Mat—the character we most missed in PoD. Yes, he is back. But in a much different capacity than you would expect. He has been taken captive in Seanchan, and is married to the Daughter of the Nine Moons. We find out that being married to the DotNM is not as glamorous as the name would have you believe. The DotNM is really the goddess that the Seanchan worship and dear Matrim has been forced into her service as a priest (aka slave). Part of the service of being married to Dot is that he must be celibate. He is actually a eunuch now (ouch! Bet you are all wishing he just would have lost an eye).

Rand—hero extraordinare. What would the book be without our favorite dragon reborn? Well, good ole’ Randy boy doesn’t do much in this book, other than whine and cry and throw fits. He does learn a lesson from Caddy, but you will never guess what it is. Should I tell? Ok, I guess I will. She teaches him how to bond an Ogier as a warder. The Ogier are amazing creatures and know the secret of getting rid of the taint. All the asha’men bond Ogiers against the Ogiers’ wills, and since the Ogiers don’t want to go insane, they remove the taint from the male half of the source.

Eggy—Our favorite female role model. Poor Eggy is not the brightest crayon on the box, but she does do some good things. In an effort to show all the sisters that she is powerful and can lead them, she decides to host parties every evening. The parties are all a big hit, and even the most dour of AS are impressed with the new karoke machine she brings in. We are still waiting for her to get a clue and figure out that she can communicate with Rand.

Loial—my favorite character. His part in this book is so cool I don’t want to spoil it for you. Lets just say that he and his friends form up an amazing army. They are forced to march against their brothers in the Seanchan death guard. The best scenes in the book.

I hope you enjoyed a preview of things to come. I didn’t touch on everyone because there is just too much to say and I didn’t want to total spoil book 9 for you.

Oh yes, would you like to know the title? The Revenge of the Ogier.

I may be convinced to give you more information later if you clamor for more spoilers.

Vandelay

If you have read the previous Book 9 breaking news post, you are aware that book 9 is complete and that I have read it. Revenge of the Ogiers is a major departure for RJ, full of crazy plots that no one could have guessed. Here are just a few more spoilers to wet your appetite for what is to come.

Thom—gleeman extraordinaire. As we all know, his mission in life is to save Moraine from *finnland, but he STILL doesn’t do it in this book. Instead, he wanders up into the Blight to see what is going on with the trolloc production farms. The poor man stumbles on the evil experiment to breed intelligent trolloc (aka Super Trollocs), so his only choice is to kill the trolloc breeders and train the Super Trollocs himself. Won’t the others be surprised when Thom shows up with is army of nice Super Trollocs that will help defeat the DO?

Moraine—where is the woman? We all know that she is in *finnland, just waiting for her thommy-boy to rescue her, but she is an intelligent woman and knows that she can’t depend on a man for everything. She has taken over the world of the evil beings, and is reigning supreme as their queen. She knows that she can’t escape alone, since she can’t touch the OP in the Tower of Gengi, but she has all the snakes (or is it foxes?) convinced that her little blue stone can destroy them. She does have a magical mirror that she can see Randland with, so she keeps tabs on Rand & co. that way, despairing over their complete lack of intelligence. (There is a passage I find a little worrisome—at one point she looks in the mirror and asks “who’s the fairest of them all?” She then blinks and can’t figure out why she said it).

Lan—henpecked husband. Lan really didn’t know what he got himself into when he married good ole’ Nynny. Fortunately for him, the Ogier come to him for help, wanting him to lead their army (he agrees, only after telling them that hot pink capri pants are NOT an acceptable army uniform). Nynny has a fit when she hears this, b/c she is so enjoying living the life of luxury in Elayne’s castle (you should see the way she orders the seamstresses around, not to mention the maids), and refuses to go with him (much to his relief). We last see Lan and the Ogier army marching against the Seanchan Death Guard. I personally would like to see them join forces and take over the world.

That barely scratches the surface of The Revenge of the Ogier, so stay tuned for more spoilers.

Vandelay, architect, latex specialist, marine biologist, importer/exporter and book spy