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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intersting, some great events, but a more tedious pace, October 19, 2005
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.
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156 of 200 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Meanwhile, in Tar Valon, January 22, 2002
By A Customer
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
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I am in the midst of re-reading the novels, December 22, 2000
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.
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