Winter’s Heart, the ninth installment in Robert Jordan’s 14-volume epic The Wheel of Time series, is undoubtedly a bridge book, but a singular event at the end has a major impact and clears the way for much of the story to come.
The book has a few frustrating aspects. It only gives a taste of a few storylines before jumping to others. The cast pretty spread out by this point, and many things are going on with a multitude of characters.
When Winter’s Heart was first published in 2003, my first reaction was that it was too short. Five readings later, that is still my feeling. All the middle books of the series (volumes seven through 10) give me a similar feeling. It is easier to deal with now, reading one after another, but some storylines are paused for too long.
Points of view in Winter’s Heart
Winter's Heart centers around four major characters and their simultaneous storylines. Elayne, Matt, Rand, and Perrin/Faile are the points of view for 71% of the book. The rest of the time is spread among 23 other characters.
While Jordan does a passable job of giving readers brief look-ins at various subplots, two intriguing ones beg for more attention. The search for Black Ajah within the White Tower is interesting and dramatic, but we don't see nearly enough of it.
Then there's the capture and bonding of Aes Sedai by Logain and his followers among the Asha’Man. Elaida sends a sizable delegation to dismantle the Black Tower, not yet realizing what a horrible miscalculation that is; they don't realize the Black Tower's strength.
These two plotlines are important, but they get lost in the bigger events swirling around the more significant characters.
Perrin and Faile
At the end of the previous book, The Path of Daggers, Faile, Morgase and Alliandre are captured by marauding Shaido. Winter’s Heart picks up right where that storyline left off. Readers get both ends of the spectrum here; we follow Faile as she deals with captivity and Perrin as he pursues the Shaido and tries to rescue his wife.
The biggest issue with this is that after readers see the immediate result of the capture of the three ladies, Jordan moves on the other characters and abandons them until the next book. Readers are left stewing about how Perrin will mount a rescue and the fate of the women is left in the air until a future book.
It’s not that Jordan needed to wrap up this plot quickly, but it would have been nice to get another check-in before the end of the book. Perrin’s story arc is one of the more exciting in the series, and readers can’t help but feel unsatisfied by the lack of advancement in this book.
Elayne and the throne of Andor
According to A Wheel of Time Wiki, of all the characters, we spend the most time in Elayne’s point of view in this book. Honestly, Jordan spends way too much time on Andor and drags out Elayne’s succession attempt for too long. It is, by far, the least interesting and dramatic major plotline in the series.
To dedicate a full quarter of the pages to what is going on in Andor was a miscalculation on Jordan’s part for this book. More time needed to be spent on Perrin than on Elayne. The book drags slightly when it gets stuck on Elayne and her attempt to claim the throne of Andor.
Jordan spices it up a bit with an assassination attempt, but this is the only part of this story that holds readers’ attentions for long.
Mat stuck in Ebou Dar
Mat was abondned by Nynaeve and Elayne in Ebou Dar at the end of A Crown of Swords, the seventh book in the series, and by Jordan in The Path of Daggers. Mat’s story picks up in Winter's Heart with him still serving as the unofficial consort to the Tylin, Queen of Altara. Matt knows he has to escape the city and works on a plan.
Of course, Mat being Mat, nothing quite goes his way. He gets dragged into helping others escape with him, including three Aes Sedai who’ve been made damane by the Seanchan. He also sets free some Sea Folk windfinders who have been collared, but they have plans of their own, and are not part of the escape.
This book has a key event for Mat, even if he doesn’t realize it yet: he meets the woman that has been foretold would be his wife. His realization of this comes to fruition in a later book, but readers can see what is coming to a certain extent.
Rand vs saidin
Our hero gets a lot to do in this book as he sets a trap for the Asha’man that tried to kill him in Cairhien. He goes to Far Madding, a city which blocks the use of the One Power. Rand thinks his skill with a sword will be a better weapon against numerous Asha’man than trying to battle them all with saidin.
His plan works, if not quite how he expected. He gets some inadvertent help from his nemesis Padan Fain and he eliminates most of the Asha’man who plotted against him.
When Rand left Elayne in Caemlyn after bonding with her, Aviendha, and Min, he took Min, Nynaeve, Lan and a powerful, former Seanchan damane named Alivia with him. He needs Nynaeve to help him him with his plan to cleanse the taint from saidin. She is the only one powerful enough and who he trusts enough to help him with this task.
Upon leaving Far Madding with Cadsuane and an assortment of other Aes Sedai and Asha’man, Rand goes to Shadar Logoth. He links with Nynaeve, and using the paired crystal ter’angreal, he tries to divert the taint of saidin into a bubble around the tainted city. His drawing of so much power draws the attention of the Forsaken.
Cadsuane and her cadre are tasked with protecting Rand and Nynaeve while they complete their day-long ordeal. Casualties mount up on both sides, but Rand finally removes the taint. This is probably the single most important event in the series since the Battle at Dumai’s Wells, and will have a long-lasting impact on the story.
Egwene is missing from Winter’s Heart
In the previous book, Jordan set up that Egwene’s arc would be paused for three months. It gave him a chance to catch up on the all the other sub-plots with other characters. Her planned siege of the White Tower will be addressed in the next book.
Cadsuane's task
Readers finally learn why Cadsuane has come out of retirement and what her interest in Rand is. She accepts that he is the Dragon Reborn, but she knows that he’s becoming too hardened on his own. She has a task and she gets Rand to accept her as an advisor and traveling companion. He trusts her enough to let her protect him while he is cleansing saidin.
As the story moves forward, Rand’s hardened soul must be softened. He needs to rediscover his humanity again, and Cadsuane has taken it upon herself to help him do so.
Winter’s Heart has plenty of action and proves foundation for the final run of the series. Its biggest issue, shared with several of the middle books, is the distance between check-ins with the central characters. It is understandable that with a story this complex, with so many important things happening to so many significant characters, sometimes things don't flow as well as they might. That Jordan can advance such an intricately woven tapestry of storylines is almost unbelievable, so we won’t be too harsh.
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