Lord of Chaos
Today I want to talk about one of my favorite novels of all time. And considering that this novel is within one of my favorite series’s of all time, I would say that this book is significant in my life.
To say that Lord of Chaos, Sixth book in the Wheel of Time Series is one of the greatest turn around in plot in all of fiction is an understatement.
Before I continue, a warning: What follows are major spoilers for the series. This is not one of my spoiler free reviews. You have been warned.
Lord of Chaos begins with the Heroes of the series feeling pretty good. The villains have been dropping like flies. Their plots have been foiled at every turn. Ishamael and Lanfear, the two most dangerous of the Forsaken are dead (but they will be back. Oh yes they will) Many of the other super powerful mages are dead, some killed by Balefire which makes them deader than dead.
One may ask themselves, how does the story turn around then?
You see, that’s why I like this book. The prologue shows that not only are the villains perfectly fine, but that everything that has occurred is all according to plan. What follows is a massive thrashing as the heroes get completely crushed for much of the book.
The most horrible blow of the novel though is what happens to Rand, the main character. He is captured by an army of witches who are loyal to the bad guy who place him in solitary confinement and constantly torture him both physically and mentally.
When he finally escapes, which is the climax of the book, he is left bitter and angry which sets the tone of his character for most of the rest of the series.
The ending of the book is one of my favorite moments in the series. One of the most important aspects of magic in Wheel of Time is the Male and Female dynamics. And for most of the series the mages have been women due to men going insane due to a curse on the male magic. Most of the women are bound to 3 oaths, one of which is to not kill with magic. Suddenly the world changes. Not only are there a whole of of female mages that are not bound by this rule, but there is also an army of male mages who care not about the fact that they will go insane.
The literally head exploding finale of the book is one of the highlights and the memetic phrase uttered by Mazrim Taim towards the end is one of my favorite quotes:
“Asha’man Kill” And boy do those words serve a major point. The reader gets to watch magic used for death and it is quite a spectacle to behold!
Not that the book itself is not. This really is one of the best novels in the series. And Wheel of Time is a series that I cannot recommend enough to any and all lovers of fantasy.
