The Not a Book Club Club discussion
This topic is about
New Spring
Wheel of Time
>
WoTPre: Part 1 (Chapters1-5)
date
newest »
newest »
I've read the last book of the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, back in January 2013. This was 22 years after I read the first novel. Quite a journey for 14 novels, hum? Though I considered myself a light fan of this series, I never have read the short story New Spring when Robert Silverberg collected a few novellas in his anthology Legends in 1998.The extended version of this novella came out in the form we are going to read. It appeared somewhere between book 10 (Crossroads of Twilight) and 11 (Knife of Dreams) which were the last two books in the series to appear while Jordan was alife.
Reading this short novel is, I assume, a journey back home for me. To al'Lan Mandragoran, Lord of the Lakes, Lord of the Seven Towers, True Blade of Malkier, Defender of the Wall of First Fires, Bearer of the Sword of the Thousand Lakes, Dai Shan (view spoiler). I think this was the character which most of all drew me into the series, as I thought of him as Aragorn from LotR, as Allanon from Shannara, or maybe as Lancelot.
Oh joy, when I read the first chapter with exactly this protagonist going for the Aiel.
But also to the Aes Sedai of Tar Valon, the Dragonmount, to Moiraine Damodred of the House of Cairhien.
Does this sound sesquipedalian, maybe a touch to epic? Well, welcome to the prequel of the Wheel of Time, I say :)
Mod
Re-reads of books in that series are out of discussion for me, as well. Some of them where really dragging and I had to fight through a couple of them. At least, this novel is new for me :)
Mod
I loved Lan's opening chapter and can't wait for more. It's cool seeing Moraine so uncertain of herself. Her early relationship with Siuan reminds me a lot of Egwene and Elayne. Turns out the years haven't changed Elaida much. I like the little peeks we get into Sheriam and Alanna as accepted also.
Crossroads of Twilight was the only book so far that I disliked only having read the first 10. Even though I haven't finished the series yet I think I will do a reread of them in around a year or so.
Chapter 2 introduces Moiraine Damodred. As Bill observed, she is fresh and young, shivering in the cold, and obviously not yet an Aes Sedai. Later Amyrlin Siuan Sanche is on her side serving the Amyrlin and the Keeper in a most prominent situation, the foretelling of the Dragon Reborn.More interesting to me was the battle in the background, the last and decisive battle of the Aiel war, the so called "Battle of the Shining Walls" - the whole war being a revenge act for the "treekillers". That was where Tham al'Thor found his son.
I would have wished for more Lan in action. But in chapter 2 we learned that not every fulfilled wish yields a good result.
The Not a Book Club Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Crossroads of Twilight (other topics)A Memory of Light (other topics)
Legends (other topics)
Crossroads of Twilight (other topics)
Knife of Dreams (other topics)
Please keep all discussion and speculation to the events of Part 1 (Chapters 1-5).
No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling this for your good read friends.
Please do not discuss events from later chapters/books. Referring back to events from a previous section/book is fine.