The Fires of Heaven: Book Five of 'The Wheel of Time' (Wheel of Time, 5)

Alright, once again I'm in a 'four or five stars' predicament. And as usual, I'm calling it a 4.5 and rounding up. Call it generosity, call it not being critical enough, whatever. This was a great book. I don't know why I even say when I'm between ratings, I could just rate it and move on. And now I'm talking about the fact that I didn't just rate it and move on. Anyway...Another thread in the Pattern complete. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills and it wills me to love this series. I am in deep now, this being the fifth of fourteen books, and the best way to describe my feeling within this world is.. comfortable. I have reached a point where even areas of the story that are paced slower still remain interesting to me, simply because I've grown fond of this world and the characters that fill it. Jordan remains a descriptive master, and if you give his writing the thought that it asks for you will find yourself in places as fully realized as those around me as I type. Now, that isn't to say that I will let any and all slow pacing off the hook, I'm just saying that it didn't bother me in this book. Maybe it will in the future, who knows?Now, the slower pace for this one did lend itself to some excellent characterization. Especially in Nynaeve. We get to spend (what felt like) more time with she and Elayne in this one, and I am really enjoying Nynaeve's growth. She is finally becoming a bit more self-reflective, which I've been waiting for for some time. You can feel her start to change, and feel how it affects the characters around her too. I will admit that she has a long way to go when it comes to her attitude toward men. And really, no character gets a pass on this. It seems every man in the series can hardly stand to be around women, and the same for every woman with men. At least in their internal dialogue. It comes off false, and frankly a little weird. It's one thing to fear Aes Sedai, but this is just frustratingly blind, and way too generalized. I'm ready for that to change. It doesn't bother me totally, because it's sort of been this way from the beginning, but if it did change it would be welcome. Anyhow, I was also pleased with Mat's POVs, I just wish there were more of them! I won't detail his growth because it's a major spoiler for readers in the earlier books, but it is very satisfying to watch, and Mat has come a long way from the boy he was back in Emond's Field. I have the sense that he has a long way yet to go, too. I was a bit surprised to find that Perrin has no POV chapters whatsoever in this one. He is mentioned offhandedly a couple of times but other than that, we are left in the dark as to just what Perrin Goldeneyes is up to during this book. I'm eager to have that cleared up in the next book. Rand's part of the story remains as compelling as ever, and is likely still my favorite bit, but I'm glad to see some interest building in areas of the story where it may have lacked before.Areas of slow pacing aside, The Fires of Heaven really did have some moments that packed a punch. These are long books, and reality never takes a break, so they can take me some time to finish, but I was pretty enthralled with the story throughout. I can usually tell how invested in a series I am by how many notes and highlights I have for each book in my Kindle, and I've got a whole hell of a lot for this one. The Wheel of Time is so far living up to its reputation for me, and has maybe even exceeded my expectations a bit. It's ambitious, interesting, full of magic, and shows no signs of stopping now. Lord of Chaos is up next.Life is a dream from which we all must wake before we can dream again.

It's a fun read. Will be continuing the journey with the next book.

After four good books, Jordan's series continues to get better and better and better. The Fires of Heaven tops even the sprawlingly complex "The Shadow Rising" with it's deep character development, faster pace, and excellent climax.The Fires of Heaven might have the most characters of any book so far, with a whopping eighteen major characters, each of whom have their own points of view at one point or another. However, that's a poor indicator of how the series is divided. Most of the book is dominated by Rand al'Thor and Nynaeve (arrgghh . . .), each of whom has about 30% of the book. Egwene, Elayne, and Mat each have significantly smaller POVs (though Elayne is present in most of Nynaeve's chapters), and following them are thirteen characters who's POVs are only seen briefly.Perrin is largely absent from this book, having no POV and only appearing in a brief cameo. (I guess that's fair, considering how big a plotline he got in the last book.) The book itself is mostly divided into two key story arcs: Nynaeve, Elayne, Thom, and Juilan traveling while they seek the rebel Aes Sedai and encounter Moghedien. And Rand (along with Egwene, Mat, Moiraine, Lan, Aviendha, and Asmodean) as he takes his Aiel forces over the Spine of the World to defeat the Shaido and take control of Cairhien.Character development reaches an even higher peak than in previous books. Rand and Elayne get the brunt of it, but every character benefits in some way or another. However, the annoyingness of several characters is really building. Egwene and Aviendha are almost at Nynaeve's level now. (How does Rand put UP with these people?!) However, Egwene compensates partially for this when she calls Nynaeve out and gives her a taste of her own medicine, quite literally, while in the world of dreams.Of the storylines, Rand's is undoubtedly the best. Elayne's and Nynaeve's is certainly interesting, but gets bogged down in places with unnecessary details. Of particular note is the menagerie, a section that could be skipped with almost no problem for the rest of the story.I'm taking increasing issue with the way romance is portrayed in these books, though. Elayne suddenly flirting with Thom was utterly bizarre, even if it wasn't serious. What's worse is Rand's relationship with Aviendha, the third member of his growing harem. (Rand is apparently too attractive for his own good, especially given Lanfear's unhealthy obsession with him. Who's next?) The whole relationship was terribly developed, came out of nowhere, had more WTF moments than all the previous books together, and just didn't make any sense to me. I'm really not a fan of the love/hate relationships that Jordan seems to think are normal.The Fires of Heaven finishes strongly, with the last several chapters packed with explosive action. It is prefixed by an awesome scene where Rand totally loses it and goes on a rampage against one of the Forsaken. Rand fights two Forsaken (separately) in the last few chapters. The first such incident is an absolutely amazing, spectacular, breathtaking one-on-one duel. The second such fight is also intense, though it comes with the problem of Rahvin's cowardice. Why do the Forsaken, the strongest wielders of the One Power in the world, always run away?The Fires of Heaven starts strong, stays strong, and ends strong, populated with awesome characters and built with massive complexity and deft worldbuilding, but still with some definite flaws. I'm currently reading Lord of Chaos, and can't help but wonder the dreadful question: When will the glory end, and when will the infamous decline of the series begin?

Good developments. Story builds and characters get more interesting.

La trama se va desarrollando en Este 5 libro. Desvelando los planes de Rand y los de los elegidos. Los personajes van creciendo en poder y destreza tanto en el mundo real como en los sueños. Me ba gustado este libro.

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Go for this just amazing series.Amazon is superb superb delivery

Great read