Spoilers.

WH is good, much better than the preceding three books but still not quite living up to the standard that Jordan raised in the first half of the series. The plotline follows, mostly, the primary three protagonists and what they’re involved with: certainly a mixed bag.

Perrin, who doesn’t seem to get a good storyline anytime after the Two Rivers invasion, discovers that his wife was kidnapped in the last book. So he spends several hundred pages starting to go after her. Starting. Not my favorite sequence.

Mat returns after being missing in the last book; he’s still hanging around Ebou Dar. And he’s not happy about; his primary complaint seems to be that he’s getting bedded too much by Tylin. He spends the book deciding on an escape plan, and starting it at the end. Of course, there’s a nice twist at the end, but we don’t get to see anything until (sound familiar) next book.

Egwene is taking her sweet time about this whole gateway to Tar Valon thing. Elayne finally makes it to Caemlyn where we promptly get treated to her needing to consolidate control of Andor. Yeah, the world’s about to end, but she needs to control Andor. And we need to know it.

Rand’s portion is certainly his best in the recent books. He finally culminates (literally) the love quadrangle and gets even more people in his head. You would think it was starting to get crowded in there. He also comes to grip with Cadsuane, who will hopefully provide some good interaction and mix it up a bit. We also learn about Far Madding, a very interesting place.

And then there’s the culmination of the book. It’s intriguing, but not that well set-up. Still it is nice to see the resolution of an on-going plot device and a nice battle. Somewhat nice. Little action, and it’s all from random minor characters.

WH ends on a positive note, leaving fans hoping that RJ has hit his stride again.

1. The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
2. New Spring: The Novel by Robert Jordan
3. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
4. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
5. The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
6. The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
7. The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan
8. Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
9. A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan
10. Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
11. Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan
12. Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan
13. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan