Crown of Swords (The Wheel of Time, 7)

CN: sexual harassment

I thought I had only read the first 6 books of WoT back in the day, but no, I was wrong. As I read this long-winded book where not much of anything happened in 800 pages, a lot of the stuff from Ebou Dar came back to me.

The good: I like Mat, I liked his Ebou Dar chapters, and the end of the book with the attack on Ebou Dar is very promising. I liked the machinations of the Black Ajah, and generally the intrigue and political stuff.

The bad: Incredibly lame pacing. My usual complaints about the author not understanding female relationships, or women in general, having created a wide cast of super-unlikeable women. Inherent mysogyny everywhere. I get that the author tried a power role reversal but it doesn't change that sexism is everywhere in this book. I mean, come on, Rand is fine with sending thousands of men to their death for him, but he recites the name of every woman in his head. Ugh. I could go on.

The very bad: I first read this in 1996, and I have come a long way since. I am not sure how the bit about Mat and Tylin slipped me by back then. Queen Tylin has her eyes on Mat, and soon her hands, and despite him saying no many times and avoiding her, she ultimately rapes him at knife point and he weeps afterwards. When he tells others about it as they accuse him of making passes at her improperly, he gets made fun of. As Mat is often a character that's used as a bit of comedic relief, being the fun gambler and womanizer, I have seen Reddit comments that just pass this off as a bit of fun and genius writing. I personally was shocked, and don't think it was handled sensitively at all. Not that I could really expect Jordan to handle such a subject matter with a deft touch. Oy.

Nevertheless, the overarching plot is keeping me hooked, and I will see it through to its hopefully not bitter end. Halfway done, 7 down, 7 to go. And I haven't even reached the low points of pacing yet.