every book ending is roughly predictable, and this one is no different. But this is probably worth picking up if you're not sure whether or not you want to continue.

The fifth book of the Wheel of Time Series, compells you to read on like those before it. Despite suffering from the same ailment as book 4 (The Shadow Rising), that is too much detail, The Fires of Heaven finally gives Moiraine a place in your heart, finally unwraps any built up dislike, and truly lets you see her as a real woman.

The Forsaken (or Chosen as they call themselves) play an even larger role in this episode, revealing not only how much Rand has matured but also how far he has to go.

The lack of any presence of Perrin only assures me that he has a larger role in future novels in this series, and the few brief glimpses of Emond's Field in Tel'aran'rhiod give you a glimpse and expectation of what's to come.

I regret that I feel at times "Where is this going? When does the end come?", all I need do is remind myself of the struggles of the people in the World that Jordan has so intricately constructed. The characters come alive as never before. Like real poeple, the depths of their personalities vary, but all are worth considering. If nothing else I can honestly say that when reading this and other books in the wheel of time, I do not read words on a page, but rather gaze about me and see the amazing and fantastic events unfold around me. I am always by the end of every installment, more than willing to read the next if only to visit with those who seem friends near and dear to me.

This is the 5th book in the Wheel of Time series. As with the other books of the series, I will rate and review the book on its own merits and not be influenced by any shortcomings of other books.
First off is whether or not this book qualifies as a stand alone book. It has a clear cut beginning (Rand trying to decide what to do next after the events of the previous book). This storyline culminates in the events of Caemlyn, thus giving it a clear cut ending. I thus feel that this book is a stand alone book though much would not make sense to someone who hasn't read the previous books. There also still some unresolved threads making future books necessary as might be expected.

What I liked:
*Rand's growing strength in the power and finally growing confidence.
*Resolution of a couple of problems (even though new ones arise)
*Battles against the Forsaken, some long overdue
*Further Intrigue
*Mat's emerging skills as a tactician as well as more comedy at his expense.
*Birgitte
*Moiraine
*Lanfear
*The most argued about mystery in the whole Wheel of Time series!

What I didn't like:
*The pace slows down, particularly during the Elayne, Nynaeve, Birgitte quest. Even though some important events happen during this quest, it is still a tough read in those parts particularly when re-reading the book. I don't mind a slower pace as long as the information in it is relevant and leads to something climatic. A little more brevity in some parts would have been better. As one other reviewer alluded to, by this time in the series, we have firm pictures of the main characters in our minds and don't need a reintroduction to them or at least not THAT detailed of one.
*The complete absence of Perrin! Of the many main characters, Perrin is one of the "big three". Those three should NEVER be excluded!

In Summary:
Despite the slower pace in some parts, this book still had a lot of enjoyable moments with an exciting and emotional ending. The slow parts were still relevant and in the least gave the reader a feeling for the arduous journey that some of the characters were on. As for Perrin being absent, I must admit that I'm glad that RJ didn't throw in some filler just to include him so maybe that's not so bad after all. The slow pace and occasional over description, though was enough for me to take away one star (It was still enjoyable enough to make me feel pain in doing that, though).

The fifth volume in the WoT series is the one where it becomes more or less official that Jordan is juggling too many subplots. For an entire book he loses track of one of his central characters, Perrin. And yet he really isn't doing anything to resolve all these storylines, instead he's building up more. In this book, for instance, Morgase runs away from her court to try to reclaim real power from Gaebril, a development that goes nowhere in this book but presumably will be used in future volumes. At the end, a character is murdered, leading to a mystery that will have to be unraveled at some future point. And, as in #4, another Seanchan character is introduced, then led offstage - where I can't really believe she'll stay - at the end of the book.

In this book, we have too little real plot advancement and far too much display of general bitchiness from Nynaeve, Elayne, Siuan, and Aviendha, all of whom act like they have PMS 24/7.

In spite of this, the book works pretty well. That's partly because it has a real ending, which #4 largely lacked. As part of that ending, a character is killed off who we had thought of as too central to the plot to die. But there's a bit of mystery, leading to the possibility that he/she might still be alive. The death isn't without elements of mawkishness, but I still found it moving enough to upgrade my opinion of the book as a whole, which probably would only have gotten 3 stars otherwise.

Incidentally, if you haven't already read the book, skip over the review directly under this in chronological order, written by someone who hasn't grasped the basic principal that reviews aren't supposed to include major spoilers.

The Wheel of Time is probably the best-known and most widely read fantasy series other than The Lord of the Rings.
When book one (The Eye of The World) was published in 1988 or 1989, it created a sensation -- a tremendous first volume that had the usual good-evil battle and tons of action but also was filled with magic, history, politics, sociology, cultural background and realistic characters.

When I re-read the first five books, I was amazed at the details of history and politics that Jordan provided in his world. Jordan also has numerous protagonists, not just one or two primary ones like many other fantasy writers. Moreover, the series features strong men and, through their magical abilities and powerful personalities, stronger women. Jordan has been rightly lauded for the prominent and powerful roles he created for the female characters.

The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven followed and created a tremendous series such that The New York Times noted that Jordan had come to dominate the genre that Tolkien made famous.

The Fires of Heaven is the most action-packed book of the series, with few dull moments and an explosive ending. The various protagonists continue their development, especially Mat (as a war commander) and Egwene. Rand continues to be pulled in many directions, but needs some help from his allies to survive.

Nonetheless, this book is NOT a preview of things to come -- The Fires of Heaven's plot twists near the end (especially the most important one that would be a HUGE spoiler) are barely examined in books 6-9.

Unfortunately, starting with Lord of Chaos (book 6), Jordan's creation became unwieldy. Instead of concentrating on following the themes and story-threads of books 1-5 (which combined are more than 3500 pages, hardcover), he created new storylines, bogged down the narrative and halted the pace of the epic. Book 8 in particular is an unmitigated disaster -- 650 pages (hardcover) with almost no progress to the story. Book 9 began to jump-start the narrative once again.

The series is at 10 books (the tenth will be published in January 2003) and growing (13 total possible -- it's a common numerical theme in the books), thus the last volume will be published in 2006, at the earliest.

Other than the final chapters of Lord of Chaos (book 6), this is the last of the good WoT books published to date. The Fires of Heaven is the blood-and-guts installment -- it has the highest body count, much war, scheming, conquest, hunting the evildoers, a couple of surprises and a fiery finish (hence the name). By the time you read this volume, you will most likely be addicted to the series as a whole; but if you hadn't made it this far, be forewarned that the pace, storyline, action and development slow down considerably in books 6-8.

The adventure fans considered book 3 or 4 the death of this series, where Jordan expands the series to cover power politics, intrigue, layers on layers of new places and characters, at the expense of the pace of the story. The rest (me included) saw this simply as Jordan filling his promise of giving Rand & Co more status and power, putting his highly detailed and complex world into full use - something I personally cheered for.

It seems most people in this latter school of thought regularly name Book 6, 7 or 8 as the point where Jordan went haywire, writing chapters on things that could be passed with one page while practically not progressing the story at all, and annoying us to death with female characters, which instead of developing actually get worse, annoying and increasingly one dimensional.

But IMHO Book 5 is where Jordan loses it. This is where the authorial self indulgence begins, with Elayne & Nynaeve bickering and traveling, making a turn at Amadicia to bicker and travel even more, have Birgitte join in, and (appropriately) join the circus to have a bickerfest with more freaks - for 400 pages. The whole thing could have been 3 chapters, ie. meeting Galad, introducing Birgitte, meeting the prophet. That is, if it wouldn't apparently be physically impossible for him to simply have them start the trip and reaching destination between chapters. This half of the book is where Jordan decides he can't pass anything no matter how trivial with a simple notion (unless, as we later learn, it would actually be something of cosequence).

You'd think that after experiencing imminent danger to life and being captured and abused so many times, the women would at least accept someone to watch their backs, but no. Worms learn faster that Jordan's females. After getting some 500 electric shocks from one direction, worms actually pick another direction to crawl to. Jordan's women don't learn, or if they do, they forget it the next page.

Jordan apparently loves his characters, getting into their boots, writing from their respective POVs. It seems writing this book he simply lost his interest in advancing the plot, or character development. Had he not done this, he would have been abandoned by the high adventure fans in any case, but at least kept those who like a mix of adventure, prophecies, politics, intrigue and epic battles, a'la Eddings for example.

He apparently decided "to hell with what the readers want, it's my story, I write what I like". He's right, but he won't sell much books. I stopped buying them after this.

Other good points about where things went wrong with WOT can be seen on the previous page, by Dennis Drury (Aug 1st 2004), to summarize too powerful "magic", overuse of characters apparently dying and coming back. Check it for elaboration, good pointers for more "epic" fantasy writers than just Jordan.

If you like the series, there is no reason to stop with book four, but if you are getting tired of the series then don't bother reading The Fires of Heaven.

First, the reasons to read the book:

There is a surprising betrayal - a darkfriend in their midst.
Matt achieves much personal glory.
There is a huge battle.
They don't do as much of their corny foul language like "Burn me!"
One of the seven main characters dies.
One of the seven main characters has sex.

Now, for the reasons to not read the book:

The events above are not as interesting as they sound. The sense of wonder in The Eye of the World is gone. The feeling of discovering a new world is gone.

The suspense is gone. For example, the characters no longer have to rest in order to recharge their ability to channel like Moraine did in The Eye of the World. Sometimes they will just keep channeling spectacular feats all day long. There are no suspenseful chases or escapes.

The characters torment each other even more than before.
The women are even more bossy than before.
Perrin does not appear in the whole book.

Predictably, Rand learns more from Asmodean, but he still hasn't made an effort to learn how to block women from channeling because he needed a woman to practice on, and he was too proud to ask. What a jerk!

We learn that Rand can't hurt a woman even if it means death and suffering for all women for all eternity. That's OK with him just as long as no woman is hurt by him personally. What a jerk!

Balefire works really well, so they decide they had better not use it. What a bunch of jerks!

There are certainly both positive and negative things about this book and the Wheel of Time series as a whole.

There are only a certain number of ways we can read about how wonderful and terrible saidin can feel. Ice and fire, sweetness and vileness, etc. ad nauseum. But the reader gets the impression that Jordan wants us to understand exactly how it feels for male channelers, and the constant repetition of sweetness and vileness makes the end of Winter's Heart all the more poignant, even moving.

I have to take issue with previous reviewers' problems with the book. Elayne, Nynaeve, Egwene, Rand, Mat etc. all act juvenile BECAUSE THEY ARE JUVENILE. Even Nynaeve, the eldest of this young group, is understood to be no older than 25. Being 24 myself, I can testify that these individuals are acting exactly as many of my peers would act given the same situations. I can't imagine what kind of stress it would produce to have the kinds of life-altering experiences these people have had. I understand it is fiction, but I think Jordan has done an excellent job portraying realistic characters and their reactions.

I also don't understand one reviewer's statement about "Jordan's juvenile obsession with female nudity and sexuality." Honestly, the male characters are naked or in their "smallclothes" just as often as the girls are naked or in their "shifts". I would have to say Jordan is again being realistic. People change clothes. It happens. I think Jordan has anything BUT an obsession with nudity. He doesn't go into medical detail about body parts like some writers. Heck, one of our main characters didn't even have sex until the FOURTH book in the series. Sex is not meant to be a driving point in the story.

Speaking of the story, I would have to join others in saying that the series has gone on longer than it maybe should have. But I'm sure Jordan is well aware of this fact himself, and doesn't need US to tell him that. That whole "many-headed monster" idea is probably truer than we think. As a budding writer myself, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to keep track of as many characters and storylines as Jordan is juggling. I would have to say he's doing admirably. Bravo, sir!

I believe the story is meant to have a web, or Pattern. As I read the story AGAIN, I am struck by how clear it is that events are drawing to a conclusion, however bleak, far-off, and long-awaited it might be. I'm willing to wait and I respect Jordan as a writer trying to write the best story he can.

I believe it was Stephen King (and please forgive me if I'm wrong) who once said, "Sometimes a story is just a story." I think we, as readers, would do well to remember that. I've been a fan of fantasy for as long as I've been able to read. In a literary sense, of course certain authors (Tolkien being a good example) are going to be better than others. Tolkien is probably looking down from whatever cloud he may be sitting on, and wishing we would all just let the authors in the genre he really created simply TELL THEIR OWN STORY. I think we need to stop comparing EVERYONE in the fantasy genre to Tolkien, LeGuin and others. Personally, I don't care for LeGuin. But that's my opinion. If you like Jordan's books, good for you. If you don't, well then good for you too. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

Before I close this review, I would like to remind the readers who keep comparing Tolkien and Jordan of one thing. Please remember the VOLUMES of material concerning Middle-Earth that Tolkien never had a chance to have published before his death. I believe the "History of Middle-Earth" is pretty close to 12 volumes, if not more. Jordan doesn't have to worry about a professorship at Oxford, so he therefore has the time to do what Tolkien never did . . . truly complete his epic.

I say again, Bravo Sir!!

This is a book that weeds out the casual readers from the hardcore fans. Its slowwww, and almost nothing happens, it took me alomost a month to read it; I kept putting it down. If you think this book is terrible, youre right. This is the worst book, in the series, and a far second worst is book 7. The rest of them are great. If you can handle this one, youll be rewarded with an additional 7500+ pages of some good stuff. If you cant, godspeed, maybe you should try out sword of truth, its a lot less convoluted.