N. Mahurin

This novel resembled a museum exhibit. It was something whose pages I entered, experienced, thought about after I left, and now, it is somewhere I've visited. A series of words intended to be felt and studied. It left no particularly profound effect on me, and yet I can sense something within me has been irrevocably changed. The nature of this text has always been polarising, and it's interesting to feel exactly that. It is not mine to have an opinion on.

The shifting in perspectives, and the particular absence of one, was enough to pique interest all throughout. There are also certain scenes (spoilers, spoilers!) that had me rooting. Robert Jordan has this knack for spreading out the different chapters in a manner where, even if you don't necessarily like the POV that you're reading, you continue to read in order to get back to the chapters you do. And I'm not disappointed yet. I am a bit uncertain about certain character arcs, not quite sure how some (who are lagging behind) are going to catch up, but I suppose that's what the rest of the books are for.

DNF at page 51.

Interesting premise, lovely idea. Poor execution. The prose is dry. I had no indication of what anybody looked like nor grounding in the scenes. The slapstick element missed hard for me. I wasn't expecting super serious horror per se with a museum of oddities — but I was expecting cohesive and alive. This is neither.

An exceptional dive back into the fantasy realm that I didn't realise I was sorely missing. I watched the show first, and then have picked up the novels after feeling both scintillated and disappointed enough in certain parts of the show, upon recommendation from someone. (Who has been recommending them for several years, but here we are.) And I can see why.

The world-building is sublime, and somehow, easier to follow than most of the novels I've read, despite how there is so much of it all at once. Robert Jordan is a crafter at these tidbits, not ever truly succumbing to information-dumping. His characters read as real, true people. There was so much dialogue, I was a bit uncertain if it would become dried out, or redundant; but it was balanced, and the interactions were enough to whisk you away right into them. The pacing was also excellent; for me, I never felt bored. There were enough pause moments, arguments, and developments in silence, that I felt like things were slow; but there was also the endless sense of urgent danger, of the chase, of the shadow following after, that it was never a wondering of whether or not there was a point.

All in all, I'm looking forward to travelling alongside them as they continue their adventures. I'm already gleaning my favourite characters out; and despite some things perhaps being a bit “I saw that coming,” it's delivered in a method that makes me feel satisfied for guessing. There are also plenty of things that I didn't really see coming.

Horses, winding cliffs, a missing artist, and some actual Native (sure, not the most accurate, but when I was younger? It was everything) rep. What's there not to like about this one?