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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: 5 stars
Summary: Very good
Review: Ok, I admit it, after I finished this novel I went back and read the entire series(including this novel) again. I will say that the series gets better each time you read it and this novel gives it a new pace. This book is definitely worth owning and reading several time(a year :)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Crown of Bores
Review: I really enjoyed the first three books of the Wheel of Time. In fact I thought they were excellent. Book 5 was horrible, but Lord of Chaos (book 6) was another fine installment. Then we come to book 7. Truly pathetic. Looking for the tight writing and engaging style of the previous books? Looking for some real plot development and character growth? Then don't look at this book. Nothing happens. That's right, in a 700+ page book, nothing happens! The story doesn't move forward. It is filler material, nothing more. Robert Jordan should have been embarrassed to have ever seen this monstrosity go to print. I can only hope that future installments recapture the quality of past ones.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: did anything happen in this book?
Review: After finishing this book, I wondered how Jordan managed to pack 100-150 pages of plot into 600 pages of text! What happened to the other 500 pages?

Well, most of that 500 pages, unfortunately, was pointless discussion about things that simply don't matter, like why Nynaeve is starting to dress more revealingly (I guess to make Lan happy, but who cares?). Why does it take the entire book for Elaine and Nynaeve to find the Bowl of the Winds, when they were in the same area the whole time?

The conversations that DO matter are written in Jordan's usual suspenseful style that keeps the reader guessing as to the intentions of the speakers (Forsaken, Aes Sedai, etc.). Very few loose ends are tied in this novel and in fact, many more are brought up. The ultra-powerful and mysterious Moridin is introduced, as is the True Power which even the Forsaken don't dare to wield. What is the relationship between Moridin and Shaidar Haran, who was introduced in Lord of Chaos? What about Slayer, what happened to him? What happened to Mat? Still no word on Moiraine and Lanfear.

Yet for all the disappointments, it's a must read because it DOES progress the story. You can't really skip it because several important new characters are introduced (Moridin, Cadsuane, etc.). If you're hooked on the series, buy it but be prepared for disappoint relative to the previous books.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Trapped in the tower...
Review: ...of about 6,000 pages that never ends. My suggestion is that if you must read this series you check it out from the library. Sure you'll have to wait longer, but you'll be relieved when you're done that you didn't shell out your hard earned cash for a wheel that seems as if it will never stop.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: the beginning of the end?
Review: When I first started reading the TWOT, I really thought it would go somewhere. After three books of Starwars type dialog, it was getting old. Then the next few books came along, and some of it was good, but this book started a downfall. The world is involved, perhaps too involved and bloated. Movement and tactics is interesting, but the characters are not loveable, hateable, or real in my humble mind. I fear that the TWOT will be the modern tower of fantacy babel. Seeking to reach some srot of fantasy heaven, but falling into the dust at the end.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Treading Water
Review: This series has steadily declined since Book 3 (by far the best in the series). Sometimes I think RJ is treading water, and adds needless subplots just to occupy some characters while something else is happening. I think he's found that he's killing off too many of the forsaken, and has been replacing them with new bad guys who, unfortunately, have no personality. This book didn't end as climactically as the rest. This may be the weakest book of the series, except for perhaps the one where some characters joined the circus (and we spent 300 pages hearing about it).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: One of the weaker efforts of the series.
Review: I was ridiculously eager for this book to be published. And then, somewhat disappointed. To my mind, this is the weakest of the series so far.

This being said, it is still a ripping good tale. Jordan should be commended for being able to (more or less) successfully sustain such a mammoth story over so many volumes and such a period of time.

Although not the strongest effort, again (as with all previous volumes), the plot takes some interesting twists and turns, introducing new characters and new tensions.

My fear, though, is that Jordan really does not know how, when, or where the series is going to end. There are an increasingly large number of loose ends which will need to be tied together or the ending of the series will be a disappointment of major proportions.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Worth the read if you've read the last 6 books
Review: First off, I enjoy the series, and RJ has a remarkable gift with language.

However, I have a few peeves with his writing. For one, he seems to have a strange, juvenile fixation on nudity, especially breasts. Just take a highlighter and mark every reference; you'll run out of ink!

Secondly, his female characters are almost without exception ill-tempered and man-hating. The men, on the other hand, roll over every time a woman snaps at them. Min is about the only female character who is likable. I'm not sure what experiences RJ has had in dealing with women, but apparently they were far worse than mine have been.

Jordan has a fixation on the war between the sexes which is unsettling. Use a different highlighter to mark the women-against-men passages, and you'll use up another marker.

Thirdly, this book introduces so many new characters and subplots that I don't see how anyone can keep them straight without taking notes. Too much confusion!

Despite these very irritating flaws in the book, it's still fun to read. Jordan paints such good images that his novels do come to life. The concept of the series and the way he is unravelling it are brilliant. You just have to put up with some of the author's fixations.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: stuck up brats
Review: ugh, i am so disapointed with RJ's work at this point...what a great series...what a slow plodding..and incessently repetitive book! I cant count how many times Rand shouted at the top of his lungs that he was the "Dragon Reborn". AT his point he's become such a pain...i couldn't help but roll my eyes at his moody "im the king of the world" behavior. And the women! What is up with their man hating stuck up ways! it's pitiful how RJ depicts hardly any working relationships between men and women in this book. Even Min's and Rand's relationship...shes the one keeping him calmed down half the time! He has an anger managment problem. I'm starting to hate all these characters now...the older they get the brattier they get. RJ has also gotten super repetitive in his diction...ARE THERE NO COMMON PEOPLE AROUND ARE THEY ALL JUST "BEAUTIFUL AND HANDSOME WITH BEARDS AND HAIR THAT FALLS IN WAVES TO THEIR SHOULDERS! " ugh... hopefully RJ and his characters will redeem themselves in the next couple books.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: still plodding through it all...
Review: Admittedly I have not read the entire book, but it is probably one of the more difficult books I have read in a while. I do not like books that come with their own dictionary of terms, people, places and events. If I read a book, I want to become absorbed in its words and imagery to fully enjoy the story, I do not want to have to flip to the back every other page to learn a new vocabulary word that is part of the fictional culture I'm reading about. I have read some wonderful books that did not require the reader to learn a new culture or language, the authors were able to create an intriguing fantasy world with the language they have at hand.


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