It's times like these that I'm starting to second-guess my attitude to the Wheel of Time series. I'd heard very little about it coming in, except that it wasn't that good for reasons that I didn't know much about. When I first read this, I found myself making comparisons to other fantasy books (mostly Lord of the Rings) and trying to look at it in a critical manner, because I felt I needed practice in doing that.
But setting aside my nitpicks and the familiar feel of the story, I have to admit that Jordan is telling this story pretty well thus far. He's made distinct characters with great potential for interesting story arcs in the future, and every time I complain about the story possibly going in the wrong direction, he shuts me up quick.
Take this chapter, for instance. He made Mashadar, the ancient evil possessing Shadar Logoth, into something that's still on the mysterious and scary side, while delivering the payoff I was expecting in the last chapter in full. All we see of Mashadar is tentacles made of fog that weave over the whole city and guarantee a horrible death to those they touch, and in the first page one of them separates Moiraine and Lan from the more vulnerable, less experienced members of the party.
As I've pointed out before, Moiraine and Lan (especially Moiraine) have been the safety net that's bailed out our inexperienced protagonists over and over again. Without their guidance, the other six characters are practically sitting ducks, and when the Trollocs find them, they all panic and scatter, leaving Rand to flee city all by himself. The tentacles catch the Trollocs pursuing him, though, and he manages to get away, but the sequence is tense nonetheless.
The tension gets ramped up again with the first few pages that follow a perspective other than Rand's. Interestingly enough, it's the one character that I haven't gotten a feel for before then, Perrin. Turns out that he's the gentle giant who gets lost in thought, as opposed to Mat, who rarely thinks at all. He actually meets up with Egwene after the chaos, but gets separated from her again and ends the interlude cold and shivering in the river. What happened to the two of them? I guess we'll have to wait to find out!
Rand ends up reuniting with Mat and Thom, and they stumble on a merchant boat with Trollocs in hot pursuit. And it's here that the one wrinkle in this chapter presents itself:
- Time seemed to slow as the Trolloc raised the jagged pole as if to spear him with it. To Rand the creature appeared to be moving as if in a dream. He watched the thick arm go back; he could already feel the broken haft ripping through his spine, feel the pain of it tearing him open. He thought his lungs would burst. I'm going to die! Light help me, I'm going to...! The Trolloc's arm started forward, driving the splintered shaft, and Rand found the breath for one yell. "No!"
Suddenly the ship lurched, and a boom swung out of the shadows to catch the Trolloc across the chest with a crunch of breaking bones, sweeping it over the side.
Yep. Rand's life was saved by sheer dumb luck. Now, you could argue that that's happened to Rand a lot before, and that it only serves to emphasize how out of his league Rand is. I would argue that this seems far more contrived than the previous times Rand's gotten out of trouble, and that we've already established Rand's inexperience. This is just pushing it.
But the chapter makes up for it with a terse conversation between the ship captain and Thom. Thom pragmatically weaves a story about him, Mat and Rand hunting for treasure in Shadar Logoth, and the captain makes it clear that they're too far down the river to go back for their friends, and they barely have enough money to pay the fare as it is. The chapter ends with Rand despondent about his lost friends, especially Egwene.
Shit just got real, everyone.
So far what I'm seeing of WoT is that it is pretty much as cliche as I was expecting in terms of characters and plot. I have done some digging, though, and by all accounts the first three books are a solid tale that fits together pretty seamlessly. Apparently it's after that, and particularly books 7-11, where the kudzu plot gets completely out of control.
ReplyDeleteI still can't read about the Trollocs without thinking that things would be more interesting from their perspective... but that may be because I gave up and just started writing a story about a villain who turns people, including the protagonist, into beastmen.
Rand's continually improbable luck is apparently a feature of the series, but I did hear that there's a reason for it.
You absolutely have to reread this chapter after you've finished tEotW. It's much better in hindsight, if that makes sense. You'll like it better then, I promise.
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