The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

So after finishing The Song of Ice And Fire books last year and reading through some fairly serious books I've been missing a fun fantasy series. This is the 5th book in a series of 14 that I started reading years ago and decided to pick it back up. The series is essentially building up to the ultimate fight of good vs evil and primarily follows Rand, Mat & Perrin who each have their own powers & abilities. Without going into the vocabulary of the books they're essentially the 3 main fighters for the good guys. This book follows Rand who is the ultimate champion of good and is prophesied to be sacrificed to save all of mankind in the final battle. There's so much back story I can't really fit it in here in a way that will make sense so if you're curious there's a good summery on wikipedia here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time

I'm glad I picked up the series again, I really enjoy the overall story and characters. The writing is good overall and the pace of the book is good despite the majority of the plot through the book taking place during travel with action popping up along the way. This book focuses on Rand & Matt with Perrin being left out entirely as his plot line isn't effected by what happens here. Rand's the main guy and his development is interesting as he's transitioning from a simple small town farm boy to a great lord & leader of men. Matt is a wise cracking gambler who's good with a spear, reluctant to take part in the action and a ridiculous battle leader. His skills start to come out in this book as well. My only real complaint here is the repetitive over simplification of the views between men & women. Jordon is constantly having his characters bitch about the opposite sex and speaking of sex he isn't shy about finding any and all reasons to get his lady characters naked. I applaud this pandering to his most common fan base.

All in all a good series and I'm planning on continuing it, great change of pace and love reading a book that purely entertainment.