The Wheel of Time Reread: Book 7 - A Crown of Thorns
*SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THIS AND OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES*
Find the full list of posts in my full re-read of the series HERE
A Crown of Thorns has a lot to live up to, coming as it does after the literally explosive finale to Lord of Chaos. We have a lot of momentum going, and this next instalment does not disappoint.
Beginning Part Three
I consider this to be the first book in the third "part" of the series.
Part 1 consists of the first three books and tells the story of Rand discovering and coming to accept who he is and where destiny must take him.
Part 2 ran through books four, five, and six. In this part, the world opens up and develops, allowing time for the characters to grow.
And now Part 3 begins with Rand dealing with the first real, significant personal trauma of the war.
After the event of Dumb's Well, Rand has been irrevocably altered. He's been tricked, kidnapped, and tortured. That's going to affect everything in his life. And the way he deals with it - or doesn't deal with it - is to become "Hard Rand". He decides he has to stamp down anything that can be used against him or the weaknesses that might stop him from doing what he has to do, no matter what.
The Aes Sedai other Aes Sedai are trying to be
And hand in hand with this character development comes one of my absolute favourite characters. Cadsuane.
I love Cadsuane. A legend among the Aes Sedai - seeing their reactions to her appearance is hilarious - she's essentially everything all Aes Sedai think they are. She's powerful, able to take control of any situation, and almost always wise enough to be in the right. But the one thing that makes her stand out is a lack of arrogance. Most other Aes Sedai assume they automatically deserve respect from anyone else because of who they are. Cadsuane, on the other hand, treats everyone as an equal. It might not come across, because usually she's dealing with people who are doing everything wrong, but she never acts like they are any less for it.
And she is exactly what Rand needs. Morraine could not have helped Rand now, as she was too worried about doing the right thing. Cadsuane, on the other hand, treats him like a child, but crucially only until he begins to act like an adult.
Her relationship with Rand is one of the best in the entire series, and I can't wait to see it develop this time around.
Why can’t you all just talk to each other?!
But Part 3 of the series is also where another aspect of the series comes in. And while it's not bad, so much, as just deeply frustrating.
Seven books in, and we have main characters all over the world, each dealing with one element of the bigger picture. Each one of them learning different things at different rates and then working on what they know and nothing else.
This is the element I call the "Please can you all just talk to each other!?" phase. And it carries on until the penultimate books.
Because from this point onwards, so much could be done more efficiently if all the characters simply got together, shared their knowledge, and - most importantly - stopped assuming that only they, and only they, can possibly know what they are doing.
If they just did that, the series would have lasted three more books, tops. And while it's obvious why this doesn't happen, it just aggravates me!
And, just a quick note, I hope we're all paying attention to Chesa. Because that's a plot stand I never saw coming the first time around, and it sits there unnoticed for so long. I love that kind of writing. There's nothing more satisfying than realising something has been under our nose the entire time, and we had no idea.
Jordan’s Weakness (Revisited): Gender dynamics and a dangerous message
But now, I have to talk about one of the bad points in this series. An uncomfortable "it was another era" element of Jordan's writing. And, you guessed it, we're talking about gender roles again.
A woman hitting a man is not okay.
Just because he's a "big strong man", and surely couldn't actually be hurt by a much smaller woman, doesn't make it okay. I don't care if Nynaeve is upset or over-emotional. Or that her punches probably can't actually hurt Lan. It's still. Not. Okay.
A woman forcing herself on a man who doesn't want to sleep with her is not okay.
Mat makes it very clear he does not want to sleep with Tylin, but she literally forces herself on him. And on top of that, she uses her power and influence to get all those who work for her to help her to do this. And when other Elayne and Nynaeve characters hear about it, they automatically assume Mat forced himself on her.
Once again, I can see that Jordan thought he was being progressive. Look at these strong female characters, taking the lead and being assertive. But for all his heart might be in the right place, these elements are nothing but toxic and harmful.
A Crown of Thorns continues the upward trend of the series, but finishing it is a bittersweet moment because we're now coming to the slump. I can't remember exactly when it comes, but in the next few books, we're going to have a significant drop in quality that doesn't really pick up again until Jordan's final books.
But nevertheless, I'm happy to have so many books still to go. Now on to The Path of Daggers.