The Wheel of Time: Lord of Chaos

The lions sing and the hills take flight.
The moon by day, and the sun by night.
Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.
Let the Lord of Chaos rule.

-- chant from a children's game
heard in Great Arvalon,
the Fourth Age

The sixth book of The Wheel of Time starts with a lengthy (~70 pages) prologue, in which, among other stuff, The Dark One orders his Chosen to 'let the Lord of Chaos rule'. A line that also appears in the chant at beginning of the book. I'm not sure who or what Lord of Chaos is (maybe the Dark One himself?) but the novel is named after him. It's better than with the previous one, though -- I've no idea where The Fires of Heaven got its name. Lord of Chaos is also the first installation to lack the definite article in its name.

A lot happens in Lord of Chaos but the ongoing theme seems to be that no one knows how things actually are around the world. The most bothersome thing is how half of the world believes Morgase, the current Queen of Andor, is dead, most likely by Rand's hand. (Morgase's son, Gawyn, being one of them.) The majority of those also believe Rand wants to hold on the throne when just wants Elayne to claim it as the rightful heir. Morgase herself is with White Cloaks, who will probably soon march into Andor. Such a mess.

Egwene is finally summoned to the rebelling Aes Sedai who raise her as the new Amyrlin Seat, as was foreseen. Nynaeve discovers how to heal stilled people, although it doesn't restore their full strength. Thus Siuan Sanche regains the ability to channel, and for some reason, I'm very happy with this. Nynaeve also heals Logain, a false dragon, who Egwene later lets to escape. I think he will likely go to Rand.

Rand, the Dragon Reborn, is constantly having harder time fighting with Lews Therin inside his head. Rand is also getting bit too proud, a dangerous thing when both, the White Tower and the rebelling Aes Sedai, are sending emissaries to him. His first mistake, in his pride, is to let Alanna -- who is on her way to the White Tower from the Two Rivers with Verin and a whole bunch of women capable of learning how to channel -- to bond him. Alanna! Some minor character, and I all this time I thought it'd be Elayne. On a related note, I finally seem have gotten past the point I've read the series in Finnish -- the end of the book was completely new to me.

When the Aes Sedai of Salidar start massing in Caemlyn, Rand decides to teleport to Cairhien instead. In Cairhien, however, waits emissary of the White Tower and as Rand's arrogance hasn't gone anywhere, the Aes Sedai are able to shield him from the True Source and capture him. It takes four days before anyone realizes that Rand's been captured. Four days! Finally, Perrin -- who makes a comeback to the series after his absence in The Fires of Heaven -- leads a rescue party to save Rand.

I wasn't sure they were even going to save Rand in this book as the pages seemed get too few for anything to happen. But they did save him. And I thought it would be just a small fight. But no, the Tower witches actually number quite a few with their warders and Younglings, and they are joined by an army of forty thousand (!) Shaido Aiel as well. Perrin's forces are fewer in number but the channeling men Mazrim Taim has been training, The Black Tower, the Asha'man, join in to even the odds.

Rand escapes from the shielding when the fighting starts, of course, and starts picking off the Aes Sedai, tipping the scales for good. The most epic force in the battle are, however, the wolves. During the chase, Perrin keeps asking the wolves the whereabouts of Rand's escort. The wolves of course tell what they know but they also get curious why Perrin is after the convoy.

Perrin considers a moment and then tells them; They have caged Shadowkiller. A moment of silence follows, and then simply: We come. Few words yet incredibly epic. I like the wolves, very very much.

The ending got me off guard -- I didn't expect a climax of this magnitude. I really do hope Brandon Sanderson will be able to finish Robert Jordan's story with this level of storytelling.

For a change, the Forsaken do not suffer any losses. And Moghedien even escapes with the help of someone she doesn't know. It seems there is a new piece on the board. (Two in fact, as it turns out in the prologue.) I fear Moghedien will come after Nynaeve and the others for a revenge. Hopefully Nynaeve will get rid of her 'block' to be able to channel freely in time.

What I want to see in the next book, A Crown of Swords (where's the definite article again?), is Rand getting less arrogant and more careful. Lews Therin might cause some trouble, as Rand has almost lost control few times already. He should really tell someone about the voice inside his head, and not bear it all by himself.

On a day of fire and blood, a tattered banner waved above Dumai's Wells, bearing the ancient symbol of Aes Sedai.

On a day of fire and blood and the One Power, as prophecy had suggested, the unstained tower, broken, bent knee to the forgotten sign.

The first nine Aes Sedai swore fealty to the Dragon Reborn, and the world was changed forever.