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Lord of Chaos (1997-2000 initial reads; 2010 re-read) Larry Send a noteboard - 30/04/2010 01:33:37 PM
I've reached the halfway point at least in this series to date. Death is like a feather, duty like a mountain, and around 5000 pages of WoT is like carrying a 400 lb. woman wearing spandex and a tube top on your shoulders as you run up that mountain. Not the most pleasant of images, true, but this book was much more of a slog than the previous book, The Fires of Heaven, had proven to be.

When I first read Lord of Chaos back in November 1997, I even then found it to be the most difficult of the seven books to date to enjoy. Back then, used as I was to reading cultural and religious histories in English and German, it wasn't the size of the novel that daunted me but rather how disjointed it felt. Nearly 13 years later, that sense of disjointedness was even more pronounced. It was a struggle at times to pay attention to what was transpiring, which might explain in a perverse fit of reasoning why I am reviewing it so soon after completing it (I finished it about an hour before I began writing this post), when I typically wait 1-2 days, as will be the case with the final Dune Chronicles volume, Chapterhouse: Dune, when I write that commentary after this one. Between the often-interchangeable character types (Aes Sedai, Cairhein, Aiel, Forsaken, Tairens, etc.) and the over-explanations of things that I first read about several books ago, I fear my own complaints may become just as repetitive if I don't spice them up with some actual observations.

The story begins a few weeks after the events of The Fires of Heaven. But instead of opening with the wind blowing its way through some po-dunk village, there is a lengthy (72 p. in my MMPB edition) prologue that begins with one of the hitherto-hidden baddies, Demandred (so demonic, that), meeting up with a new baddie, an ultra-tall eyeless Myrddraal, Shaidar Haran, where some sort of ret-conning seems to be taking place about the ultimate Shadow-y goals. Perhaps Jordan wanted the Dark Side to be seen as being more competent than the EVIL Snidely Whiplashes of the first five volumes. Or perhaps this had been planned the entire way. Regardless of intent, there were several times while reading this novel and reflecting back upon the earlier ones where I wondered if the real evilness was in having a Space Invaders-sort of feel, where as each EVIL level/Forsaken is destroyed, the others move faster and faster, making it more and more difficult for the Light/Good side to keep up.

For a novel of 1011 MMPB pages, Lord of Chaos felt more like 900 pages of scene description and vague foreshadowing than an actual narrative progression. There were three main locales in this novel: Caemlyn (Rand at times/some Aiel/later Perrin/later Min), Cairhein (Rand at other times/more Aiel/some Mat/early Egwene), and the rebel Aes Sedai base of Salidar (Elayne/Nynaeve/early Min/rebel leaders/late Egwene/late Mat). A fourth locale, Ebou Dar, took place so late in the novel that it serves more like a non-hanging cliffhanger element than anything really important to this particular novel. Each of the three on the surface would appear to get ample space for plot/character developments, but due to the unfortunate tendency of the author to try and elaborate over and over again how Aes Sedai X is in this camp and sniffs this way while Aes Sedai Y huffs another way and belongs to another camp while Aes Sedai Z is in a third camp and looks down her nose at uppity Accepted and/or males, the Salidar scenes felt more like hundreds of pages of wet hens sitting around while the trainees Elayne and Nynaeve "discover" some "lost" Talents that the captured Forsaken Moghedien is forced to show them. The Rand chapters are okay, except it's more of a holding pattern there until the end, while the Egwene ones are the only ones that show any semblance of actual character development, as she gets her ass whipped for admitting to lying to her Aiel Wise One teachers. It was a growing moment, seriously, although the nakedness and the beatings (with the nudity repeated shortly afterward in Salidar) was a bit much.

Like I said in my The Fires of Heaven commentary, the clunky prose, the repetitive and increasingly-long descriptions, and the odd breaks in scenes to follow other characters led to a sense of disjointed prose. I feel more strongly than ever that Jordan made a mistake in giving so much space to these relatively extraneous subplots. In trying to have several parallels among the male/female interactions, the outside cultures clashings, and other such examples of a comedy of manners occurring, the overall focus is lost. Perhaps Demandred was laughing at the end about letting the "Lord of Chaos" (presumably Rand and his being tied down with rule rather than trying to whip Forsaken ass and strengthening the Dark One's prison) rule because in letting full rein be given to the other subplots, Jordan seems to have been inching nearer and nearer to narrative progression defeat as his purported main protagonist, Rand, is slowly seen being diverted away from plotline victory.

Shall be interesting to see how I view the next volume, A Crown of Swords, since that book was actually the first WoT novel that I read and also because I just started re-reading George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. But six down, five (and one prequel) to go before I have all of the WoT books reviewed here. Hopefully I can find the inner strength to continue on, as these middle volumes were much worse than I had remembered them being.
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie

Je suis méchant.
Original post, with possible comments here as well
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Re-reading WoT Ten Years Later - 16/04/2010 06:07:40 AM 2852 Views
The Eye of the World (1997-2000, 2010 reads) - 16/04/2010 06:08:54 AM 1320 Views
Ah, jumping on Roberts' bandwagon... - 16/04/2010 09:17:08 AM 1062 Views
- 16/04/2010 03:32:41 PM 984 Views
Re: The Eye of the World (1997-2000, 2010 reads) - 16/04/2010 06:29:53 PM 1048 Views
I think you misrepresent me - 16/04/2010 11:15:34 PM 942 Views
Re: I think you misrepresent me - 17/04/2010 02:56:53 PM 964 Views
Re: I think you misrepresent me - 17/04/2010 09:45:25 PM 913 Views
Re: I think you misrepresent me - 17/04/2010 10:59:20 PM 1067 Views
MA in History? Is there a more useless degree? - 16/04/2010 09:56:36 PM 904 Views
PhD or MA in Classics - 16/04/2010 10:15:51 PM 854 Views
Yes, whatever degree you have/are studying for - 16/04/2010 11:12:55 PM 897 Views
MBA. Sorry - 17/04/2010 04:38:03 AM 919 Views
There's lots of jokes about MBAs, unfortunately - 17/04/2010 09:46:28 PM 916 Views
Interestingly, I disliked EotW because of its 'youth appeal' - 17/04/2010 12:33:55 AM 1021 Views
Funny how takes can change, huh? - 17/04/2010 12:55:05 AM 1016 Views
Funny, I started my own first-ever reread not long ago. - 17/04/2010 02:16:35 AM 989 Views
Must be something in the water, no? - 17/04/2010 02:28:23 AM 1012 Views
Gah! - 18/04/2010 12:30:17 PM 895 Views
I thought you meant it! - 18/04/2010 05:29:55 PM 1007 Views
Pfft! - 18/04/2010 08:11:36 PM 907 Views
I'm glad I didn't start with EotW - 19/04/2010 04:16:03 PM 873 Views
Seems Tor is now tweeting about this commentary - 19/04/2010 06:31:39 PM 1083 Views
Re: Re-reading WoT Ten Years Later - 16/04/2010 06:26:51 PM 1009 Views
It'll be interesting to see if I hit a "wall" - 16/04/2010 11:13:55 PM 920 Views
Aww... - 16/04/2010 07:58:27 PM 1009 Views
That's next month or June - 16/04/2010 11:12:02 PM 871 Views
Be sure to send me a noteboard then . - 17/04/2010 03:45:46 AM 894 Views
Oh, I'd post it at this site as well, perhaps - 17/04/2010 03:51:19 AM 848 Views
Yeah, but I only lurk in the OF when I'm interested in getting new books... - 17/04/2010 04:00:14 AM 859 Views
Ah - 17/04/2010 09:47:37 PM 865 Views
Malazan 9 is out? - 17/04/2010 09:58:23 PM 735 Views
Been out for several months - 17/04/2010 10:24:15 PM 835 Views
Can anybody please explain to me - 17/04/2010 08:45:18 PM 1053 Views
It's hard to explain - 17/04/2010 09:42:16 PM 1101 Views
was thinking the same thing *NM* - 18/04/2010 03:59:36 PM 596 Views
Re: Can anybody please explain to me - 19/04/2010 04:17:39 PM 748 Views
The more posts from this larry guy I read, the more I think......... - 18/04/2010 08:56:34 AM 1035 Views
Interesting metatextual analysis there - 18/04/2010 09:47:43 AM 1060 Views
Nice, but in the future... - 18/04/2010 04:04:07 PM 937 Views
I know... - 18/04/2010 08:11:18 PM 892 Views
If you don't like WoT....Don't read it - 19/04/2010 12:36:06 AM 851 Views
Aren't you being a bit presumptuous there? - 19/04/2010 12:53:00 AM 1273 Views
... - 19/04/2010 12:59:33 AM 1034 Views
Re: ... - 21/04/2010 03:41:08 AM 998 Views
Re: The more posts from this larry guy I read, the more I think......... - 18/04/2010 10:26:12 AM 1041 Views
I am disappoint - 19/04/2010 01:17:20 AM 1027 Views
- 19/04/2010 01:24:29 AM 897 Views
Who the hell are you? What the hell are you doing here? - 19/04/2010 06:48:56 PM 1028 Views
Oh crap, a troll! - 02/05/2010 08:53:36 PM 869 Views
The Great Hunt (1997-2000, 2010 reads) - 19/04/2010 09:22:40 AM 1014 Views
I guess I'm just weird. - 19/04/2010 06:44:59 PM 1104 Views
If anything, I suspect my reaction is the minority one - 19/04/2010 09:20:25 PM 1044 Views
It's interesting you thought this about The Great Hunt. - 19/04/2010 07:06:57 PM 846 Views
Yeah, I almost gave up this series after The Eye of the World too. *NM* - 19/04/2010 08:38:25 PM 534 Views
My actual introduction to the series was A Crown of Swords - 19/04/2010 09:26:19 PM 972 Views
By the way... - 19/04/2010 09:44:59 PM 775 Views
Ah, that. - 19/04/2010 09:53:02 PM 860 Views
My experience has been different: - 19/04/2010 09:04:27 PM 965 Views
That may indeed be the case - 19/04/2010 09:27:36 PM 1152 Views
The Dragon Reborn (1997-2000 reads; 2010 re-read) - 22/04/2010 08:49:23 AM 1115 Views
The Shadow Rising (1997-2000 initial reads; 2010 re-read) - 25/04/2010 06:41:08 AM 965 Views
The Fires of Heaven (1997-2000 initial reads; 2010 re-read) - 28/04/2010 08:47:14 AM 923 Views
Lord of Chaos (1997-2000 initial reads; 2010 re-read) - 30/04/2010 01:33:37 PM 1141 Views
A Crown of Swords (1997-2000 initial reads; 2010 re-read) - 02/05/2010 03:30:39 PM 987 Views
The Path of Daggers (1998-2000 reads; 2010 re-read) - 04/05/2010 03:20:12 PM 820 Views
Winter's Heart (2000 initial read; 2010 re-read) - 07/05/2010 01:35:13 PM 813 Views
Re: Winter's Heart (2000 initial read; 2010 re-read) - 08/05/2010 09:43:31 AM 925 Views
But I must - 08/05/2010 09:59:42 AM 743 Views
Re: But I must - 08/05/2010 02:57:03 PM 840 Views
I just think of bath porn - 08/05/2010 03:12:29 PM 1018 Views
Crossroads of Twilight (2006 initial read; 2010 re-read) - 10/05/2010 02:00:06 PM 919 Views
Knife of Dreams (2009 initial read; 2010 re-read) - 13/05/2010 03:27:53 PM 1066 Views
New Spring (1997 read (novella); 2010 read (novel)) - 14/05/2010 07:39:40 AM 995 Views

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