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A Crown of Swords (The Wheel of Time, Book 7)

A Crown of Swords (The Wheel of Time, Book 7)

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Patience a must for storytelling...
Review: Alright, to all you would-be book reviewers. What is it we're reading? A one-volume action adventure novel or an epic saga designed to enthrall its readers with powerful emotion, drama, and pain with a world that is turned upside down with evil? To those who say that Jordan's characters do not develop, I will have to ask what book you are reading, because it is certainly not Jordan's volumes from WOT. My mind on reading a story: Let the author tell the story and try not to allow my own desires affect my reaction to plot lines or any other occurance in the story. Jordan, while not the linguistic genius Tolkein was, has created a world with remarkably distinct characters and a history that completely explains the reasoning behind their decisions. A ten-part (and more) series is bound to have its ups and downs, whether intentional or unintentional on the part of the author, but taken as a whole, this story forces us to feel the emotion the characters are feeling, angers us when they do something we would not have them do, and surprises us with new plot lines and old ones made fresh. When all is said and done and the multi-volume work Jordan has created is reviewed as one complete story, it will easily come close to Tolkein's for fictional merit.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Quantity no substitute for quality
Review: This was the book where I finally gave up on the series. Some reviewers seem to believe those critical of this book, and the series as a whole, lack patience, or just want a hack-and-slash action novel. This is not the case for me, or a number of the other reviewers. Read Robin Hobbs' series of books, then come back to these novels. Robin Hobbs' novels are large, detailed, and in some of the books, have little action. However, that author knows how to create interesting, involving, rich characters who develop, drawing our empathy as we follow their changing personalities.

Jordan's characters do not develop. They are stuck in stasis, forever petty, stereotyped, incredibly annoying individuals. I cared for the first few books about the characters, but honestly, they just don't learn. Their experiences do not develop them. In the end, the characters do not feel like living, breathing individuals, but instead are charicutures that are made to get a reaction from the reader.

If you want world building, characterisation, and plot, read Steven Erikson, Robin Hobb, or read the Songs of Ice and Fire Series. If you want massive books with a degree of interest, read Tad Williams. I would strongly recommend that you not buy Robert Jordan past the fifth book.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: O.K. Let's be Fair.
Review: "A Crown of Swords" was not one of Jordon's best. He lacks devercity in his characters. Not all women have to be pretty. And not all men have to be spineless around women. Also he opens up so many political plots that it takes away from the story and confuses the reader. Plus he doesn't focus on his main characters, he gets to cuaght up in the lives of sub characters. However I feel many people are being unreasonably unfair to Jordan. Not all the women hate men. Hello, three women are in love with Rand, women are constantly throwing themselves at Matt, and Faile loves Perrin while the First of Mayene is chasing him. I enjoy the atention to detail in this book, but Jordan should keep in mind that constantly explaining what everything looks like is somewhat tiring to the reader.

There are certain aspects of this book that keep it intriging and encourage me to keep reading. Like: I'm dying to know what will happen to Matt, who is my male favorite character, I know he can't die he still has to marry the Duaghter of the Nine Moons(who I think is Seanchan). Also When is Gawyn going to reunite with Egwene? They are my favorite couple. Also how is Nyvene(she's starting to annoy me) going to help Lan. And when is Avienda,my favorite female character, going to meet Min.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Interesting.
Review: I love the Wheel of Time Series. The new books lack the fast paced action which I liked from the first few books. However, I also love all the complexity and intrigue of Jordan's recent books. This is a reason i have held off from buying the Wheel of Time campaign setting for D&D, i figure I don't need it, as just by reading these books, i would probably be able to make one of my own. Jordan is slowly bringing the story to a climax, introducing more and more threads, in preparation for Tarmon'Gaidon. This gives the world depth. Unlike other reviewers, I think that the main characters are far more interesting now than in the early books. I just wish jordan would speed it up... I mean, the series is extremely interesting, and is my all time favourite, but I can't see this series having a DECENT ending in just 3 more books (This is from book 10). In fact, judging by the pace, I'd say, to have a truly good ending, we need about 10 more books. But that's just my opinion. Until then, I'll enjoy the writing, which is still magnificent, if the speed is much, much slower. Until then, I'm staying with this series, unlike others who are jumping overboard.I liked this book, especially the Gholan and Moridin. About the only thing wrong with it was rand's invasion of Illian, it was stupid. I mean, he'd been planning it for so long, and then one morning he wakes up and does it, seemingly for no good reason.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Female Issues?
Review: If you like books concerning mean spirited, narcisistc, condescending, arrogant, man hating women....then by all means read these books.
Every time there is something said by a woman, 9 times out of 10 it's a nasty comment about men. It's very predictable now. When I see, for example, Nynaeve says, "......text...", I know it's gonna be something nasty. There is no if's, and's or but's....it will always be something nasty. So I just roll my eyes and skim,or skip through that part. Maybe that's good after all, since it makes the 900+ page book go by quicker.

I can't understand how there are actually pregnancies & children in this bizzarro world of man haters.

I think Robert Jordan has real female issues. Maybe his Mother was mean, or he got dumped by his girlfriend in High School...I don't know. But the way he portrays women is disturbing.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Wow - the WOT hasn't stopped turning yet!
Review: While I can't deny that A Crown of Swords doesn't come near the Dragon Reborn, my first and fave WOT read, the seventh book definitely shows that Jordan has something left in his big series. Here's where our favorite characters are:

Rand - off managing political situations by the dozen , walloping yet more of the forsaken, and falling in love with Min at the same time. Sheez, stop cheating, Dragon!

Min - convincing Rand to stop sulking about his madness and to fall in love with her. Poor Min, she used to be the best character.

Mat - He's learned a lot in the Crown of swords, between looking for the Bowl of the Winds, escaping the clutches of Queen Tylin, (who I found disgusting and as evil as the Forsaken), and meeting Birgitte. The high point of Mat's story is when he realizes that he can like a woman, such as Birgitte, as just a friend!

Perrin - he's gone absolutely crazy over Faile, and it's ruining some of his reality as a character. He continues to be a strong character, however.

Moghieden - THE COOLEST CHARACTER IN THE BOOK! I never thought I'd sympathize with the Forsaken, but Moghieden keeps all of the vitality of Jordan's former books. Caught by a magical mindtrap, Moghieden is forced to serve under Moridin. She has the most sense and character of every woman in the book.

Egwene is still Amyrlin, and busy looking for Moghieden. Elayne and Nynaeve are searching for the Bowl of the Winds to save the weather. More about this in the 8th book? I hope!

Although it's wobbling, the Wheel of Time hasn't hit a ditch and broken yet. If you ask me, Moghieden and Birgitte are keeping it on track.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just as good as the first...
Review: I have yet to encounter any problems in reading this series... for some the repetition is "boring", or "needless", however I often find it often times helpful. True there are some things which I have no problem remembering, and there are others that once reminded-- the event or person will 'click' in my memory and it's like "Oh yeah!" I'm not reading these one after another, often times I have two or three other novels in between, so repetative descriptions are good.

Now I wish I could look Mr. Jordan in the eyes and ask... "So what in the bloody Pit of Doom were you thinking leaving us hanging about Mat like that? And what about Sammael?"

Arrg... too many open ends! Maybe this time I'll go ahead and pick up book eight right away!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Wow, nothing happens
Review: I love fantasy books and I have been reading the WoT series since the first book. I loved the fantasy action and the whole setting of the first 6 books. However, I think that through the entire book there were very few events of significant value. The first few books were amazing and the plot is fast-paced and exciting. This book slows it down which it rather unfortunate. I hope that the 8th book isnt like that, the Light Willing!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Effort
Review: Not as good as his previous efforts, but a decent book. I would call it transitional. Before = better. After = worse.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Also Very Good
Review: Robert Jordan's series carries on nicely through the seven books. You need a lot of spare time in order to read the series but it is very very good. It does get a little wordy through the books but they tend to keep my intrest. I don't really know how to explains these but they're a must read for fantasy readers.


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