Lord of Chaos
As Geof suggested, I am going to try and post as I read throughout this year. So, after watching the first three painful episodes of Legend of the Seeker, I decided that I needed to read a good fantasy series to purge the garbage that was that attempt at a TV series. My first thought was to just re-read the Sword of Truth series that "inspired" the TV series — the book series was actually pretty good. But, I forgot that I sent those home with my in-laws so that they could give them a shot. So, in a moment of desperation, I turned back to the Wheel of Time.
There were two main reasons for attempting this re-read: first, I have never read any of the books more than once and second, the final book in the series is due to be out at the end of this year or early next year. Lord of Chaos, by Robert Jordan, is the sixth book in the Wheel of Time. After finishing this, I am now around 4,200 pages into the Wheel of Time and am just over half-way through the written books. I am not going to worry about spoiler alerts with this because the book was originally published in 1995. If you have not read the series by now, you will likely have forgotten what I am writing by the time you make it through 3,500 pages to get to this book 
Remembering back, I always thought that this was highlight of the series. So many good things happen. Rand founds his school for the male channelers. Egwene becomes the Amrylin seat. Elayne and Nynaeve are raised to Aes Sedai. We see more happening around the split White Tower with the rebels (the good guys) starting to move towards retaking the Tower. The White Tower, led by the usurper Elaida, takes Rand prisoner. Finally, we have the truly awesome battle to free Rand at Dumai's Wells. So, the plot takes a huge step forward in this book. That is great, since the plot is about to stagnate in the next few books.
Why do I liked Lord of Chaos? There is a lot of driving action bolstered by strong characters that are finally entering into their own in the world. However, as much as I like the Wheel of Time and have enjoyed re-reading the books, 4,200 pages without much of a break makes me tired, so I am going to put my re-read on hold while I read some new-to-me books. Next up, Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher, the first book in the Codex Alera.
January 19th, 2009 - 17:44
My college roommate read Wheel of Time voraciously. I … did not.
[Hooray for taking suggestions!]