My father and I just finished Moon-Flash by Patricia A. McKillip

My father and I just finished Moon-Flash by Patricia A. McKillip.
Though categorized as partly sci-fi, McKillip is incapable of writing anything other than a lyrical masterpiece in which the words flow like a river off the page, though your soul, and back again. Which is not unlike the story as Kyreol's incurably curious nature leads her beyond what the people of the Riverworld, her people, had thought to be the edge of the world but is instead only the first stage of a long journey. A journey with her best friend Terje down the river and across questions to find answers that, though often shocking, leads both into the sky and a better understanding of the world, each other, and their dreams.

I have just started The Gathering Storm

The great journey continues. The Wheel turns.

I have just started The Gathering Storm, Volume #12 of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (and completed posthumously by Brandon Sanderson).

The storm is coming. Black and silver clouds gather in the north and farmers and smiths trade hammers and scythes for swords to meet it. The storm is coming. The Dragon Reborn has the Lady of Pain captive and marches to end the lord of the chaos' rule in Arad Doman. The storm is coming. The Seachan learn that in Hawkwing's homeland what they had dismissed as superstition is real, nightmares made flesh and come to kill. The storm is coming. The Forsaken gather and make plans for Tarmon Gai'don, for they drive the storm and mean break the Wheel. Yet in many ways the Wheel drives them, and Light has ever snatched victory from the maws of malice. The storm is coming.

Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

I have just finished Knife of Dreams

The great journey continues. The Wheel turns.

I have just finished Knife of Dreams, Volume #11 of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.
"When the Wolf King carries the hammer, thus are the final days known. When the Fox marries the raven, and the trumpets of battle are blown." So states the Prophecies of the Dragon and so has it come to pass, the gambler becoming the Prince of the Ravens while the Wolf at last rescues the Falcon and crushes the Aiel who betrayed themselves. So it is that as the Uncrowned King marches east as the fate of the Rose Crown is decided in favor of the daughter of Morgase while her oldest son leads the Sunburst north. The Golden Crane flies for Tarmon Gai'don! The White Lion shall march for Tarmon Gai'don. Thus are old plots concluded, old wars won. Yet not without cost in life and limb, for the Dark One touches and rots the world – the Pattern loosening even as it gathers all loose threads in preparation for the gathering storm.

Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

Yawns are VERY contagious

We all know that yawns are contagious. One person yawning causes another to yawn and soon the half the room looks like they stayed up half the night. But I have reached a new level in that I now yawn when characters I am reading (or writing) about yawn. Tis funny, I suppose.

I have just started Knife of Dreams

The great journey continues. The Wheel turns.

I have just started Knife of Dreams, Volume #11 of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.
Tis known by the Aiel Dreamwalkers that the Land of Dreams is no less real than the walking world, and by Aes Sedai Dreamers that dreams may reveal the secrets and possibilities of the Pattern yet unwoven. So it is that the True Flame of Tar Valon learns that while walking a treacherous path her most hated enemy shall save her and that the gambler has fire in his hand that, in exploding, shall cause much death. So it is that the Foretellings of the False Flame shall be tested as the fates of Rose Crown, Sunburst, and the White Tower itself are tied to the children of Morgase. So it is that the Pattern gathers all loose threads in preparation as new alliances are planted in the promised soil of Tarmon Gai'don.

Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

I have just finished Crossroads of Twilight

The great journey continues. The Wheel turns.

I have just finished Crossroads of Twilight, Volume #10 of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.

It is said that the world is quiet when twilight reigns, as the creatures the day prepare for sleep while those of the night begin to rise, and vice versa. So it is that the world pauses for breath, some unaware and all unable to avoid the damage that was undone. So it is that the boundaries between Aes Sedai and Asha'man dwindle while the Dragon Reborn prioritizes his enemies and gambler grows closer to the Daughter of the Nine Moons. So it is that Black Ajah fights for its survival even as the True Flame of Tar Valon enters her city in dire peril. So it is made clear that the White Tower and Black can never stand separate as Flame and Fang. Only together, under the ancient symbol of Aes Sedai. Yet all the while a mysterious rot claws at the world.

Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

Does the Wheel turn slowly?

"Is Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series a slow read? It is rumored to have a glacial pace. I read George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and liked it, but I do not think I could stand anything slower."
This is a common, or at least not uncommon, concern of Fantasy readers trying to decide whether or not to dive into the Jordan's masterwork. Long series, even fourteen volume ones, faze inveterate Fantasy readers less than books with a slow pacing, so I will now address that concern more deeply.

In short, while The Wheel of a Time is hardly a fast-paced series, everything matters. No matter how small the event or character may be, the odds are strong that it/they will in some manner be relevant to the future. The butterfly effect is real here, as characters you might forget, or believed to be localized to a subplot long finished, will likely turn up again far from where you last saw them. People may compare it to GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire, arguing that GRRM's literary bloodbath is far more fast-paced, but this is an illusion. How many subplots in Ice and Fire truly matter? How many gripping intrigues developed by the High Lords playing their Game of Thrones actually ended up shaking Westeros and making a real difference to the story? The answer is very few, yet the story seems fast-paced due to GRRM's immense skill in the art of storytelling. He creates a near flawless illusion of speed that keeps the reader hooked. Which is no small feat considering that GRRM's grimdark tale has no natural endpoint. (Yes, I am aware that the Others must needs be defeated, of the prophecy of Azor Ahai and the prince/princess that was promised, and of course that someone must finally sit the Iron Throne uncontested. But the Others and the prophesy are marginalized by ruthless High Lords playing their game of thrones, and who sits the Iron Throne one year may be dead along with all their kin the next. Hardly natural endpoints for an epic Fantasy of such scale, in my mind.)

This is not the case with Robert Jordan. As Verin Sedai says in book #2, "The Pattern puts everything in its place precisely, and when we try to alter it, especially if ta'veren are involved, the weaving changes to put us back into the Pattern as we were meant to be." Meaning that, while Jordan's story may seem slower than GRRM's, every ounce of movement is real. Not an illusion, but a solid and true step forward and towards the clearly defined endpoint that is Tarmon Gai'don (the Last Battle), for the Wheel does not turn backwards anymore than time itself. Even the court intrigues, believe it or not – as before the Game of Thrones was played in Westeros the Game of Houses (also called "The Great Game," translated as "Daes Dae'mar" in the Old Tongue) was played in the Westlands – are every bit as devious as those GRRM spins. As Moiraine Sedai once said, "Everything is a part of the Pattern." Finally, I feel inclined the mention that the title "The Wheel of Time" is not Jordan tacitly acknowledging the series' length. Rather, it is a crucial and one of the most unique elements of the world he created: "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.” (To see everything I have to say regarding the many rumors surrounding Jordan's work, please go to the Rumors of the Wheel page.)