Nynaeve enters Tel’aran’rhiod, where Birgitte takes her to watch Moghedien spy on the other Forsaken. On the ground they flapped about among clouds of buzzing flies, squawking hoarsely at glossy ravens that tried to usurp their rights to the dead. When complete, [The Wheel of Time] sequence will almost certainly constitute one of the major epic narratives of modern fantasy. I wondered why this is so especially when an Aes Sedai is included in a scene or I read from one of the channeling women’s POV.

Aviendha and Egwene are inside the dome, though, and Lanfear begins to torture them, asking which is Aviendha. Gareth Bryne, having tracked Siuan all the way to Salidar, is talked into gathering an army for the Salidar Aes Sedai. Meanwhile, Nynaeve and Elayne seek out the rebel Aes Sedai accompanied by Thom and Juilin, discovering the forkroot herb that incapacitates channelers. You can make a sword from the Power, or kill without, but suddenly you are wearing steel on your hip again, Why? This is the book where we get a much stronger bleed through of Lews Therin into Rand’s head and we get Rand talking to / arguing with his past life.Robert Jordan would later do the same for Mat Cauthon (who is absent from The Path of Daggers) and Rand al'Thor (who is absent from almost all of Crossroads of Twilight and was already absent from most of The Dragon Reborn). I’m also not sure what it says that a lot of what I appreciate in The Wheel of Time is when the story steps away from Rand - though there is also a distinct lack of Perrin in this novel.

I’ve mostly never been involved in any particular fandom, the one exception of course was The Wheel of Time. The core storyline of The Wheel of Time is Rand Al’Thor marching ever closer to his Final Battle against The Dark One. Open religious and political conflicts add a gritty realism, while the cities and courts provide plenty of drama and splendor.

They don disguises since both the Black Ajah and the White Tower seek to capture them and at first head for Tear. He spots a contingent of Tairen and Cairhienin soldiers about to get bushwhacked, and helps them turn the tables. There’s probably a phrase for this in fiction and there is certainly something to be said for learning the the traditions of a place and rising up through the ranks and gain power and enacting change that way (it’s the entire basis for Seth Dickinson’s Masquerade / Traitor Baru Cormorant series) - but it is also a lot of fun when these less trained but incredibly talented and determined young people just come up with answers and paths and solutions because they don’t know they can’t. The Amyrlin has been cast down, and now a Red sits her seat—the very Ajah responsible for hunting men who can channel now rules the White Tower.

Everything revolves around Rand, but he is the cipher being pushed and pulled while digging in his heels until he is ready to make whatever move he thinks will get him closer to uniting the world behind his banner and against the Dark One. Moiraine gives Rand two letters—one for him to read later, the other for Thom Merrilin—and claims he needs to see something down at the docks.What hope can he have against four of the most powerful, most talented channelers to have ever lived? Unable to reveal that Birgitte is the source of her knowledge about the Forsaken, Nynaeve endures a lecture from Melaine.