Opinions- Fires of Heaven (and earlier books)

[Gidar]

I have pretty much been a part of the discussions from book 1 to 4 but now that I'm reading the Fires of Heaven I can no longer come up with my latest questions and statements without spoling stuff for others. But on the other hand I must be careful not to spoil things for myself by reading too much of the threads in here so I thought it'd be best if I made one =)

It has nothing to do about her being a darkfriend but Liandrin has annoyed me since she appeared in the Great Hunt. She thinks she knows everything and is better than everyone else. I was hoping that someone would give her a lesson and YES it finally happened in the chapter I read today. Moghedien showed Liandrin her real posisition and I'm not lying when I say that it was one of the best chapters I have read in that book so far. Liandrin tried her little manipulate trick and Moghedien showed her how it should be done PWNED. I hope Liandring will cool herself down from now

The book itself is okay and I can't say my full opinion being in the middle of it but I have a feeling that the intense action from the first four books are gone for a while, am I right? =) . Things are happening but so slow, not like the earlier books.

 

[Axis m'Troutilas]

You're wrong.

Book six is action central.

Actually it contains some of the best action in the series fullstop.

Book seven is less so, but still quite full of action, the next few after than get a bit slower though, still interesting and with some good moment.

But definitely slower.

 

[Gidar]

Where you talking about book 6? Because I was talking about book 5 (the fires of heaven) : ) ANd you must admit that it takes time before things really start to happen in book 5 but I guess it's neccesary to get the reader into the book. It's different for me because I'm reading them with zero pause between each book but I can see that it was natural with a proper begining for those who read it in the 90's, waiting a long time for Jordan to finish the books.

 

[Keisha al'Benn]

I think Axis was saying that you were wrong about action slowing down for a few books and that you can look forward to a lot of action in Book 6.

I think it sometimes takes time for action to happen in several of the books....in tSR they were all in the Stone for 200 pages before everyone left to go where they needed to be. Sure stuff happened (the cards attacked Mat, the Redstone Doorway was used, etc....) but there was a lot of Rand and Elayne kissing in corners and Mat playing stones with Thom so he could hide from Moiraine stuff going on too.

 

[Korina Ducair]

Gidar, I'm here and I'm right behind you with my re-read. Have no fear, there hasn't been any of these books that have left me disappointed. Sure, some do have their slow moments but they always pick up again.

 

[Gidar]

. Sure, some do have their slow moments but they always pick up again.

Yeah, I noticed that : ) Korina.
Things are about to get messy for Rand and he is approaching Cairhien through the mountains. Liandring is hunting Nynaeve, and Morgase has escaped. These things had not yet happened when I first posted but now it's getting exciting!!.. And Jordan need to pick with some of the slow moments anyway because it's not natural that mountains fall down from the sky every hour. ;D

 

[Gidar]

I think Axis was saying that you were wrong about action slowing down for a few books and that you can look forward to a lot of action in Book 6.

I think it sometimes takes time for action to happen in several of the books....in tSR they were all in the Stone for 200 pages before everyone left to go where they needed to be. Sure stuff happened (the cards attacked Mat, the Redstone Doorway was used, etc....) but there was a lot of Rand and Elayne kissing in corners and Mat playing stones with Thom so he could hide from Moiraine stuff going on too.

Ah, perhaps it came out wrong because I meant book 5 only =) but my judgement was not completely fair because book 5 is also good, just many slow moments at the same time in the begining.

 

[Ivanor Winshaw]

I didn't feel that FoH was slow at all, but I guess I wouldn't since I've read it at least 5 times and know what happens. IIRC, I didn't feel it was slow during my very first read... Just wait...

 

[Decimus Correl]

I will admit FoH goes down as one of my least favorite books. The whole Min/Siuan and Elyane/Nyneave story archs bored me, and I skip them when I reread them. Also this was the first book where one of the major 3 was not metnioned, and Perrin has no chapters at all in this book.

 

[Dice 11]

Thats good because later in the series its like perrin 8 chapters and then another. Its in one book; its really annoying.

 

[Dice 11]

Basically all he talks about is how he loves Faile so much and oh I have to get her back! Oh no. Borrying!!!

 

[Gidar]

Yeah I know he's getting soft!!, I hope he'll meet Elyas again one day. Haven't seen or heard a word from him since the Eye of the World : p
Guess Jordan is saving it up to a special moment ;D

 

[Aemon]

Personally, I loved FoH. Rand and Moraine switch roles in their relationship (Hehe!) and the Cairhein battles made it for me. I also enjoyed the Siuan/Min story arcs, mostly because I liek Siuan. The Elayne/Nynaeve one I liekd as well, but mostly for Thom and Nynaeve. Elayne was mostly just annoying, as usual.

 

[Lono Fird]

I actually found book 5 one of my favourites, probably the best up to that point. Funnily enough, I found Siuan and Min's story arc excellent and wished they got more chapters - it was such a shock seeing Siuan brought down so far from the untouchable all-knowing figure of the previous books. Elayne's story was actually quite interesting in this book - her plot gets more boring as the books go on, but this one was decent enough, particularly her and Nynaeve's interactions with Birgitte and Moghedien (being vague here because I don't know how far you've gotten).

The last 100 pages are what really did it for me though. Everything started happening all at once, it was amazing to read.

As for Book 6, it is a slow book, but I actually loved it for that reason. Such a change from the fast-paced action of the previous one, and lots of interesting conversations and plot developments. Excellent climax as well.

Edit: Oh, I did miss Perrin's group, though. Especially Loial.

 

[Samarasin Tavaral]

I just finished book 5, and thought it was pretty slow. I was bored with the Nynaeve/Elayne arc, although I really do like Elayne and Birgitte. I was also very disappointed that Perrin was nowhere in this book. He's one of my favorites! I'm just hoping that book 6 is more evenly distributed among the chapters.

 

[Ilverin Matriam]

It has nothing to do about her being a darkfriend but Liandrin has annoyed me since she appeared in the Great Hunt. She thinks she knows everything and is better than everyone else.

I hate that in every Aes Sedai! It's not only Liandrin....it annoys me to no end that the Aes Sedai think they know it all and then BAM the Wise Ones know it aswell and know even more than them! Oh such satisfying moments when they are proved wrong :evil

/end of rant


And just keep reading through book 6 You will get even more excited with the events there

 

[Cyrus Sondira]

I really enjoyed book 5 personally. I'm on early book 6 right now and I'm enjoying watching the Nynaeve/Elayne things and the Siuan/Min/Leane things. I'm getting the sense that the characters are changing and I keep finding myself thinking back and wondering how they would have acted earlier. There have been some pretty major character development things going on.

I'm with you on the Liandrin being annoying though. All Aes Sedai get a little annoying because of their arrogance, but Liandrin is a piece of work and no mistake. I usually feel bad when characters are brought that low, even if I don't like them, but with Liandrin there was a sense of poetic justice about it.

 

[Aurom Al'Deland]

I just finished The Fires Of Heaven, and it took me the longest of any book thus far. Almost a year. I Just couldn't get through the last 200 pages until recently. The ending was pretty epic, just like all the preceding books. But I don't understand some things, Maybe I should stop reading drunk.

 

[Velestin Greymane]

Just finished my re-read of FoH and I definitely feel like it's my least favorite out of the first six books. The first four are fantastic, as is Lord of Chaos...but FoH feels very long and there's not a whole lot going on in it. You don't have the crazy action of Lord of Chaos, or the huge backstory revelations of TSR. The ending is utterly fantastic though.

 

[Tarek Celesia]

I don't know I liked FOH with the giant battle between Aiel. Except with the whole Perrin not being in it, his storyline in The Shadow Rising made that book my favorite of the series so far and to have him not in TSR was a disappointment. But still, a lot did happen in FOH, with Rand and Matt at least.