Wheel Of Time #6 - Lord Of Chaos
I've been in a little bit of a reading slump again, which means it's taken me three weeks to get through this book. That wasn't helped by the fact that this is the first book in the series that I would consider to be mostly boring for large portions of it.
What actually happens in Lord Of Chaos? What meaningful events actually take place? Which plotlines get resolved? Things do move forward - Egwene leaves the Aiel and becomes the Amyrlin Seat; Moghedien escapes; the Shaido are finally dealt with (or at least seem to be, by the end). But it all feels like we're kicking the can further down the road, like Jordan doesn't quite know how to get to where he's aiming.
That's not to say this is bad, it just feels unbalanced. We finally link back up with Perrin about three quarters of the way through the novel and, when we're not watching him be confused by Faile's weirdly toxic approach to their marriage, he's a breath of fresh air. The power struggle in Salidar is great, and the simmering conflict between the White Tower and the Little Tower is interesting. I love the idea of the Black Tower and Lews Therin's increasing distrust of Taim even if I don't love the execution. But there's just a lot of filler that's not especially interesting and doesn't feel like it's going anywhere, especially in Rand's chapters. There's also a lot of jumping around to show us the point of view of minor villains, which I understand the aim of - we're building a tapestry if intrigue, showing that things are occurring outside of the realm of influence of the main characters - but don't like the execution. It's too much time away from the characters and situations we actually care about.
The most interesting thing here is that in the 30 years since this book was written, the world has changed so much that this is now climate fiction. I finished this book on a late November day, at a point in the year that should feel like the onset of winter. But it's warm - I've only had the heating on once - has barely rained, and the trees are still lush and green instead of skeletal. The weather in Lord Of Chaos has always been a big part of the novel, but I never expected it to feel quite so significant as it does now.