I've been reading Fires of Heaven since the end of april/start of May and while it did start a bit slow for me, I can firmly say I'm having a lot of fun with the book now compared to when I started.

I would note that while I say it started slow, I did enjoy what I was reading it just felt like a bit of meandering for the first 50 or so pages before I really got into it.

I'm around 500 pages in now and I do have some notes.

Egwene

She's easily at her most irritating in this book for a handful of reasons. Specifically her attitude towards Rand and Nynaeve feels very undeserved and presumptuous. I did like that she's been called out on it by Elayne while they were in Tel'aran'rhiod and think that I like the direction they're going with her character.

Egwene is still among my favourite characters and her displaying unlikeable qualities doesn't mean I like her any less, but she's also gotten me to say 'That's not fair' more than a handful of times. Her calling Rand arrogant feels like a mixture of her being unable to divorce Rand from the image she still has of him and a complete misunderstanding of his actions to me. These are good things, but they're also contributing to the general lack of trust that seems to be growing into a much larger issue in these books.

Nynaeve

I really love Nynaeve in this book. She's going through it in a way that makes me really feel for her. There are points where RJ shows her flaws and misconceptions and that does tend to come off as irritating to me, but I can't really say I'm an Egwene fan if I'm faulting Nynaeve for the same tendencies.

Her spirit being absolutely crushed by Moghedien after a series of spirit-crushing events feels like it could either go into a very interesting direction, or that it could result in her becoming a less than likeable character for me. Still, the way it is being handled as I am reading feels very good. I like her interactions with Elayne and the greater focus she's having in this book.

One point of note to me is that her perspective often feels the least stilted to me. I read through her chapters the fastest, compared to Siuan/Bryne who took me a while to really read through.

Rand

Yeah, so, he's at his best in this book imo.

Not really much to say because I think Rand al'Thor is one of the most widely covered characters in this fandom (rightfully so) and he has one of the most interesting and compelling arcs to me.

His dynamic with Asmodean and Aviendha is interesting to read through, I love him experimenting with the Power and the fact he's still some kind of bumbling idiot who's barely into his 20s feels relatable to me.

I feel like RJ hit too hard on the 'Rand is awkward with women' part because it does make some of his actions feel meh. How he talks to Moiraine sometimes feels charged in a way that i don't feel is accurate to what's intended, but he's also been given a major responsibility that doesn't feel fair so I can forgive him his failings as I am the rest.

Others

- Siuan Sanche is entertaining as hell. Hard to read chapters but amazing personality.

- I have zero opinion on Gareth Bryne.

- Min is a mixed bag. I don't like that Jordan frames her big goal as catching Rand and making him fall in love with her, but i do understand where it comes from. It does remind me that Jordan had a different mindset to I, a 20 year old left wing brown kid, but it doesn't ruin the book for me much if at all.

- Elayne is insanely entertaining.

- I miss Perrin.

>!Did you think I'd forgotten about Mat? I didn't. He's had about three PoV chapters so far and they've been top 3 consistently. Shame he has to share them with Rand, he's taken more of a backseat than I would have preferred, but I'm sure I'm in for a surprise. !<

>!You might be wondering what the post is titled for, and that's for Liandrin, Asmodean, Kadere and Isendre. I feel for them in a way I didn't expect, and it does make me feel like Jordan is itching towards more complicated people in his books now that he's escaped the Tolkien trap. Something i noticed in book 4 and that's carrying on here, is all.!<

I think if I really sit down and read I can get this book, my presentation and a handful of projects done by week's end. But we'll have to see.

So far this book is a solid 7.5 on the scale. Itching towards a rate, proper rating whenever I finish.