Winter’s Heart (The Wheel of Time #9)

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SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
If you have not read the first seven books of the series – be warned this review will have spoilers. This also applies to those watching the Amazon Prime series – This review will SPOIL the story for you.

I read the first nine books of The Wheel of Time series twenty years ago. When I heard about the adaptation I decided to re-read the series and finally finish it.

“Upon its release, it immediately rose to the #1 position on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list, making it the second Wheel of Time book to reach the #1 position on that list.” https://wot.fandom.com

About The Book 📚

Title: Winter’s Heart (The Wheel of Time #9)

Author: Robert Jordan

Publication Date: first published 2000

Publisher: Tor Books

Genre: Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction

Pages: 576

Content Warnings: death, slavery, violence, toxic relationship, blood, murder, war, sexual assault, rape, sexual content, confinement, torture

PG-13 Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. May include profanity, violence, sexual situations, or drug use.

My Review

› The events in Winter’s Heart take place in the middle of winter. The weather has changed drastically since using the Bowl of Winds and the whole world is dealing with snow and freezing temperatures.

“The seals that hold back night shall weaken, and in the heart of winter shall winter’s heart be born amid the waiting of lamentations and the gnashing of teeth, for winter’s heart shall ride a black horse, and the name of it is Death.” – from The Karaethon Cycle, The Prophecy of the Dragon

› Seaine, Saerin, Doesine, Yukiri and Pevara are in the White Tower basement questioning Talene. They use a cool magic item called the Chair of Remorse. Talene admits to being of the Black Ajah. She also claims Elaida is Black Ajah because the Black Ajah knows about every report she receives and the words she speaks to others. But, I think this means her Keeper of the Chronicles, Alviarin, is guilty. The White Tower is unstable. The Black Tower is also a mess. Logain and Taim hate each other, so something big is going to happen between them.

“In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose above the Aryth Ocean.”

› Rand is inspired by the cool inventions that others have come up with such as a steam wagon and lightning trapped in a jar.

“He wanted very badly to leave something behind, something to help the world survive the new Breaking the Prophecies said he would bring.”

› Rand tells Min he wants to “cleanse the male half of the Source” but first he needs to kill the Asha’man that attacked him in Cairhien. The thing is…if Rand cleanses saidin then the Forsaken who use the male side of the Source will be free to do so without going mad, which means they won’t need the Dark One’s protection anymore. What happens when the Forsaken can go rogue?

› Perrin is with the Prophet and Elyas. It seems like Masema, the Prophet, is avoiding Rand. Perrin travels back to camp and Masema says he’ll meet them there. Perrin arrives to discover Faile, Maighdin, Alliandre (Queen of Ghealdan), Bain and Chiad have been captured by the Shaido. I’m surprised the wolves didn’t want to help Perrin. Perrin learns there are 5-10,000 Whitecloaks and Seanchan to the south. He’s in the thick of it.

› The power of speaking for the clan chief has gone to Sevanna‘s head. Therava tells Faile, Maighdin and Alliandre to report back to her everything Sevanna says. Galina says she’ll free the three women if they steal something from Therava. Galina is being held by the Shaido as gai’shain. Faile notices the Aes Sedai ring on Galina’s hand and asks her why an Aes Sedai is with the Shaido. Galina says she’s doing important things for the White Tower. What are Galina’s intentions?

› One of the most exciting parts of the book is when Mat meets Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag, Daughter of the Nine Moons! Mat is still in Ebou Dar making plans to escape Tylin. I hate Tylin. She is abusive. She rapes Mat and she physically abuses him. I truly hope she gets what’s coming to her.

“Some men have an air about them that makes other men follow where they lead. Some lead to devastation, others to glory. I think your name may go into the history books.” Noal to Mat.

› Elayne is in Caemlyn during another winter storm. She’s sure Gawyn will come when he hears she’s made her claim for the throne. She made Birgitte the Captain of the Queen’s Guard. Elayne is convinced that there is a spy amongst them. Nynaeve is trying to help the Knitting Circle get the rest of the Kinswomen away from the Seanchan.

“Seanchan were very peculiar; even the Seanchan among the damane truly believed that any woman who could channel had to be collared for the safety of everyone else…the knowledge that sul’dam themselves were able to channel would shake the Seanchan to their core.”

› Elayne, Nynaeve and Reanne have five damane given to them by Taim. Reanne talks about one of them, Alivia, who was collared as a teenager and has been damane for four hundred years AND she is much stronger than Nynave. They better hope she doesn’t escape…

› The ceremony of “first sister” with Elayne and Aviendha was beautiful. Min has a viewing that Aviendha will have 4 children with Rand and Elayne will have 2 with him. She also has a viewing that Alivia will have something to do with Rand. I like that Nynaeve and Rand finally got to see each other after a very long time. We also get to see Elayne, Aviendha, and Min all together. The Love Rhombus is complete.

› Nynaeve, Elayne and Egwene meet in Tel’aran’rhiod and Egwene tells them of her plans to include the Kin into the White Tower. Egwene is leading the rebel Aes Sedai to the White Tower to take down Elaida.

› Cadsuane wants Rand to let her guide him and teach him how to laugh and cry again. He’s not too big on it. Later, she travels to Far Madding with Alanna and Verin to try and prove her worth to Rand.

› Demandred, Graendal, Osan’gar, Aran’gar and Moridin meet. Cyndane tells them that Rand plans to use the Choedan Kal to get rid of the taint on saidin. The amount of energy it takes to use it will show them where Rand is. So they make a plan to ambush and kill Rand.

“You can never know everything,” Lan said quietly, “and part of what you know is always wrong. Perhaps even the most important part. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing that. A portion of courage lies in going on anyway.”

› I don’t want to spoil the whole book, so I’ll stop there and say a lot happens in this book and the ending is incredible!

Characters I suspect to be Darkfriends/Forsaken in disguise:
Alviarin, Elaida’s Keeper of the Chronicles
The Prophet
Sevanna
Verin (I really hope I’m wrong on this)
Taim
Berelain
Noal Charin
Padan Fain
Tylin
Cadsuane – She’s suspicious!

For some reason, I felt like I needed a better grasp of the age difference between the characters.
When were they born?
Rand: 978
Mat: 978
Perrin: 978
Egwene: 981
Nynaeve: 974
Aviendha: 980
Min: 975
Elayne: 981
Faile: 981
Tuon: 980
Lan: 953
Moiraine: 956
Thom: not sure, it’s mentioned he was 20 years older than Morgase
Morgase: 957

At the beginning of The Eye of the World Rand, Mat and Perrin were only twenty years old, Nynaeve was 24, and Egwene was only 17. Their adventure began in 998 NE and Winter’s Heart begins in 1000 NE, which means the last nine books have taken place over just two years.

› Characters: 10
Mat is back! YAY!
I wish Birgitte played a bigger role in the story.
I still don’t think Moiraine is really dead. We didn’t see her actually die, so I don’t buy it.
I’m bored of Padan Fain. He shows up, stabs someone, then leaves. I hope he dies in the next book.
› Atmosphere: 10
There are lots of cool new ideas and items in Winter’s Heart. For example, Rand’s chameleon power, the “True Power”, and Truthspeakers.
› Writing Style: 10
I feel like we got too much from Elayne’s perspective. I think the Emond’s Field Five (Rand, Egwene, Nynaeve, Mat, and Perrin) should be taking up most of the narrative, however, according to Wotfandom.com Elayne’s was 24% of the book!
› Plot: 7
The fighting in Far Madding was fun. I liked seeing the group work together. Kind of reminded me of Six of Crows.
› Intrigue: 10
› Logic: 9
The Forsaken do not seem very powerful.
› Enjoyment: 10

Average 9.4

My Rating ★★★★★

Order of how I like the books so far:

Lord of Chaos 9.8 ★★★★★
The Eye of the World 9.7 ★★★★★
Winter’s Heart 9.4 ★★★★★
The Great Hunt 9.3 ★★★★★
The Shadow Rising 9.3 ★★★★★
A Crown of Swords 9.0 ★★★★★
The Fires of Heaven 7.4 ★★★★
The Path of Daggers 7.4 ★★★★
The Dragon Reborn 6.7 ★★★

› Final Thoughts
• HOT TAKE – Winter’s Heart is my third favourite book in The Wheel of Time series so far. I know most readers consider it part of “the slog”. This is where I stopped the first time I read the books, so everything from here on out will be brand new to me. I’m so excited!

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