I'm so glad you mentioned the Tylin thing! I was horrified. Mat was so ashamed and she even threatened him with a knife!

So glad to find someone "for" this book!! I also loved it and felt that there was a lot of very satisfactory and obvious character growth from everyone. I was only disappointed of Tylin, and that we missed Lan and Nyneves wedding 😭

The only Aes Sedai that Rand has stilled are those that got stilled when he broke free from his captivity, it's because of the way he shattered the shields they are holding him with.

Thanks for the review!

Personally out of 1-7 book 6 is my favorite by far

I think the key word here is "expectations". I went into Lord of Chaos expecting to like it as much as the previous books but I found it bloated and slow instead. I went into A Crown of Swords expecting, well... The Slog, but I was positively surprised at how many good moments it had that I actually enjoyed more because of my expectations.

It's my first time reading this series as well, just finished this book 7 and I agree with many of your thoughts shared! I enjoyed seeing the characters try to find their way in Ebou Dar and character relationship moments, especially Mat & Brigette's friendship, it's definitely going to be something I watch out in the next few books hopefully! x thanks for the video!

Glad you are still enjoying my favourite series! It seems like you are not letting the negative thoughts about "the slog" effect your reading experience. I hope you make it to the end! It will be interesting to hear your thoughts when you are finished. Might be awhile, but it is worth it! Hope you are well, be safe!

Even though the book at times was slow it was still a nice read definitely didn't feel like a slog to me

When I was reading the books for the first time, I had the theory by this point of the story that Rand’s hangup about women stemmed from Lews Therin Telamon’s voice in his head. Lews Therin killed his own wife, and I assumed he was incapable of ever bringing harm to a woman again. I feel like Rand took on this quality (flaw?) as LTT’s voice came into being over the past couple books. Notice, for example, that Rand had had no qualms about beheading a woman (a merchant who came to “share his fire” who ultimately turned out to be a Darkfriend) in book three-before Lews Therin’s voice had started in his head. This is not a spoiler, as I am not confirming whether my suppositions on my first read were accurate or not. Hope you continue enjoying the series as you go! I suspect the “slog” won’t affect you as much, since you seem to be a character-driven reader, not just a plot-driven reader. Also, about Mat and Elayne, I always assumed on my first read that Mat likes Elayne romantically but wouldn’t admit it to himself, since she’s a noble, and she and Rand were a thing. Regarding Tylin and Mat, and Nynaeve hitting Lan, I’m pretty sure RJ intentionally wrote in many of the flaws more common in men in our world as flaws in women in his world. Because in many contexts the women have all the power (Ebou Dar is an excellent example), they abuse their position, and men are often oppressed. This stems, of course, from tainted saidin bringing men down in the world for lack of channelers who can take the most powerful positions of leadership. I think it’s hard to enjoy reading about abuse of any sort, and our 2021 sensibilities don’t jive well with 1990’s texts sometimes, but I appreciate RJ’s attempt to show how power can corrupt someone of any gender.

The best villains in literature are those we feel sympathetic towards their motivations. They are heroes from their own perspective. Elaida is villainous from our perspective because our point of reference is from the Emond's Field 5. From her own, she saw the Blues secretly hiding the identity of the Dragon, a man she knows must defeat the Dark One. It's 100% believable that someone like her would view that to mean he simply needs to be there and it will be done. Not with nations at his back, but his mere presence would be enough. Why wouldn't she want him captured and protected until then. Keeping him from destroying every city he touches is a good idea. Of all the characters in the entire story, Elaida's journey is the one that tugs my heart strings.

I've only read through crown of swords at this point, but it feels like Rand's unwillingness to kill women is where his and Lews Therin's personalities intersect. Maybe killing Illyena was traumatic enough to leave unconscious baggage between lifetimes 🤷‍♂️

Mat's reflections on his girl-chasing is because he is reflecting on the experience being the chased. It caused him to wonder what the girls had been thinking. Mat thought Tylin was hot all long, and he didn't need to do anything Tylin wanted. Tylin was just super-pushy. Enjoying your comments!

Something that irks me is that whenever healing someone stilled is mentioned, virtually every Aes Sedai is shocked and says it's impossible. This implies that healing a stilled person has been thoroughly researched, studied, and tested by many different aes sedai (particularly the yellows). I wouldn't be shocked if this topic hasn't been studied for decades or even centuries. But no one thought to use a trick that nyneve did by using fire? So you have these novice/accepted being trained and told by teachers that healing a stilled person is impossible, so don't even try to research the topic! It just doesn't make sense, especially for yellows who seem desperate to learn any new healing weaves.

Hi 👋 thank u for a great review!! I’ve watched 3 episode of wheel of times tv show it was okay but it could’ve done better.. but good start. Happy reading to you!! 📖🎬🎥

You should be a script writer for the TV series. Your insights are uncanny.