Winter's Heart (Book Nine, The Wheel of Time)

Having defeated the Seanchan after using the Sa'angreal, an object that amplifies the use of the One Power, Callandor, Rand must now deal with more personal matters. At the end of The Path of Daggers, the rogue Asha'man Corlan Dashiva, Charl Gedwyn, and Manel Rochaid tried, and failed, to assassinate him in his chambers and are now on the run. With revenge thick in his mind, Rand has tracked the traitors to the city-state of Far Madding with the intent of ending their lives. However, an evil force has followed the three as well, with hopes of killing a different target. Far away, in the city of Caemlyn, Elayne Trakand, heir to the Lion Throne, has begun to solidify her rule of Andor. However, as enemies appear on all sides and Houses begin to rebel, how long will her rule last? Having survived a building falling on him, Mat Cauthon (YES!) is not in the best of moods. The Seanchan are in control of Ebou Dar and he has no way out. The Seanchan High Lady Tuon seemingly has a special interest in him and he is known throughout the city as the "toy" of the Queen. To Mat, thing can't seem to get any worse. That is, until the Gholam, the Dark One's invincible assassin that Mat fought in book 7, returns for revenge. Half a world away, in the tainted city of Shadar Logoth (after the Far Madding incident), Rand al'Thor, The Dragon Reborn has a plan. It is a near suicidal plan that will require massive amounts of the One Power and the Choedan Kal, the most powerful Sa'angreal ever made. He plans to rid the Dark One's taint of Saidin, the male half of the One Power. However, standing in his way are the remaining Forsaken who will do anything in their power to stop him.

Winter's Heart, the seventh in Robert Jordan's WoT series, is a good book. While not as spectacular as book 7, I still enjoyed reading it. I would compare Winter's Heart to Lord of Chaos: good, with some hard-to-get-through passages and a Dumai's Wells-style clash at the end.

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