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Ranking The Wheel of Time Books

Hello everyone! Today, I want to rank each of The Wheel of Time Books. Without further ado here is my tier list:

S-Tier: The Best of the Best

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan
Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan
A Memory of Light by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan

The Great Hunt for me was the book that made me start to love this series. This was the book where it felt like the series was finding it’s identity and started to stand out. The Fires of Heaven, I actually liked this book better than The Shadow Rising. This book had great action sequences, a scene that broke me and three epic climaxes in this book. Knife of Dreams is one last great book from Robert Jordan before his passing. The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson was an amazing first entry by Brandon Sanderson and it had plenty of cool and great moments. The transition between Jordan and Sanderson was almost perfect. It was this book that made me declare that Rand Al’Thor is my favourite Fantasy main protagonist. I also enjoy this book taking on a more faster pace. Lastly A Memory of Light had a perfect ending to this epic series that wraps up everything nicely.

A-Tier: Great stories in their own right

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
Towers of Midnight by Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan
Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan
A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan

I know The Shadow Rising is one of the most popular books in this series and while I did like the book, to me it’s just not S-Tier. Maybe my opinion on this book will change on a re-read but for now its solid A-Tier. The Dragon Reborn was the book that made me realize how good Perrin’s character arc and this is also the book where Mat started to really shine as a character. Towers of Midnight had a lot of great moments and again I appreciate the faster pace this novel took on, the reason for why this is A-Tier was that there were two very stupid things that happen in this book that prevents this from being an S-Tier book and that is Perrin’s trial and the fight between Egwene and Rand over the breaking of the seals. The reason for why Lord of Chaos is A-Tier is simply because it probably has the best climax of the whole series if not the entire Fantasy genre. The Path of Daggers and Winter’s Heart was actually really good, and I don’t get why these books are considered bad. Lastly A Crown of Swords had a lot of good character moments, worldbuilding, and some good action scenes.

B-Tier: Just Okay Books

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
New Spring by Robert Jordan

The Eye of the World was just an okay book, while it did accomplish a lot: good worldbuilding, interesting lead character, and having an adventure party was a nice touch. However it was just okay. The same with New Spring, it’s also just an okay book. I liked it because it gave a lot of backstory and character development to very important characters: Lan and Moiraine. However the action sequences was very short and the ending felt a little rushed.

D-Tier: The Worst

Crossroads of Twilight

Do I even need to say it? This was the worst book in the entire series. There was no plot progression or anything getting resolved. The pacing was terrible in the first half of the book. And it kind of gave me the feeling that this was the book equivalent of an anime filler arc.

Conclusion:

Well that’s how I rank this series. I hope you liked the change to how I normally rank things. This was a fun exercise. Stay tuned for my list of my favourite The Wheel of Time characters.

Post-Mortem: The Wheel of Time Series

Series: The Wheel of Time

Authors: Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Books: 15

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Series Synopsis:

Written by Robert Jordan and completed posthumously by Brandon Sanderson, The Wheel of Time is one of the greatest epics of fantasy and a #1 internationally bestselling series. Taking place both in our past and our future, the saga tells the story of a man destined to face the Evil One and save the world—or destroy it in the process.

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

(from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

The Wheel of Time Series is the longest book series I have ever read, and it is the longest book series that I’ve reviewed on this blog. There are 15 books in this series! Yes 15 books and most of the books are very long books. It was intimidating starting the series with this fact when I began it in late 2021 (look I took my time with this as I did wanted to read other things).

There is a lot of things that I love about this series: the characters and their growth, the worldbuilding and the lore, the magic system, the action sequences, the books climaxes. Let’s talk about the characters and their growth. There is a lot of characters that stand out to me: Rand, Mat, Nynaeve, Elayne, Thom, Moghadien, Lanfear and Perrin. These characters are all great characters. What’s even better is that character growth for many of these characters. These characters go through so much character growth. Like Perrin for example, in the early books he was a man who wasn’t very sure of himself and was trying to find his way in the world, then he grew to become a very competent leader and at the end of the series he becomes a master of the dream world.

Rand Al’Thor has become my personal favourite Fantasy main protagonist, as his entire character arc and growth is great. He starts off being a scared kid in the first book, becomes an Emperor and then he becomes like a Jesus Christ-like figure at the end of this series. His growth and his evolution is amazing to read.

The Worldbuilding and the lore in the series is amazing. There is a lot of worldbuilding as we see different countries, we meet different cultures (Aiel and the Seanchan are very well though out cultures), there are factions that are very relevant to the story. We also visit almost ever major city in this world, we actually spend a lot of time just travelling throughout the world.

I also really like the magic system of this series. There is Saidar (Female Magic) and Saidin (Male Magic) and there are rules (such as channeling cannot bring back the dead, depending on the character’s strength they may not be able to perform certain weaves). Not to mention there are Five Elements (or threads): Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Spirit. The One Power is drawn from the True Source. It apparently is the driving force of this universe. In addition to this, there is a Dream World: Tel’aran’rhlod that’s a part of this system as well. There is also the True Power, a source of energy which finds its source from the Dark One.

I also really like the action sequences in these books. Whenever there is an action sequence it was almost always an entertaining scene. The details of what happen in these fights help make the scenes totally stand out. The finales in some of these books were amazing. Two of the books in this series (book 6 and the last book) climaxes are now my favourite Fantasy book climaxes!

There were so many “firsts” for me as I was reading this series. This series contains the first book I’ve read that has two Prologues, another book with 80 pages of Prologue. And the climax in the last book has one chapter that I kid you not is almost 200 pages long!

Now I do have some criticism of this series. The romances in these novels are terrible. The romances make me cringe. There was one point in this series where I just went: “Robert, stop. Just stop with the Romance as this is terrible and I don’t believe that these characters are even in love.” Under Brandon Sanderson, the romance did improve a little, but I feel like it was one of those too little too late in the series for me to really change my mind about this series romances.

The pacing sometimes can be a problem. While I’m glad that the series did take its time, at times though it feels like nothing much is happening and there were times when I was wondering: Is something going to happen here?

The villains are also problematic. I found that a lot of the villains were incompetent. Like several times throughout the series the villains were like: “Oh we got to kill Rand.” “We got to break the seals.” And I’m just like I thought these were already high priorities for you all? And some of the villains get killed just a little too quickly for my liking.

This book can also be very repetitive. I think every Wheel of Time reader will agree with me on this: Robert Jordan is very repetitive. Phrases keep being repeated throughout this series including the following: “She smoothed her skirts”, “This character sniffed”. The repetitiveness can be exhausting.

Final Thoughts:

Was it worth reading 15 books, 4, 410,036 words, 11,898 pages? Is reading The Wheel of Time Series worth it? In my opinion, yes. Yes it was worth it. This was an incredible journey, and it was truly an epic read! It has great characters that grow, great worldbuilding and lore, great action sequences and climaxes, and good magic system. This series was totally worth the read. If you want to give Epic Fantasy a read, The Wheel of Time series is a great series to pick up.

Rating:

My The Wheel of Time Reviews:

The Wheel of Time (1999 Game)

Crossroads of Twilight

Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons

Title: Rick and Morty vs Dungeons & Dragons

Author: Patrick Rothfuss

Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Comedy

Pages: 144 pages

Synopsis:

You’ve got to–belch!–roll for initiative, Morty!

Two pop-culture juggernauts are teaming up and neither multiverse is prepared for what comes next!

When Morty sees a cute girl at school playing Dungeons & Dragons, he asks Rick to show him the ropes, only to discover that his grandfather is a veteran gamer. Next thing he knows, the entire family has been pulled into a campaign that escalates from virtual D&D simulations to alternate universes governed by the rules of the game. And as it turns out, Rick isn’t the only one who knows his way around a d20.

(from goodreads)

My Thoughts:

So I was at the library (support your local libraries btw!) and I saw this and me being a big Dungeons & Dragons player, I just knew I had to read this.

So Morty gets interested in playing Dungeons & Dragons and he gets invited to play a Rogue at the end of the week… only problem is that Morty doesn’t know anything about how to play Dungeons & Dragons. So he tries to learn as much as he can about the game and of course, he asks Rick who just so happens to be a D&D player himself. And together they explore the different editions of Dungeons & Dragons.

This was yet another good and quick read I was able to finish reading this all in one morning. There were some good jokes throughout this such as the joke about 4th Edition (We don’t talk about 4th Edition!). I also just love the amount of references this does give to the game itself and the Forgotten Realms lore.

Although I kind of did like the second half of the story better as the whole family was involved and the story that they were in really felt like an actual Dungeons & Dragons Campaign. There were still plenty of jokes but it was that part that made it feel that they got Dungeons & Dragons just right.

I guess my main criticism is that if you are a Rick and Morty fan or just known nothing about Dungeons & Dragons at all, the first half of the story can be difficult as there is a ton of referential jokes to the various editions of Dungeons & Dragons.

My other point of criticism is that for the second half of the story, Rick Sanchez (you know the first name of the name of Rick and Morty) gets sidelined. And it just feels kind of weird to see this character who usually tries to stay in control of the situation just get sidelined.

Overall, this graphic novel is loads of fun and I definitely recommend it if you know about Dungeons & Dragons and it’s editions. I don’t recommend this to totally new players to Dungeons & Dragons as I think there are better resources to learn about Dungeons & Dragons. If you are into roleplaying games and know Dungeons & Dragons though, it is worth a read.

Rating:

A Memory of Light

Title: A Memory of Light

Author: Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Wheel of Time #14

Pages: 912 pages

Synopsis:

“And it came to pass in those days, as it had come before and would come again, that the Dark lay heavy on the land and weighed down the hearts of men, and the green things failed, and hope died.” From Charal Drianaan te Calamon, The Cycle of the Dragon.

In the Field of Merrilor the rulers of the nations gather to join behind Rand al’Thor, or to stop him from his plan to break the seals on the Dark One’s prison—which may be a sign of his madness, or the last hope of humankind. Egwene, the Amyrlin Seat, leans toward the former.

In Andor, the Trollocs seize Caemlyn.

In the wolf dream, Perrin Aybara battles Slayer.

Approaching Ebou Dar, Mat Cauthon plans to visit his wife Tuon, now Fortuona, Empress of the Seanchan.

All humanity is in peril—and the outcome will be decided in Shayol Ghul itself. The Wheel is turning, and the Age is coming to its end. The Last Battle will determine the fate of the world…

(from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

We finally reached the end, the end of the Wheel of Time Series with A Memory of Light. The last book of The Wheel of Time Series.

A Memory of Light is the book that wraps everything up in this series. We see the good guys fight amongst each other, and then we see them come together despite their differences with each other. There is a last battle between the forces of good versus evil where there is a bunch of twists and turns.

There are a lot of cool scenes throughout this book Rand dueling Tam and learning to let go. Rand convincing Fortuna to join his forces. Galad and Gawyn fighting Demandred. Rand facing the Dark One. Lan fights Demandred! There were parts of this book where almost every scene was epic!

The relationship between Androl and Pevara is probably one of the best I’ve seen in this entire series.

I also like how there were no real “slow” parts in this book as most of this book was just action.

I also like the worldbuilding by making the Shara, a group of people in this world actually relevant by joining the forces of evil. We get a sense of their culture and who they are and that they have a lot of channelers. And the reveal of what happened to Male Aiel who can channel.

Demandred is now one of the best villains in this entire series. He did a lot of work in this book.

This book has a very satisfying conclusion. I felt satisfied with the ending. The ending wrapped up almost all of the storylines in a nice way. I am very happy with how this ended. I am very happy with the ending that Rand got. Rand deserves the rest that he gets in the end of the book.

I want to talk about the climax in this book. The Last Battle chapter, I kid you not is almost 200 pages long! This one chapter is that long! I think this is the longest chapter of a book I have ever read… and it was an amazing ride! I spent the whole weekend reading this chapter and things just kept escalating with so many epic moments in this climax. This is probably my second favourite climax in this entire series. This series is great with it’s climaxes and I am happy we get a great climax to the ending of this series.

Now I do have a little criticism: they continued one of the most stupidest storylines in the series: the dispute between Rand and Egwene over breaking the seals in the first part of the book. It was such a stupid storyline and I just don’t get why they spent so much time on this.

There were a few things that did frustrate me: Gawyn. Gawyn frustrated me so much in this book. He basically got himself killed over nothing by leaving Egwene and taking on a Forsaken all by himself. While the fight was cool and all, Gawyn was just stupid leaving Egwene alone. His death basically led to the death of Egwene!

My next few criticisms are more nitpicks: Why no reunion between one of the best relationships: Siuan and Moiraine? The death of Padan Fain was a little underwhelming and he played no real part of the book. Why did it take several books for Demandred to become this relevant to the story?

Overall, A Memory of Light was a good and epic finale to a great series. And once again The Wheel of Time series knocked it out of the park with it’s climax. This series is great when it comes to it’s climaxes. I honestly feel like this ending had no right to be this good, and this book solidifies Brandon Sanderson as one of my favourite authors. He did an awesome job in writing this book and the two previous books. Wow, I can’t believe I’m done reading this series, in a way it kind of leaves me with a sense of loss. As I’ve seen these characters, what they’ve been through and how they’ve grown over these 15 books. I am very glad that this book series had a satisfying conclusion. Stay tuned to my series review of The Wheel of Time!

Rating:

My The Wheel of Time Reviews:

The Wheel of Time (1999 Game)

Crossroads of Twilight

Fantasy Book Series I want to read after The Wheel of Time Series

This year has been quite the year for me in Fantasy Series. I finished reading the Mistborn series (at least until Era 3 begins), reading the Cosmere series, and I am about to finish The Wheel of Time Series. With me finishing The Wheel of Time series, it’s time to look to the next big series and here is what I am looking at:

1. The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson

Did you really think I’m done with Brandon Sanderson, one of my favourite authors? Noooope. I know this series isn’t complete but I trust Brandon. I do believe he will finish this series and I think he made it clear that that this will be his Magnum Opus. And I believe this will be a fun read.

2. The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

I’ve been eyeing this series for a while so and this is very high up on my list of book series I want to give a read.

3. The Liveship Traders by Robbin Hobb

Now while I was incredibly disappointed by The Assassin’s Apprentice, and I still stand by what I said about that book. I kind of still want to give Robin Hobb another chance. And I was told that this was a good stand-alone series. So I will give Robin Hobb a second chance.

4. The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin

I’ve always been interested in this series and I kind of want to give this series a try. I have the books so I can begin reading it anytime really.

5. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King

I didn’t forget about this series but there was just other books that I wanted to read more over this year. I hope to return to this series and eventually finish it… someday.

Conclusion:

Well those are the main fantasy series I am looking to read after I am done with The Wheel of Time series. Stay tuned because The Wheel of Time Month has just begun!

Monthly Wrap-Up: November 2023

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Monthly Wrap-Up where I give updates on my reading and other things I’m up to in the past month. So let’s get to it!

Books Read: 2

Yeah, I know, I know. This was a very big drop from last month where I read five books and three short stories. However I was very busy this month with my volunteering and the other things I’m involved with. And well both Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light are both very long books.

Avengers Unleashed, Vol. 1: Kang War One by Mark Waid

This was a disappointment. While I’m always intrigued whenever I see a Kang story, this story just didn’t work for me. The best thing about this is that it was a very quick read and Spider-Man made things a little more fun.

Towers of Midnight by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan

This was the best book I read this month. It has its flaws but I still liked it. There was plenty of cool and epic moments in this book. Also Moiraine is back which is awesome!

Currently Reading:

A Memory of Light by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan

We finally, finally have made it to the last The Wheel of Time book! Oh my gosh I really can’t believe I’ve made it this far in the series. It’s definitely been a journey and so far I am really liking what’s going on.

What I’ve been doing and watching:

I’ve been busy with the volunteer committee that I am part of. There’s been a lot of change going on there.

In terms of TV, I’ve been catching up on Doctor Who to celebrate the big 60th anniversary!

I also ordered the latest Audio season of my favourite Doctor Who spinoff: Torchwood.

This whole month I’ve been getting serious about my poetry. I’ve already written up a bunch of Tankas and Haikus lately and I am actively trying to learn more about poetry.

I’ve been having fun with the Candlekeep Campaign I’m in. I am enjoying my Rogue/Sorcerer build, he’s fun and I think he might be one of the funest characters I ever made!

Plans for Next Month:

The month of December is The Wheel of Time Month! As I review the last novel, the whole series, my favourite characters and my favourite scenes in the entire series, as I say goodbye to the longest running book series on this blog!

Stay tuned for the end of December when I plan to give the list of my least favourite books that I read this year and my list of the books that I loved the most this past year! This is going to be a busy month and I am determined to finish the year off strong! See you all soon and Happy Holidays!

Towers of Midnight

Title: Towers of Midnight

Author: Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Wheel of Time #13

Pages: 843 pages

Synopsis:

The Last Battle has started. The seals on the Dark One’s prison are crumbling. The pattern itself is unraveling, and the armies of the Shadow have begun to boil out of the Blight.

The Sun has begun to set upon the Third Age.
Perrin Aybara is now hunted by specters from his past: Whitecloaks, a slayer of wolves, and the responsibilities of leadership. All the while, an unseen foe is slowly pulling a noose tight around his neck. To prevail, he must seek out answers in the wolf dream and find a way-at long last-to master the wolf within him or lose himself to it forever.

Meanwhile, Matrim Cauthon prepares for the most difficult challenge of his life. The creatures beyond the stone gateways-the Arlfinn and the Eelfinn-have confused him, taunted him, and left him hanged, his memory stuffed with bits and pieces of other men’s lives. He had hoped that his last confrontation with them would be the end of it, but the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. The time is coming, when he will again have to dance with the Snakes and the Foxes, playing a game that cannot be won. The Tower of Ghenjel awaits, and its secrets will reveal the fate of a friend long lost.

Dovie’andi se tovya sagain. It’s time to toss the dice.

(from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

And so we begin the ending of The Wheel of Time Series, as this is the second last book in this series! Wow. Towers of Midnight mostly focuses on Matt and Perrin’s storylines. Matt’s trying to figure out how to save Moiraine and get access special weapons with help from Elayne. While Perrin has to face his inner demons and his past to become the leader that he needs to be. There are other storylines such as: Rand trying to win over a few more people to his side, Gawyn and Egwene having issues with each other. Rand and Egwene fight over whether the seals should be broken or not (more on that later).

I have to say there was a lot of things that happened in this book. This may have been the most things happening in a The Wheel of Time novel that I can think of.

There are a lot of great scenes in this book. The fight with the Gholam was awesome. The fight between the Whitecloaks, Perrin’s forces and the Trollocs army. Rand fighting the trollocs in Saldaea. The Tower of Ghenjei sequence was awesome.

I really feel like this was Perrin’s book, as for once he actually does seem to be growing as a character by finally getting past his imposter syndrome and accepting that he is a leader. And he actually got a a lot done in this book. He was able to defeat Slayer, met Egwene and Elayne, got the Whitecloaks rivalry resolved and are now wokring with him! And the fight with the Trollocs was awesome! I also found it cool that the Wolf Dream became relevant again as it seemed like Robert Jordan had a cool idea with it but then it seemed that he just forgot about it. Perrin also gets a cool new weapon.

I also just like how Galad despite being a moral absolutist is actually a very interesting character and I’m glad that we do get his POV’s as it’s really helping me understand his character and where he is coming from.

It’s also nice that Morgase gets to act as a Queen again in this book.

Also Moiraine is back! And having her back in the series is just so awesome!

Now I do have some criticism of this novel, let’s get the first one out of the way: Perrin’s trial. While I think Perrin had a really good story in this book, I think the trial was one of the most stupidest scenes I’ve seen in this entire series. I hated it, and it just shows that Perrin is a poor advocate for himself. I am not sure if this was part of Robert Jordan’s plan or if Brandon Sanderson did this just to try and resolve the Whitecloaks storyline as efficiently as he can. Either way it was poorly executed.

I also feel like the conflict between Egwene and Rand about whether the seals should be broken was stupid. I mean the Last Battle has to happen and Rand has to fight the Dark One. And Rand feels that he’s ready for the Last Battle. Not to mention the remaining seals are fragile and it can break anytime. So either you break the seals on the good guys terms or you keep the seals and eventually the Forsaken or Darkfriends figure out how to break them, or the seals just break period. What are you supposed to do? I feel like breaking the seals on the good guys terms seems right to me honestly. I just feel that Egwene cannot admit that Rand is right.

My third criticism of this book is how Mat was written. Now I want to say, Mat is still one of my favourite characters and he is still a fun character to follow. In the first part of the book, I really felt like Brandon was struggling writing Mat, as Mat just felt off. And in the letter he wrote to Elayne was the ultimate example of this. As it felt very clumsy, weird and made it look like Mat is stupid (which he isn’t). However the second half of the book, Mat felt more like his usual self.

I noticed that worldbuilding is notably absent in this book. While the Tower of Ghenjei was interesting, other than that worldbuilding felt like an afterthought in this book. Weirdly I am okay with this as this world is so detailed thanks to the previous books, but I just like my worldbuilding when I’m reading Fantasy.

Overall, there was quite a few epic moments that’s definitely helping build up excitement for the big finale in A Memory of Light. While there is flaws in Towers of Midnight, it’s still a nice epic book to read and it leads nicely into the final book of the series. Wow, I can’t believe my journey with The Wheel of Time is almost over. Just one more book to go!

Rating:

My The Wheel of Time Reviews:

The Wheel of Time (1999 Game)

Crossroads of Twilight

New Spring

Knife of Dreams

The Gathering Storm

End of the Year TBR List: 2023

There’s less than a month and a half left for this year?! Can you believe it? 2023 is almost over. And there is still a few books I want to read before the year is over. So here is my TBR List for the end of this year:

1. Currently Reading: The Towers of Midnight by Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan

Reading this right now, just over 600 pages. I’ve become very busy lately so progress isn’t as good as I want it to but I am determined to get this read ASAP.

2. A Memory of Light by Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan

I am determined to finish The Wheel of Time series this year! I am determined to make this happen. I don’t think I can finish both these books this month, but I am determined to finish this series this year. Right now I’m thinking of making December The Wheel of Time Month where I review A Memory of Light, do a series review, ranking the books, naming all of my favourite characters and my favourite moments from this series.

3. The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

After I am done reading The Wheel of Time Series, I feel like I need to have another break from Fantasy. And this book has been on my list for a while and I wanted to give it a read.

4. The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories Edited by Tara Moore

I think I mentioned this before, but I feel like the Fall and Winter is the best time of the year for reading Horror. And I definitely want to read this book at around Christmas.

5. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

Are you seeing the trend here? After I am done reading the Wheel of Time, I want to read a book from my other favourite genres: Historical Fiction, Horror and Science Fiction. I want to read this Science Fiction classic.

Conclusion:

Well that’s my End of the Year TBR List. I really hope I can succeed in reading all of these books! And if I can somehow read more, well that’s even better.

Avengers: Unleashed, Vol. 1: Kang War One

Title: Avengers: Unleashed, Vol 1: Kang War One

Author: Mark Waid

Genre: Superheroes

Pages: 136 pages

Synopsis:

The time has come! Their ranks shattered by CIVIL WAR II, their spirits weighted down by a toll both personal and spiritual, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes must find the resolve to stand united one final time against their greatest foe! The Avengers will assemble once more: Captain America! Thor! Vision! Wasp! Spider-Man! Hercules! But when the dust settles, will any of these valiant warriors make it out alive from an all-out war with Kang the Conqueror?! And when the Vision sets out hell-bent on revenge against Kang, all of history will be in jeopardy if the Avengers can’t stop the synthezoid! The Firewall of Time will be shattered — and it will fall to the Avengers to stop the dangers it held back! When war after war ends, not everything — or everyone — will be the same!

COLLECTING: AVENGERS 1-6

(from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

Kang War One is about a war between the Avengers and Kang the Conqueror as both sides are determined to finish each other off in a once and for all fight (although considering this is a Superhero Comic, I doubt it).

Anyways I was able to read this very quickly as I was able to finish reading this in just under 2 hours. Yes, you can read it that fast.

Anyways I always find Kang just a fun character especially when we see Kang interact with his variants and we do see a little bit of that here. Also it’s always fun just to see Spider-Man around.

However I have many issues with this story. The first issue I have is the art. The art in this graphic novel… it’s just not for me. I didn’t like the artwork in this graphic novel.

I also feel like the story was sacrificed for more action. And the story suffers here as we keep jumping to whatever the next action scene is with no time for our characters to breath. And the characters (with the exception of Spider-Man) don’t feel very different from each other throughout this story. Also the amount of time travel that went on in this book made it hard to follow at times.

The writing does not always add up as well. There was this one scene where it looked like Spider-Man was in bad shape, only for the next time we see him a few panels later: he was perfectly fine. Uh what?

Overall, while it was fun to see the Avengers fight against Kang. The book suffers from its sacrificing it’s story for action and it helped make the writing not add up at times. I think you can give this Avengers story a pass.

Rating:

Monthly Wrap-Up: October 2023

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Monthly Wrap-Up where I give updates on my reading and other things I’m up to in the past month. So let’s get to it!

Books Read: 5

October was Horror Month here on the blog and every book I read this month was Horror. I am proud to say that I did manage to read all the books on my TBR list for this month!

Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Mary Shelley

This is a horror classic no matter what version you read. And this is the perfect to book to read during this month. It’s a great horror novel with deep themes and the imagery and descriptions add to the creepiness to the novel.

How to Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

A recent release! This was released earlier this year, and it’s perfect time to read it as it’s about a Haunted House. And Haunted Houses fit the Halloween spirit all too well! This book does an excellent job in creating suspense and building tension. I also liked the family dynamic and the themes this book explored.

The Green Mile by Stephen King

It wouldn’t be Horror Month, if there wasn’t at least one Stephen King book. I have long stated that Stephen King is one of my personal favourite authors and his writing here is at his best. Stephen King’s greatest strength is in his characters and it is on full display here.

Ring by Koji Suzuki

This was the big disappointment for me this month. While this book wasn’t all bad: it was a page turner, and had an interesting mystery while also having a ticking clock device. I was really turned off about how this book handled serious issues such as rape. And I was really turned off by the transphobia and intersexphobia that went on this book.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Gracia

This was an okay Horror book. I liked it’s themes and it had it’s moments where it was scary. However the pacing and the forced romance bogs this book down in my view.

Short Stories Read: 3

While these are not books, I did read a few short stories this month all with a Horror theme.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This was an interesting story about a woman who is going through mental health problems is confined to a room with yellow wallpaper and as the story continues she becomes more and more psychotic. This is a short story where many themes are explored such as: Women’s role in marriage, identity and expression. It’s a decent read for this type of season.

The Red Room by H.G. Wells

The Red Room is all about a person who stays in an alleged haunted room for a night to prove that it’s not haunted. What’s interesting about The Yellow Wallpaper and The Red Room is how colour in the room influences the characters behaviour in both of the stories.

The Beast in the Cave by H.P. Lovecraft

I’ve decided to get my feet wet by trying some H.P. Lovecraft. This is the first story that I think I have ever read from this author. Now while I condemn his racism and xenophobia, there is no denying H.P. Lovecraft’s impact on Horror and Literature. And I decided to give this author a chance. Now this is actually one of his earliest stories, as he made this during his teen years. It’s about a man who gets lost in the caves and encounters a “beast”. It’s a very short story but I do like it and the ending was quite the twist.

Currently Reading:

Towers of Midnight by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan

We are back to The Wheel of Time series and we are nearing the end of this book series and I hope Brandon can deliver on continuing this great series.

What I’ve been doing and watching:

October has been a stressful month for me at work. There’s a lot happening at work. Although they were a few good bright spots.

I continued to play some Magic the Gathering during this month. I was able to finish my Gandalf Wizard Spells deck. And I look forward to playing with it more.

This was a great month for me in Dungeons & Dragons. To fill the void of my regular group not playing, I’ve joined my co-workers D&D Group. And I am playing at a higher power level, as my character started at Level 8! Then this past week I took part of All Strahd’s Eve event. Where I played The Haunt a two-shot where we the party has to investigate haunted houses as a Twilight Domain Cleric. And I played Strahd Must Die Tonight where I played a Oath of Vengeance Paladin. Oh and for both events I started at level 5! I have been enjoying playing with higher powered level characters lately. They can be a challenge but I am enjoying it.

Plans for Next Month:

We are back to reading Fantasy and my plan is to finally finish The Wheel of Time Series before the end of this year.

I am looking forward to a one-shot I am participating in, as I am playing a Level 13 character. And I decided I will be playing a Level 13 Wizard Necromancer. I am looking forward to this opportunity of playing a very high powered character.

I am also looking forward to bringing back my Bardlock again this month. And I look forward to playing more with my co-workers D&D group.

Happy Halloween everyone!