The Fires of Heaven

About The Fires of Heaven

The Fires of Heaven is the fifth book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and the volume where the scale and consequence of the Dragon Reborn's rise become impossible to ignore. Rand al'Thor now commands the Aiel - a warrior people who terrify the western lands - and must navigate the politics of conquest while the taint on the male half of the One Power slowly erodes his sanity. The book tracks multiple storylines across the vast geography of Jordan's world. Rand and the Aiel pour into Cairhien, a nation torn by the political game known as Daes Dae'mar - the Game of Houses - where betrayal is an art form and every alliance is a move in a match no one can see the edges of. The battles here are large-scale tactical engagements, and Jordan renders the logistics of moving armies across contested terrain with unusual care. Mat Cauthon steps fully into his role as one of fantasy's great characters in these pages, his borrowed memories of ancient generals finally deployed in combat that matters. His relationship with Rand - two men who love each other and are growing into purposes that may not be compatible - gives the book its most affecting emotional current. Egwene and Nynaeve travel with Valan Luca's circus, a sequence that provides relief from the book's darkest material and genuine danger of its own. Their confrontation with the Forsaken Moghedien is among the series' most satisfying moments of individual triumph. The Fires of Heaven ends with one of the saga's most startling developments - a death that Jordan handles with the abruptness of real loss rather than narrative ceremony. For readers who have come this far in the Wheel of Time, The Fires of Heaven is the volume that tests the commitment and rewards those who pass. The story at this point is too large, too detailed, and too inhabited to leave.

Tropes & Themes