Welcome back to Drew’s WoT Reread! Today we will cover the first third of book three, The Dragon Reborn. We get to talk about Ogier dietary habits, a couple of really foolish girls, and what Rand means to this book.
As always, spoilers for the entire series are present. The introduction post is here. You can find all previous entries here. And now, onward. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time! Continue reading
Eritan tried to relax. It should have been easy, closed away in his private library as he was, reclining in a pillowed chair with his favorite history in hand. The Sword and the Flame, it read in silvery letters on the front: one of the most thorough accounts of the rise of the Letaalese Empire. Covered was everything from Pirinaan’s rise in the north, to the first battles against the Heartan overlords, to the first Emperor Eritan’s political maneuverings. Eritan liked those last the most, of course. His namesake had been a splendid ruler and a better politician; he himself did everything he could to emulate that first emperor of Letaal.
But things just weren’t cooperating. While Eritan the First had drawn allies to his side and conquered recalcitrant territories with the aid of Pirinaan’s priests, Eritan the Third was finding that process to be much more difficult, even with the expanded resources of an entire empire, rather than the limited power of Jinda. Instead of fighting against pliable peoples like those in Heart and Tuul and Icefall, he was stuck with the intractable Tin and the wild Roeteli. And of course the Nera Nashan to the north, who were now attacking any Letaalese who dared ride north from Barrier. Continue reading
That’s right! Two new chapters from All Flames Cast will be finding their way onto Dcafwriting in the coming days! Both chapters are from Eritan’s point of view, and will be the final Eritan chapters posted here.
You see, I have eight chapters from Harael already posted, which is a little more than a third of his plot arc in All Flames Cast. Harael also has by far the most chapters of the three characters. However, for the sake of balancing things out (and giving all you awesome readers a little more to sink your teeth into!), I’ll be posting a third of Eritan’s nine chapters and a third of Tymun’s projected 13. The Tymun chapters will be a little further down the line, as his storyline isn’t totally finished yet, and I want to at least get through a first revision before I post more from him.
So there you have it: eight Harael chapters, three Eritan chapters, and four from Tymun. It’s rather a lot to post for free on here, but I hope you all enjoy them! You can find the existing chapters at the main All Flames Cast page.
I had no expectations of this Friday being anything but a normal end of the work week trudge. Instead, I got to witness one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen: a community and fanbase come together in defense of one of its own, in a stand of solidarity.
Last night, on a Wheel of Time Facebook group that features over 5000 members, one fan posted a selfie and asked which character he most resembled. He was greeted by a vitriolic bully, persistent and cruel.
Thankfully, an admin on the group was alerted to it and actually rousted herself from bed to handle the situation. That’s pretty awesome by itself, but the aftermath was the stunning part.
Selfies. An absolute flood of selfies, from all over the world, from all kinds of people, many of them professing shyness and taking their own photos down after posting, only to be encouraged and repost them. One giant demonstration of support and the start of a trend: #WoTMe. It’s been one constant outpouring of solidarity, and the best part?
The guy who was originally bullied so fiercely over his picture came back and posted again.
Awesome work, WoT fans. Keep being cool, and help get rid of those obnoxious online bullies.
Flashbacks are a troubling and wonderful thing. They can provide essential insight into a character’s personality or motivations. They can develop dramatic tension by making the reader privy to events in that past the character isn’t aware of. They can set up thematic fulfillment with scene changes.
They can also be confusing, or a crutch for weak characterization or plotting. They can mess up the flow of a story, throw off pacing, and stick out like a sore thumb.
dcafwriting 