#12 The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (4-6)

THE SHADOW RISING
It took 2 months to read, but I finally got thru. I read it at a leisurely pace.. which seems to match the pace of the series.  There is some really good action, some good plot developments, the characters are starting to know their own power.. but it felt slow.
Rand travels thru the waste to get in touch with his Aiel heritage.  He feels like he is getting too powerful already and we are still early in the series. I like that he has grown some confidence and has his own agenda.  He remains humble and manages his superpowers well.  He also has an Aile girlfriend, though he does not realize it.
Mat plays tag-along with Rand. The only thing that changed for Mat is he realized he speaks the old tongue and he gets a costume change.  He has the spear and the hat now.. but is still just Mat.  He needs to get away from Rand to start making his own waves in the pattern.
Perrin does get super awesome.  Falie snares him and they get married. He saves his people and fends off the trollocks and fades. Faces down the white cloaks.  He is granted the title of "Lord" by the Two Rivers people and answers to the name "goldeneyes". I suppose that is the best way to pick a ruler. Just decide it is so and start calling him by the title that you have granted.  Even if he doesn't really want it. I can't wait to see where he goes from here.
Egwaine goes into the waste with Rand, but not much happens to her.  She is a dreamwalker in training.
Min stops playing the Elmindreda game at Tar Valon and escapes the takeover of the tower with Siuan. I am interested to see how Siuan handles the fall from Amyrlin Seat to muggle.
Elayne and Nynaeve's bit is fun.  They make friends with a Seanchan.  They hunt down some Black Ajahs.  Nynaeve kicks some serious forsaken ass. I do like that her massive power is tempered by not always being available to use it.  It keeps her in check.

p253 Nayneve and Lan
"I will not be manhandled [kissed] in this fashion for the whole world to see.  I will not!"
"Not the whole world," he replied. "But if they can see, they can hear as well.  You have made a place in my heart where i thought there was no room for anything else.  You have made flowers grow where I have cultivated dust and stones. Remember this, on your journey you insist on making. If you die, I will not long survive."

p421
Voices whispered in Perrin's head, a thousand babbling mad voices clawing at the inside of his skull. Bitter blood.  Blood so bitter. Drink the blood and crack the bone. Crack the bone and suck the marrow. Bitter marrow, sweet the screams. Singing screams. Sing the screams. Tiny souls.  Arcid Souls. Gobble them down. So sweet the pain. On and On.

THE FIRES OF HEAVEN
Wow this one dragged.  People warned me that it got a bit slow around here but DAMN.
I got four or five hundred pages an and they.. walked out of a desert.. others walked to a river.. some other people walked somewhere else.  ugh.. There were little flashes of action, but reading about all that walking made me feel like i was being dragged along unwillingly. When you finally get to the big army battle it is rather ho-hum. Mat is coming to grips with being a skilled, yet unwilling leader.  Rand is getting comfortable with his power. I think Min felt like she was just tagging along - just like the reader. The dream world is quite interesting and the end battle is a fitting farewell to a BIG character, but it took its time getting there.
It feels like I was reading that book forever.  I actually read another book-and-a-half while reading this one because it was to big - in physical size - to pack with me when I went to Chicago and up north.
The next ones better start moving more quickly.  This is starting to feel like a chore.

p281
"You are a dirty fighter."  she muttered. Melaine quirked an eyebrow, "Do we fight? If we do, then know that in battle, there is only winning and loosing. Rules against hurting are for games..."

p577
"I always say, if you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips."


LORD OF CHAOS
Yes, still a bit slow.  The whole world is gripped in an extreme heat wave and drought, and the book has the feel of an afternoon spent laboring in the sun. It finally picked up about 400 pages in and the last 200 actually moved rather quickly.  Hundreds upon hundreds of pages of planning and plotting. I like that Loial and Min are back, but they are mostly just background.. except for Min making Rand randy. Nyneve and Elayne sneak around in the dream world and try to tell the real Aes Sedai how to do it.  The renegade Aes Sedai make a surprising choice for the new Amerlyn Seat. Someone that everyone else thinks is dead scheming to SLOWLY maneuver her self into a better spot.  Mat marches.. that's about it.  Perrin makes Falie jealous, but not on purpose.  Rand wrestles with the voices in his head. Rand setting up and inspecting not one, but TWO schools.  F'ing riveting I tell ya.
Then FINALLY a kidnapping, a chase and a rescue.
I hope all this setup keeps paying off.

p437
A Cairhienin playing the Game of Houses was usually easier to understand than a woman making no effort to be enigmatic at all. 

p512
"When you wish for so long that you could hear something," he said slowly, "and then suddenly, without warning, you do, it is like a lightening strike and rain on parched ground at the same time. You're stunned, but you can't hear enough. 

p751
We are always more afraid than we wish to be, but we can always be braver than we expect.