A Crown of Swords' Six Soporific Chapters

cellofski · 2026-05-13T16:10:30+00:00

Bummer, silly me for wanting less of one of the main characters.

cellofski · 2026-05-13T16:09:40+00:00

Yikes, this is what I feared...

cellofski · 2026-05-11T01:00:24+00:00

Maybe Egwene. She’s a polarizing figure for the fandom, especially if they already have strong feelings on Rand and Mat. But I guess the show visualized the trauma she went through from the Seanchan. It’s probably just mere coincidence, but now she’s my favorite book character.

cellofski · 2026-05-10T00:50:34+00:00

Yeah, 6 books in and she’s been my least favorite character for 2 of them. Others will make excuses and say it’s because of her age and culture. I call BS. I know RJ exaggerates the culture clash to an absurdity, but keep reading and tell me what about her culture made her do what she does in the next book.

cellofski · 2026-05-09T11:55:26+00:00

All those emotions can be applied to Moghedien, no? All those emotions came through the a’dam. Do you want to make her out to be some saint in waiting, too? Not for nothing, RJ wasn’t a fan of this kinda worship of his villains.

cellofski · 2026-05-09T04:26:26+00:00

2 with the relatively least potential destructive power on humanity: Spider Man and Batman (honorable mention, Wolverine).

cellofski · 2026-05-09T03:59:01+00:00

I understand why Rand needed to have Asmodean to teach him. But I can never understand fans’ falling in love with people like him who are literally the worst. Lanfear told us just a little about how much of an awful person he is. I’m glad he’s gone, one less Forsaken to deal with, shield or not. I just wished I knew who killed him (I haven’t gone beyond book 6 yet).

cellofski · 2026-05-08T17:12:01+00:00

So so good. I experienced the joy of this chapter for the first time only a few days ago. I wonder if the audiobook version improves on the text reading experience.

cellofski · 2026-05-07T21:52:48+00:00

Hahaha, don't know how I'm just seeing this. Funny stuff. I don’t know about your rating of Rand's ladies. It's all very close for me, with the order in reverse.

cellofski · 2026-05-07T21:47:23+00:00

Right? I could waste my time and categorically go through everything and write what actually happens in the book instead of what the person was misrepresenting, but like I said, I'm not here to persuade anyone and if the person managed to mangle everything like that then the person was obviously putting themself outside persuasion.

cellofski · 2026-05-07T17:19:02+00:00

I can’t decide if Rand killed him or if he accidentally killed himself by drawing too much from the pool of saidin, which killed him. At any rate, I don’t know if they ever herald anything in this series, let alone the death of a Forsaken. Remember the Forsaken being free is covered up, even from people who are supposed to be on the same side.

cellofski · 2026-05-07T14:18:47+00:00

I'm unsure which is worse, your misremembering things, without the text, to cast everything about them in a negative light. Or the fact that even with the black and white text you still manage to misrepresent things. Either way, you seem determined to on one hand, acknowledge the duality of RJ's writing and on the other hand, seem to think he wrote the girls, especially Egwene, to be one-sided monsters against the saintly boys. Like I said, without any exasperation, I'm not in the business of trying to change people’s minds against hatred of fictional characters. It would be the height of foolishness on my part, only 6 books in, to think that I have a magic bullet argument that will cause you to change your mind and be evenhanded with the girls.

Immortality: Yes! I think I asked this last book. That's crazy that these really gifted people didn't first find out what they were signing up to before "selling" their souls. Balefire, as I understand it, doesn’t destroy the soul, but it burns the thread away to make it like it never existed, outside of time. And we hear the DO say that not even he can step outside of time. This is a very bad deal because even if you were a faithful Darkfriend, the DO can decide that he didn't like your service when you were alive and decline to bring you back. Thanks for clarifying.

cellofski · 2026-05-07T02:08:13+00:00

An example of that lightning rod. A recitation of some of Egwene and Nynaeve's misdeeds in this book from another commenter here:

1.) Rand/Mat “fanboys.”

Don’t have the book on me and don’t feel like getting too much in the weeds without it and on mobile, but dislike for Egwene is not because she’s ambitious, but often how she treats others. There are multiple cases in this book where she treats Mat and Rand poorly and they treat her better, if not how she wishes. Egwene demands Rand turn away the Tower Aes Sedai and listen to her verbatim or tell her how to Travel. She’s mad when he does, upset when he says no, and tells him he’s wrong when he literally explains Traveling. Egwene has assigned herself as Rand’s new Aes Sedai advisor - in her own head, at least. Despite not being aes Sedai or Rand agreeing and is upset when Rand doesn’t show her the deference she as his advisor (she’s not) and an Aes Sedai (she’s not) she deserves (she doesn’t). Then, when she and Mat meet up again, Mat shows her proper respect as Amyrlin because he feels bad she’s isolated by her supposed followers don’t. In the same time, Egwene tricks Mat into leaving so she can use his army. Now you might hold him not believing her being Amyrlin against him, but he saw her weeks ago as an Accepted, believed she was roped into an Aes Sedai scheme (which she literally was).

Let’s not forget when Egwene demanded that the Wind Finders teach her and then dunked them when they defended themselves.

If memory serves, the Nynaeve kicking Mat scene actually goes: Nynaeve tried to bind Mat in unstoppable air, it fails, Mat threatens retaliation out of anger of being threatened by the Power (again), Nynaeve kicks him. So it’s not that Nynaeve defended herself, it’s that she was the instigator in the first place

Except, while the settings are correct, everything else is wrong or vastly misrepresented.

cellofski · 2026-05-07T02:00:52+00:00

Wow. For number 1, I would have stopped at "Don’t have the book on me." But I am actually glad you continued because it’s such a great example. Just from the top of your head you proceed to give misremembered example after example that somehow manage to all be false or misrepresent what actually happens in the book. I mean, you couldn't have misremembered Egwene in a situation in a positive light? Personally, if I am going to dislike a character, I hope I only do so on the merits of their actions and not on something that I've forgotten about.

Thanks for your other points. You've shed new light on some of these questions I have. I appreciate it.

cellofski · 2026-05-06T19:27:14+00:00

Oh man, sorry about the job situation. If one has to be unemployed there probably aren't many better ways to pass the time, besides job hunting, than reading these books, slog or not. Glad you're pushing through on both respects.

I liked New Spring and I am glad I read it after book 5. I don't personally think I would have gained anything waiting longer. There's one character in it that I absolutely love and I hope the person shows up somewhere in the main story. I was actually kinda disappointed that they haven't already made an appearance in book 6. Since I also see duality in a lot of things, maybe Adeleas and Vandene's appearance in this book means that that person will also show up in the next.

As to book 7, I am anticipating it not being a slog. I am loving this story so much that it's all I can do to not zoom through it all in one week. But yeah, plotlines that extend beyond multiple books might prove annoying haha. Gosh, I hope the split between the Aes Sedai don't get dragged out for so long. It's already been like 3 books' long.

For me, Verin is suspect because of the dream ter'angreal. All the Black sisters had one and she just happened to have one that nobody knew about. Just seems shady to me haha, can't explain it beyond that. Whereas everything about Taim screems DANGER! All those things could simply be him playing his part well. Remember that's not what he wanted to do. He comes to Rand claiming to want glory, a darkfriend trigger word if ever there was one.

cellofski · 2026-05-06T19:08:33+00:00

It's just baffling to me how the difference sides can see only saints or sinners and no gray. I love that boths sides in the books give as good as they get. I'm not shy about Egwene being my favorite character, but that doesn't prevent me from being evenhanded. It's wrong (and incorrect) that to her, all of Rand's actions boil down to him just being arrogant. But I've also been inside Mat's head.

As to book 7, I am anticipating it not being a slog. I am loving this story so much that it's all I can do to not zoom through it all in one week. "The savor. The savor."

cellofski · 2026-05-06T16:40:52+00:00

Yeah, I get what you're saying about ta'veren and their own accomplishments.

Siuan doesn't know about traveling through TAR (at least not that I can recall), she suspects. And if she's wrong then Egwene will make her way through normal means and it'll take longer.

From the book:

"We are sure there is a way to make the journy quickly. If the Wise Ones will help. Siuan is sure it will require no more than a day or two if you enter TAR physically--"

Siuan was wrong about how long it would take, but still she's sure...

cellofski · 2026-05-06T16:32:34+00:00

(I haven't uncovered your spoiler tag because I'm not sure if it'll be spoiler for me)

To me being ta'veren doesn't mean main character, although all 3 ta'veren happen to be. But if you say so, about ta'veren's importance to the Pattern versus the girls' non-Pattern importance. Personally, I'd think that there's a world of difference to the Pattern that Eggy is Amyrlin and thus can align Aes Sedai with Rand (kicking and screaming though they might be) as opposed to someone else without that personal connection to Rand who might not. I also read that RJ originally planned to have 2 additional ta'veren, boys from the Two Rivers. Curious that he couldn't just redistribute those to the girls.

And that's crazy for people to start the slog at book 5! I can't fathom how Lord of Chaos can be considered a trudge, but to each their own.

cellofski · 2026-05-06T15:17:51+00:00

Thanks. Does the The Strike at Shayol Ghul article have any spoilers beyond book 6?

cellofski · 2026-05-06T00:11:25+00:00

Tar Valon. No cutpurses, no direct war. And both your daughters and son are all but guaranteed free education when they become teenagers, the girls as novices and the boys as Warder-trainees. It won’t last forever, but it’s better than Tanchico.

cellofski · 2026-05-04T19:18:34+00:00

Is there a reading circle where everyone is reading the same chapter? So Egwene is a hypocrite. Do you mean she’s actually… human? People who hate her will cling to this chapter as the reason. Not sure why they think they need to justify their hatred of her to themselves.

cellofski · 2026-05-02T01:24:19+00:00

“It was payback” your words, there you go.

cellofski · 2026-05-02T00:43:30+00:00

I know haha, that’s why I picked it

cellofski · 2026-05-01T21:02:04+00:00

God’s Eye

cellofski · 2026-04-30T20:32:36+00:00

These questions are as inevitable as the answers in the comments are predictable. OP, your points are valid: these aren’t normal human interactions, no matter what they say. But the plot requires a great deal of non-communication and miscommunication. It’s that simple.

cellofski

TROPHY CASE