The eleventh volume of that most colossal contemporary fantasy saga, The Wheel of Time, mostly develops things in preparation for the next and final volume. Despite rumors of Rand al’Thor’s death spreading across the land, he is alive, and so are his five companions from Two Rivers, although it can hardly be said that people with so much at stake are also well. The Seanchan invasion hasn’t turned the land into a replica of China, circa 1900–50, and so the fleets of the Athan Miere are putting to sea with, it would seem, an eye to seeing that they do so. Jordan brings dozens of minor places, from taverns to battlefields, vividly to life, and sees to it that the intrigues among the magic-wielding women of the Aes Sedai continue with a fervor and ferocity that is positively Byzantine and would make a sociology faculty blanch. Nor is it all a matter of the old Ajahs against the Darkfriends of the Black Ajah––not when the issue at stake is who is to control magic in the world to come if it isn’t going to be the Dragon Reborn. That latter possibility, of course, looms over all the uprisings and downsittings in Jordan’s superlatively executed world and its worthy company of characters.

In contrast, the latest explodes with motion, as multiple plot lines either conclude or advance, and the march to Tarmon Gai'don--the climactic last battle between the Dragon Reborn and the Dark One--begins in earnest. Jordan has said that readers will be sweating by the end of the book, and he's probably right. Sweating or not, they'll also be dreading the long year or two before the 12th installment.

The eleventh volume of that most colossal contemporary fantasy saga, The Wheel of Time, mostly develops things in preparation for the next and final volume.

belgarion,lundi 26 septembre 2005, 16:32 a écrit :comment les ayants-droit et l'éditeur ont-ils pu laisser passer cette sortie? C'est à se demander parfois ce qu'ils font pour contrôler la parution sauvage.

darkfriend,mardi 27 septembre 2005, 20:15 a écrit : j'ai pris la peine de lire toute la page!!

This book is awesome. Obviously my objectivity is suspect due to my actually liking CoT, but you know, whatever. Things HAPPEN in this book. People die, or finish up plots that seemed to never end. There still isn't a real sense of resolution at the end of it, but there is resolution in this book. It helps that nearly every chapter ends with a character saying "Yup, Tar'mon Gaidon is coming. Better get ready." There is a hieghtened sense of forboding throughout the novel that hasn't been present since The Eye of the World. Here be the spoilers. Elayne gets the throne. Mat marries Tuon. Rand gets his hand 'sploded off by Semi. Egwene sows desension in the White Tower (though her plotline is left on a tantalizing cliffhanger). Perrin rescue Faile and captures Sevanna. Loial gets married (and teases us with hidden, Ogier knowledge). A good chunk of the Liandrin's Black sisters get captured. Several other prominent Darkfriends get their final comeuppance. No one takes a bath, except Sevanna and she'll pay for it. Oh how she'll pay.

Gillossen,mardi 04 octobre 2005, 14:47 a écrit :Si vous êtes faibles comme moi...

Nan! je résisterai!