Lord of Chaos (Book Review) Book #6 of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

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Lord of Chaos, and not THE Lord of Chaos, is the 6th book of the series, and in my opinion one of the greatest. But then again, I am biased because Jordan is my favorite writer. After book six, we see a shift begin to happen in the series. Although each book in the Wheel of Time is phenomenal, it is evident that the series began to slow down a bit as the story grew larger.

Earlier, I made a distinction in the title emphasizing the word THE. I did that for a point. It seems Mr. Jordan did not like the title The Lord of Chaos as evident in this letter he wrote to his publisher Tom Doherty at Tor.

(For a larger view of the letter click on it)

The Lord of Chaos was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1995. And is the first book of the series to feature an epilogue.

Some exciting developments happen in this book. Rand who is declared publicly as the Dragon Reborn, and as Car’a’carn, is now ruling several nations, and has a personal army at his disposal. Rand has begun recruiting men who can be trained to wield the One Power to his school to be instructed by Mazrim Taim, who is a well known “false Dragon” who has sworn allegiance to Rand.

Embassies from the White Tower, and the rebel Aes Sedai in Salidar seek out Rand to gain favor and to negotiate. There is plenty of political intrigues in this book.

Nynaeve and Elayne hold one of the Forsaken captive, and force her to teach secret weavings of the One Power that have long since been lost from the previous Age. In the World of Dreams, both Nynaeve and Elayne believe that they have found the cure to the savage heat that has struck the world.

Perrin Ay’bara can sense that Rand needs him, and leaves his village of the Two Rivers to come to his aid.

The voice in Rand’s head begins to speak back to him answering his questons. (Just for that bit of a spoiler..should make you want to read this book!)

There is a catastrophic battle at the end of the book that is referred to in other books of the series.

Prophecies of the book:

1. The lions sing and the hills take flight.

The moon by day, and the sun by night.

Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.

Let the Lord of Chaos rule.

-chant from a children’s game

heard in Great Aravalon,

the Fourth Age

2. The unstained tower breaks and bends knee to the forgotten sign.

The seas rage, and stormclouds gather unseen.

Beyond the horizon, hidden fires swell, and serpents nestle in the bosom.