A Crown of Swords

A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan, Audiobook: 31 hrs, Paperback book: 684 pages

This is the seventh book in the Wheel of Time series. So that I don't provide spoilers to the ending of the sixth book I will be careful. Rand is recovering from some events that occurred at the end of the last book and trying to fix the problems that the events caused. His plans have to be changed. A legendary Aes Sedai named Cadsuane shows up and vows to teach Rand and help him. Now, his friend Perrin is the one leading the army towards Sammael.

Mat has been redirected to take Elayne to Caemlyn so she can take the throne but Nynaeve and Elayne have other plans. They have made him go to Ebou Dar so they can find the Bowl of the Winds - a magical artifact that could be used to correct the unnatural weather that the Great Lord of the Dark has caused. While searching for the Bowl, Nynaeve and Elayne discover a secret group of women, known as the Kin, who were not considered good enough for the Aes Sedai. It is not until they enlist Mat's help(and his luck) that they make progress in finding the Bowl.

Egwene and the "rebel" Aes Sedai are marching towards the other Aes Sedai in the White Tower to take it over and reunite the order. Rand goes to visit the Sea Folk who have been waiting for him. His ta'veren(it means he can effect the pattern of the world) effect is strong that day so after leaving he decides on a whim to visit a group of rebel lords incognito. Events are going well until a bubble of evil shows up and things turn sour. Having barely healed from the attack that occured, he decides that since Sammael will not expect him to be coming it is the perfect time to go after him.

As with the last book in the series, there is not a lot of action but the plot is moved along. There are several action sequences near the end that will cause changes in the plot. I liked this one more than the last one because some of the developments are more significant. I like most of the characters but my one quibble is the way some of the female characters are written. Sometimes they are people who act like they know it all.