Book: Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan

In real time, I've now hit the year 2000 or so in terms of when this book was released. I've written before how much of a time machine it feels reading through a series that spans so many decades of real life; of course this is more of a side observation than anything to do with the book per se.

The book itself marked a return to the more direct storytelling theme of the earlier volumes in the series; for sure it was long and there are still characters mentioned who I'm sure I'm supposed to know but seem like strangers to me. But that's okay - I've long since made peace with the fact that I'll never really follow what's going on 100%: I suspect one would need to read through the books at lest once more before that happens.

But plot wise it really was pretty straightforward, and hence a joy, to read. It almost felt like tons of distance was being covered - characters developed, plots progressed, and by the end of the book I didn't quite want it to end.

So that's nine down now, and for the first time since beginning the books I can actually see the end coming. It's exciting and poignant stuff and I both can't wait for and am apprehensive of the end.