The Fires of Heaven
Robert Jordan
989 pages
published in 1993

The Fires of Heaven is the fifth book in the Wheel of Time series, following on directly from The Shadow Rising. It's the first book of the series not to star all three of the main protagonists, with the Perrin storyline in the Two Rivers left until the next book in the series. As such it's another indication of how out of control the series has grown by this point, with only three out of the four (!) storylines from The Shadow Rising continued here, none of which come to a real conclusion here either.

However, this is still one of my favourite volumes in the series, as it shows Rand and Mat kicking some serious ass and while plotlines don't conclude here, they do seem to progress, something missing in the next few volumes. Reading this only took me two days or so, which is testament to the way Jordan was able to keep your attention if you're willing to be drawn in.

In the previous book Rand had been able to establish himself as the Car'a'carn, the Chief of Chiefs of all the Aiel, but the Shaido clan rejected him as such. They're not the only ones, as many Aiel of the various other clans cannot stomach an outlander as their leader, or the revelations Rand brings to him. These Aiel join the Shaido and their leader Couladin, who has established himself as the Car'a'carn as well and promises the Aiel a glorious future of plundering the rich wetlander lands. Rand pursues them to Cairhien, where the two Aiel forces do battle, Rand's Aiel being supported by various Cairhien and Tear forces as well, though these often proof to be of limited use.

Mat meanwhile had undergone his own destiny in The Shadow Rising, haven gotten his memories restored, but not quite like he wanted to. Somehow he has recieved the memories of hundreds of ancient generals and battleleaders, becoming an gifted commander himself against his own instincts. He tries to evade his responsibilities, but during the battle for Cairhien he becomes involved against his will, winning skirmish after skirmish and having a major impact on the course of the battle...

Nynaeve and Elayne meanwhile are trying to join the rebel Aes Sedai, the White Tower having been broken in two in the previous volume, but since they're in the middle of several of the countries wrecked with civil war after Rand had proclaimed himself as the Dragon Reborn in The Dragon Reborn, this is not an easy task. Especially because they have little idea where to look for them... The two also have trouble with one of their allies from the world of dreams, the legendary Birgitte of the Silver Bow, who has been helping them with one of the Forsaken, only to be ripped out of the world of dreams for her trouble. To save her life Elayne has to bound Birgitte as her warder.

I found the Nynaeve/Elayne storyline to be somewhat on the plodding side, compared to the fast action of the Rand/Mat half of the book. It just takes too long to resolve it and doesn't seem to go anywhere for too long. After all, this whole plotline started two books earlier, in The Dragon Reborn. It's this sort of dragging out that gave the Wheel of Time series such a bad name at one point. Unfortunately, this will get worse in the next two books.

Nevertheless, if you've read the series so far, you're well aware of Jordan's flaws by this time anyway and must enjoy it enough to overlook them. I know I did. As I've said before, Jordan has a knack to drag you along in a story, even when that story goes over some rough patches.

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