This was a wonderful installment in what I can already see is going to become one of my favourite series of all time. 

I had a much better experience with this one than the first book; I only read seven other books in the time it took me to get through this, compared with the twenty-six I went through in my adventure to get through the first book. 

No spoilers – because I know a bunch of you are yet to experience the wonder of this and I don’t want to ruin anything for you.

Character run down:

Rand – Is such a ladies man. I love it. He’s adorable. And he wasn’t as much of an idiot this time around. Except when he was thinking about Egwene. Stop thinking about Egwene please. 

Nynaeve – IS THE BEST IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD . She is one of the strongest, best and most amazing female characters I have ever read. I love her SO MUCH. Badass sassypants to the rescue.

Min – Yas. I love dis bitch.

Elayne – I think I know what your future holds and I am super excited to see if I am right. 

Egwene – Is still THE WORST and needs to die. But Selene is pretty stiff competition for most loathed character now.

Selene – I don’t like you, I don’t trust you. I saw you for who you really were a mile off, I just hope Rand will open his eyes and see it too. 

Moraine – I wonder what strings you have been pulling?

Lan – I miss you, my warrior swordsman. 

The ensemble cast had some wonderful new additions this time around and I can’t wait to dive into the next book as I continue on my quest to demolish this series by the end of next year. 

This was a heartbreaking journey. I had to put this down three separate times, because I was bawling my eyes out. I can’t believe the level of connection I feel to these characters.

The social commentary in this is often hilarious and spot on, and I have to say I really enjoy the way women are represented in this series. No shrinking violets here. Women know what they want and will fight to get it and keep it. And they drop so many truth bombs, its fantastic!

My one complaint is that there were a few times that characters were introduced and it seemed like I was just supposed to know who they were… But I didn’t actually know who they were (without consulting the glossary) and so some scenes didn’t pack quite the punch that I am sure they were intended to.

The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. I am a part of the pattern and look forward to continuing the journey of this series.

4 i-sure-wish-Lan-would-give-me-a-ring Stars

(please let it be a happy ending)

Last year I went to my ten year high school reunion. I honestly thought I had left the awkward teenage years behind me, but the instant I was surrounded by my entire high school class, I became the same awkward teenager I was throughout my entire time at high school. Not popular enough to matter, not unpopular enough to get picked on, just somewhere in the middle where it’s easy to be invisible and forgettable, I felt like regardless of what I had accomplished in the ten years since graduating high school, it didn’t matter anymore. It was one of the most eye opening experiences I have gone through in recent times and this book flashed me back to my awkward teenage years in much the same way that going to my reunion did.

(please let it be a happy ending)

While I did not have anywhere near as hard of a time in high school as Carrie did, I empathized with her so much it made my heart hurt. The jokes. The embarrassment. The not knowing if this time someone was being serious, or if they were waiting to laugh at you as you failed at something yet again. Mr. King was playing my heartstrings like a bloody concert violinist. 

(please let it be a happy ending)

The first two thirds of this book were heartbreaking and the ominous sense of foreboding leading up to the climax of the story was done so well that I actually put the book down for nearly a whole day, because I did not want to see how this was all going to end. I would have been happy to just leave the story with them going to Prom and having a lovely time. End of story, drive off into the sunset, happily ever after.

(please let it be a happy ending)

But it was not meant to be. There is no happy ending here. And I’m sad to say that the third and final act, while it was still dramatic, didn’t quite live up to the sense of foreboding that was built up the entire way through the book. The point of view swapping was a little confusing at the end and made it fall a little flat for me. Although that last chapter was awesomely creepy!

(please let it be a happy ending)

Another thing that hampered my reading experience was the overabundance of parenthesis () throughout the text. The editing student in me was screaming every time I saw them. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t, but the problem was that they broke the text up on the page and acted like a hurdle that my eyes had to jump, which was a little frustrating. 

(please let it be a happy ending)

I have to say that I never, ever thought that a book that starts with a teenage girl experiencing her first period would be something that was not only accepted widely, but has become so popular. Yes to books about periods! 

(please let it be a happy ending)

This was my first Stephen King book and it will not be my last. I am looking forward to more creepy stories in my future. 

3.5 please-let-it-be-a-happy-ending Stars