A Crown of Swords

3.50/5.00

A Crown of Swords is an interesting choice for the name of this book. I have mixed feelings about this book of the wheel of time. While there are some plotlines which had interesting developments, a few were downright confusing. Some great moments, some satisfying conclusions, some unsatisfying “conclusions”, moderate worldbuilding, and slowed down pacing. A Crown of Swords is a “meh”.

Plot -> I enjoyed the Nynaeve-Elayne Plotline. Nynaeve finally gets rid of her block! But I was so disappointed... Is that all ? So she just went to the brink of death and then suddenly she surrendered... After reading Theodrin's story of getting her block removed, I was expecting something more meaningful. I actually had this theory that Nynaeve's block will break if she cuts her braid.... lol. That would have still been better than what happened here. Mat's plot line was so much fun and so much horror! Very unexpected for a WoT book, but it was certainly interesting to read. Egwene plays a smaller role here.. pretty much pointless for her to be in this book. Moghedien's plot was fun. Rand was bonkers in this book. The power is getting to his head. I did not quite follow the whole Illian invasion thing. It looks like Rand sends the spears to Illian earlier in the book, and then suddenly the attack is failing cause Rand was unconscious, and then somehow he invades anyway.. I think the whole Illian plot line was poorly executed. Worldbuilding -> Not much of new worldbuilding here. I was hoping for more with the Sea Folk, but it kind of felt really flat. The Wise Woman worldbuilding took so many pages! So slow! The magic system does not develop much. I am disappointed that RJ did not provide any answers in this book. He started new plot lines and mysteries but he failed to answer at least some of the world building questions. Every WoT book has had some good stuff in it.. Not much Tel'aran'rhiod in this book, which is disappointing. Character Dev - > Mat wins this category, I just love him. Loved the Mat-Birgitte friendship, loved how he protected his friends no matter how badly they treated him. Rand goes through so much in this book, the PTSD, the clausterphobia! The corruption of all the power that he is amassing.. His never ending battle with putting women in danger (although I think this should be a lesson that he should have learned by now), and finally the self-loathing.. .which is what RJ is going for so job well done. Cadsuane was fun! Sammael is so confusing! I am disappointed with Lan. He is treated like a piece of meat in this book, by all the women who control his life. Why does he let Nynaeve treat him like that... Instead of thanking him for saving her ass from the river, she just hits and slaps him! What a horrible person (I agree with Mat on this lol, at least someone acknowledged how awful she is). There is not much Elayne POV here so I could not appreciate her very much. Prose -> The pacing is slowing down.. but there are some really good things in the book. RJ's writing is pretty much the same, but I think he fumbled the ending here. The Mat-Nynaeve-Elayne part was written very well. The Ending for Rand was not done well at all.. The battle for Illian was a let down. Emotional Impact -> mixed for me... I did really enjoy the moment where the bubble of evil attacks Rand and Cadsuane.... It was finally Aes Sedai and Rand working together. Elayne taking command of the Aes Sedai was good. Mat's POV in general was fun and the whole thing about his rape was weird when the way Elayne reacts to it! OMG!