K – Knife of Dreams, Robert Jordan

Loved: Somewhere in the blog-o-sphere, someone is cringing at my Wheel of Time love! This is one of the later books and, admittedly, plods along a bit more clunkily than others. But Jordan’s series is pretty close to unbeatable for me in terms of worldbuilding and character development.

I grew up with these characters and have known them like old friends, ever since my grandma bought me Eye of the World years ago at a garage sale for fifty cents. For me, this is the series against which all others must be judged. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do with myself when it comes to a close next year...

Learned: A lot of folks take issue with the repeated character tics Jordan uses (Nynaeve’s braid pulling is the prime example), but I love the depth he uses to create his characters. Yes, sometimes they’re annoying, or bull-headed, or you want to smack them. That’s what makes them real and relatable. I’m also constantly amazed at his ability to make readers fall in love with random secondary characters who only appear for a page or two. Even in that brief time, Jordan paints a microcosm of their beliefs, their backgrounds, what they stand for, what they’re willing to die for…everything. All within a few hundred words. Wish I could do that!

Another aspect I greatly admire and try to pull into my own stories are the overall life lessons that Jordan sprinkles throughout. Sayings like “We are always more afraid than we wish to be, but we can always be braver than we expect,” and “The only thing sadder than a battle won, is a battle lost.” stick with me in real life, too.