A Crown of Swords - Review

A Crown of Swords (Book 7) is a much better book than I expected it to be. It definitely shouldn’t belong in what the fandom call “The Slog”. I put it more on tier with Books 4, 5, & 6. This book felt like Lord of Chaos: Part 2 because it’s more of a continuation from the unresolved plot threads from the previous book such as Rand’s impending war with Sammael in Illian and the search for the Bowl of the Winds in Ebou Dar. It has a much more smaller-scaled and personal ending compared to the grandeur of a big battle like Dumai’s Wells because it’s a more character-oriented book rather than a plot-oriented one but I enjoyed this change of tone and there were still plenty of memorable scenes throughout the book. This will be a non-spoiler review, although I do mention some events that happen very early on in the book. The review will be covered in 5 sections: Characters, Plot, Setting/World-Building, Pacing, & my final thoughts along with an overall rating.

Image: Cadsuane at court with Rand & The Asha’man.


[Characters]:

The focus of this book is on Mat and Rand but Perrin, Egwene, and Nynaeve also have a good handful of chapters as well. This book had a great balance and distribution of the POV characters and I never felt like I was reading one character for too long. I think this is the first book in the series to equally feature every main character (Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne). No one is missing such as Rand not having much page time in The Dragon Reborn (Book 3) or characters like Mat, Perrin or Egwene either missing for multiple books, or having very limited page time.

One of my least favorite moments in The Dragon Reborn (Book 3) was when Mat risked his life to break into the Stone of Tear and save Nynaeve and Elayne from the Black Ajah shielding and imprisoning them, only for them to be completely ungrateful for his help and they use the One Power on him to scold him like a child afterwards. That exact scene plays a big role in this current book and it’s a big reason for the awkward and unnecessary tension between Mat and Nynaeve/Elayne, so I’m glad Robert Jordan addressed this issue and I loved how the resolution was handled. The main reason why this was such a big deal to me was because that scene from Book 3 really made me dislike Nynaeve and Elayne, so the resolution in this book definitely made me like Elayne more, while Nynaeve still needs some more character work for me to not fully despise her.

Some of the secondary characters I really liked in this book were Min, Lan, and Cadsuane. Out of the weird love-rectangle, I liked Min and Rand’s relationship the most. It feels more authentic and unforced compared to other romantic relationships in this series and I really believe that Min loves Rand whereas the Elayne-Rand relationship came out of nowhere, although I did enjoy the Aviendha-Rand dynamic from previous books and I can see the potential of that relationship in the future. Lan has much more page time which is always a positive for me. He has so much layers to his character now that Moiraine is dead and his bond to her being severed has really affected his mental state. If there’s anything that would make me like Nynaeve, it would be to fix the depressed state that Lan is in. I loved the introduction of Cadsuane and her grand entrance in this book. Her backstory of being an Aes Sedai legend who was thought to be long dead was great. Every Aes Sedai is in awe of her and she even humbles Rand and easily irritates him. You can feel her regal presence whenever she’s in a scene and she always dominates the room, no matter who’s there with her.

Favorite Characters – Perrin, Lan, Mat, Min, & Birgitte.



Image: A Sul’dam (Leash Holder) and Damane (Leashed One).


[Plot]:

The main storyline is Mat, Nynaeve, Elayne and company continuing their search for the Bowl of the Winds in Ebou Dar, while secretly being pursued by Moghedien, the Black Ajah, and others. Even though this is a continuation of their journey in Lord of Chaos, I enjoyed this storyline much more in this book compared to the previous book because Nynaeve and Elayne are more tolerable as their irritating behaviour and attitudes are toned down, and the stakes of their storyline are much more significant this time around as they are being pursued by the Black Ajah (on orders from Moghedien), Jaichim Carridin (on orders from Sammael) and Moghedien herself.

The 2nd main storyline is Rand returning to Cairhien after The Battle of Dumai’s Wells and finding out Lady Colavaere has crowned herself Queen of Cairhien in his absence. Rand does a lot of political housekeeping in this book, such as dealing with Lady Colavaere, attempting to squash a rebellion near the city, utilizing his friends/allies to settle some other lands, and preparing for his upcoming battle with Sammael. I enjoyed all of the court intrigue in Rand’s storyline and his chapters continue to be the best in the series, as always.

Morgase had one long chapter in this book but it was insane and some of the threads in her isolated storyline started seeping into the main storyline in Ebou Dar later on. It’s probably my favorite chapter in the book because so much crazy things happen in the chapter but the theme of the chapter had to do with Morgase doubting her courage and ultimately doing what she must to secure the Lion Throne for her daughter Elayne. It’s a perfect balance between having grand and epic story moments while also having great internal character moments.

The ending of this book was not as good as most of the book endings in this series since the stakes felt more personal to the characters themselves rather than to the character plus a nation or a mass of people such as in The Battle of Dumai’s Wells or the 3-way battle on Falme between the dead army brought back from the Horn of Valere, the Seanchan, and the Children of the Light. It’s a smaller and more personal ending rather than a big and flashy ending, but it’s still really impactful as some of the main characters will never be the same after what they’ve seen/done and newer powerful threats emerge by the end of this story.

Image: Min Farshaw.


[Setting/World-Building]:

The main settings of this book are the city of Cairhien and Ebou Dar (the capital city of Altara). The world-building continues to expand and deepen this story as we learn more about Siuan Sanche’s predecessors as the Amyrlin Seat, about what happens when a Warder’s bond is broken by the death of his Aes Sedai, about the Sea Folk’s culture and much more. A great new addition to the magic system is the True Power. The True Power is the Power that comes from the Dark One/Great Lord. Only the Chosen/Forsaken can tap into it, but only in the direst situations. It’s so strong that attempting to channel it could burn/fry the wielder to cinders. The True Power can only be used with the Great Lord’s blessing. The True Power is also more addictive than the One Power and causes the wielder’s eyes to have black specks.

Speaking of the magic system, Robert Jordan does a great job using metaphors and analogies to describe his magic system very clearly and he’s done this multiple times in previous books but I just loved this passage from this book: "Saidin filled him, trying to grind him to dust beneath steel-shattering cold and heat where stone would flash to flame, carrying the Dark One’s taint on its flow, forcing corruption into his bones. Into his soul, he feared sometimes. It did not make him feel so sick to his stomach as it once had. He feared that even more. And larded through that torrent of fire, ice and filth, was life. That was the best word. Saidin tried to destroy him. Saidin filled him to overflowing with vitality. It threatened to bury him, and it enticed him. The war for survival, the struggle to avoid being consumed, magnified the joy of pure life. So sweet even with the foulness. He wanted to draw more, draw all there was. There lay the deadly seduction." It just shows what Rand is feeling every time he draws on Saidin and adds weight to his internal struggles and impending insanity.

[Pacing]:

This book being one of the shortest in the series definitely helps the pacing. Time is progressing more slowly in this story compared to previous books. The story actually starts off moments after The Battle of Dumai’s Wells rather than the usual 1 month or so time jump that occurs between books, but the book length really made me fly through it without any slow points except for most of Egwene’s chapters.

[Final Thoughts & Rating]:

After hearing all the criticisms of “The Slog” (Books 7-10), A Crown of Swords is much better than I expected. I actually enjoyed it more than books like Lord of Chaos and The Eye of the World. The character development is the best aspect of this book, not only because of the development with Rand and Mat, but also better character interactions between Mat and Nynaeve/Elayne. It had a lot of memorable scenes like Cadsuane’s grand entrance, great action sequences, some mysterious new characters showing up and also some fantastic character reunions. A Crown of Swords is probably my 4th favorite book in this series so far.

Rating: 8.25/10

My Book Rankings: https://jaytargaryen.blogspot.com/p/b...


*My Rating System*

5 Stars (9-10): Amazing
4 Stars (7-9): Really Good to Great
3 Stars (5-7): Average to Good
2 Stars (3-5): Bad to Mediocre
1 Star (1-3): Terrible 

 

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