DRAGONMOUNT

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab     Is a life worth living if it is spent alone? As we are faced with the growing truth that we are mortal I am sure at one time or another we have all fantasized about what we could do with time without end. I have often pondered what I would be willing to give up for even an extra fifty years of life on earth. In her most recent novel V.E. Schwab gives us the opportunity to dance through time as we follow young Addie LaRue. She exchanged her soul for a life without end, but it didn’t come without a price.    As Friedrich Neitzsche once said, “The devil is in the detail”. This is a lesson that Addie would have been wise to take to heart. Stifled and caged by her gender and rural surroundings of Villon-sur-Sarthe, France in 1714, Adeline dreamed of a life without obligation. A life full of wonder, new experiences, and the freedom of choice. It is this desire that leads her to be cursed by her own hand. She makes a deal with the devil to live until she is done with it. “You can have my soul when I don’t want it anymore,” she promises, and that’s all it takes to erase the life she had once known.     I love when something I read doesn’t spark a memory or a comparison to another book. That speaks to my soul as something wholly original that needs to be read. To be honest I have not read many fantasy novels that take place in our own world. I prefer to be transported to another world, but I knew within the first few chapters that this book was something different.    The best way I can describe it is a dance through time, seen through the eyes of Addie. As she navigates our modern world as something like a spectator, we are given a passport to her past. All of her 300 long years of life adding up to the final decision we see her make.    There are no large action sequences or epic battles, except perhaps the entanglement between Addie and the Devil for her soul. Even still the book moves. I was carried through the pages by the desire to see if her road would come to an end. Was this to be a story about the entirety of her life? Or just a snapshot of her struggle? As I read the last words, I found myself aching to know more, but not so much so that I was dissatisfied. I believe that to be the hallmark of a tale well told. I was and am still impressed by how beautifully this story was written. V.E. (Victoria) Schwab has gained a new fan.     The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab is available from Dragonmount's store as a DRM-free ebook. You can also purchase it on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and your local independent bookseller. 

The Child of Chaos by Glen Dahlgren   In mother nature there is balance. For every dark night there is the light of day; for every devastating fire there is new life. In a world that is created by order, there will be a need for chaos to create harmony. In the young adult fantasy fiction world, there is a tendency by authors to follow a familiar path. As my fellow lovers of the fantasy and science fiction genre know, many authors can easily fall victim to this trap (Not that it means we love them any less!). Glen Dahlgren’s debut novel The Child of Chaos takes a new approach to the genre that was refreshing. Many in our fandom will know him as the lead designer of the Wheel of Time video game—which was released in 1999—but I suspect you will come to love him as a fantasy author as well.   The story is told mostly in alternating points of view between the hero and the villain. Our hero, young Galen, and his former friend Horace grow up quite quickly as their lives careen off of their predestined paths. Dahlgren creates a polytheistic religious system in which people feel called by “The Longing” to serve their God. Those not tied to the temples are faithless and expected to pay their tithe to the Order. The different Gods come together to create harmony and order, but what happens when Chaos is thrown into the mix? Galen is a young man with a powerful imagination who does not fit into the black and white world in which the faithless live. In the end it is his differences that make him exactly what the world needs.   At times the novel surges forward in leaps and bounds and you are never able to truly anticipate what lays ahead on the next page. The characters, religion and unique magic system are incredibly well developed. I personally would have liked even more world building, though as a disciple of Jordan I tend to live by the motto “more is more,” which is not for everyone.  As I have stated before, I love reviewing debut novels as it is exciting to see where burgeoning authors’ careers will go. The Child of Chaos is a very nice addition to the fantasy genre and one that I recommend to both new fantasy readers and to those of us who forever dwell in this literary realm.    The Child of Chaos by Glen Dahlgren is available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and your local independent bookseller.   

Amazon's official WoTonPrime social media accounts revealed today a brief video showcasing Thom Merrilin's guitar. The video showed how the instrument went through its design phase to becoming an actual prop seen in the show.   Thom-guitar-Dec23_2020.mp4   About Thom's instruments In the Wheel of Time books, Thom Merrilin (played by Alexandre Willaume in the TV show) is a skilled gleeman with a far-more-interesting-than-he-would-like past. He demonstrates his skill with both a harp and a flute. But interestingly, WoT TV showrunner Rafe Judkins and his team made the decision to give Thom a guitar instead. Here's what he wrote in a Q&A addressing the topic:       Amazon has already released preview videos of the Winespreing Inn, Tam's heron-marked sword, and a basic audio trailer.    What do you think of the Thom's guitar? Join the conversation below or view our reaction on The Wheel of Time Community Show on YouTube. Learn more about Amazon's Wheel of Time TV show.        

It’s fall and winter! Kitty shows us how to make Tam’s Wheel of Time stew. Mmmm.   Click here to download the recipe (PDF) Tams_Stew.pdf  

This past #WoTWednesday’s episode of The Dusty Wheel, Innkeeper Matt Hatch hosted our very own Jason Denzel.    Matt, who started the Wheel of Time fansite Theoryland, and Jason have been integral to the Wheel of Time community for the past 22 years.  Their chat on The Dusty Wheel covered all those years of friendship and ups and downs within the community.  The nostalgia is very intense here.   They also go into all the known details about the Amazon Prime Wheel of Time television show.  Jason does stress that we should be thinking of the show as another turning of the Wheel.  This isn’t the same as the book series, there will be differences.  I think this mentality is the best way to approach the whole situation.  There will be changes we need to accept, and in this turning of the Wheel, the characters made different choices.    This nearly 90-minute talk was riveting the whole way through.  They covered so many topics, from writing advice, to meeting Brandon Sanderson, to filming the Towers of Midnight book trailer.  If you’ve never heard some of these stories, I recommend tuning in!   You can watch the full episode below.       You can check out other episodes of The Dusty Wheel on their YouTube channel.

Lezbi Nerdy is a Wheel of Time content creator who recently realized that she has been reading and re-reading the Wheel of Time for more than half of her life, which freaked her out a little bit.  When not obsessing over Wheel of Time and other nerdy pursuits, she works at a language therapy center in South Korea and enjoys long, socially distanced walks while wearing a mask and listening to podcasts.  You can check out her youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/lezbinerdy and if you are so inclined, you can support her on patreon. http://www.patreon.com/lezbinerdy   The Wheel of Time changed the way I read.  So much so that I have in the past claimed that it is the first fantasy series I ever read, which in retrospect is just not true.  I have also said that The Eye of the World was the first “real adult book” I ever read, which… also, in retrospect, has turned out to not be true.  But it definitely feels true, and when trying to figure out why, I think I have landed on an answer.  The Wheel of Time changed how I read books. It turned me into an active reader in a way that just makes it feel like a turning point in my reading life.  This may simply be a by-product of the fact that I am an old-school fan, I was reading before the series was finished, and am among those who had to wait years between books, and wait over a decade to have the story finished.  So, in the time I was waiting, I thought about these books, and about where the story was going, I made guesses and had theories.  This is something I had never done prior to these books because I hadn’t needed to.  The stories I had read before were just… there.  I didn’t have to guess because if I just kept going, I’d find the answer.    But I think it was more than just the wait for more books that caused this change in me.  The story, the world that Robert Jordan crafted just lends itself to theorizing.  The world is so wide in scope, that even with the story finished, there are still questions left.  And there is such depth to the world building that even if there are no canonical answers, it feels like there are.    And so, when reading and re-reading this series before it was complete, my head was full of theories.  And there is one theory that, while it didn’t bear out in the end, I think it is worth examining.    The world of Wheel of Time is a world that has fractured along gender lines.  It is a world in which gender essentialism is… well, it’s true.  We have a magic system that divides things along very binary gender lines.  All male channelers must use saidin, and all female channelers must use saidar.  And those two sources of power are inherently different.  It is gender essentialism written into the foundational magic system that turns the eponymous Wheel of Time.    Characters in the books often muse at the nature of members of the opposite sex.  Men are spoken of by women in absolutes, and vice versa.  Women undertake actions and understand ideas that men don’t seem to know much about (for example, that a Two Rivers good wife would change the curtains in a house depending on the season), and men do things that women can’t seem to understand or dismiss as illogical.  It happens to such a degree that it can become frustrating to readers, even annoying, to hear these characters lump all members of the opposite gender into one group, to paint them all with broad brush strokes as all being the same.   But as I read, and re-read, I came to the conclusion that this was intentional, it had to be.  It had to be a symptom of something that was wrong and broken in their fictional world.  And it was a symptom that made sense to me.  If the foundational magic system of the world seemingly tells people that men and women are fundamentally different, and in fact, unknowable to each other, then why wouldn’t people just accept this as fact and not examine it further?   As Moiraine says in The Great Hunt, “A bird cannot teach a fish to fly, nor a fish teach a bird to swim.”   But of course, the fact that these differences between genders lean into very common and frustrating gender stereotypes was… well, as a woman, it was frustrating.  In order to use the male half of the source, men have to approach it directly, from the front, dominate it through force.  In order to use the female half of the source, women have to surrender to it, submit, and control subtly from within, or underneath the power.    We see this play out in the way men and women use and gain power in the world of The Wheel of Time.  Men, for the most part; battle, conquer, or negotiate directly by saying what they want clearly.  The women, on the other hand, the women in power in the books are mostly seen as manipulators, they pull the strings behind the scenes.  There are, of course, exceptions to these ‘rules’, but in general, this is how things work in this world.  And because of our cultural biases, these two methods are not viewed equally.  Battling, conquering, being direct… most readers see these as noble characteristics, brave even.  Manipulating, pulling strings… most readers will see these as sneaky, underhanded methods. Even if both of these methods are used to achieve the same goals, they are not view equally. These factors color how characters and organizations are viewed.      But again, this divide, this break between genders is literally baked into the foundation of this world.  Men must be dominant, because if they aren’t and they are a channeler, they literally won’t be able to channel.  And women must be surrendering, because if they are not able to surrender, then they literally won’t be able to channel.  If they do not conform, then they must learn to conform in order to fully grow into who they are meant to be.  Gender essentialism is enforced by how things work.   But gender essentialism is wrong.  Gender essentialism says that there are universal, immutable, intrinsic qualities to being male or female, and anyone with any sense knows that this is not true. I can tell you that in my over 20 years of teaching experience, there isn’t a single quality, hobby, or personality type that I could say universally applies to all the boys I’ve taught or all the girls.  There are numerous exceptions to every gender rule I can think of.  Even in that same conversation I previously mentioned in The Great Hunt, Verin comments on the faulty logic of the fish metaphor.  “There are birds that dive and swim. And in the Sea of Storms are fish that fly…” These universal generalities about “all women” and “all men” only serve to divide us and to make anyone who doesn’t fit feel like an outsider. To read more about gender essentialism, you can read this piece on Gender Essentialism Theory by Dr. E. Boskey.     And as I said, as I was re-reading these books, I began to think that this was the point Robert Jordan was trying to make, or it was one of them.  That the characters were wrong about the nature of masculinity and femininity because they were fundamentally wrong about the nature of saidar and saidin.  And the reason I began to think this was because of Nynaeve.     If you know my YouTube channel, then you probably know that Nynaeve is my girl.  She is my favourite character, hands down, and so she is the person I have thought the most about, and so yeah… on my re-reads it started to dawn on me that it didn’t make any sense that Nynaeve, for the first part of the series, can only channel when angry.  It goes against everything we know about the nature of saidar and female channeling.  Women are only supposed to be able to channel when calm, but that is out the window with Nynaeve, because she has to be livid to be able to ‘embrace the source’.  And secondly, women are supposed to only be able to channel through surrendering to the vastness of the One Power – literally are only able to use power by surrendering to power.  Now, maybe this is me, but anger is not a surrendering emotion in my book.  And from what we read and know of Nynaeve, it isn’t one for her too.  When she is angry, she bowls over people, she takes charge, she is blunt and direct, violent even.  She is displaying very characteristically masculine traits.  Theodrin even comments that she doesn’t understand how Nynaeve can channel in the first place because it goes against everything she knows about how the female half of the source works.    And I honestly thought that this was the point.  That Nynaeve was going to prove that everything that everyone has assumed about saidar – and saidin as well – was wrong.  That Nynaeve was going to show that women don’t have to surrender, women don’t have to conform to these old and tired stereotypes about how women are manipulative and submissive.  And through this we would also learn that men don’t have to conform to male stereotypes either, they don’t have to be violent, to conquer and dominate.  That while maybe these old ways are easiest for most, they are not essential.  That the male half and female halves of the Source aren’t as unknowable to each other as originally thought, and through that that the world would come to understand that men and women aren’t as foreign to each other as well.  I thought it was going to be a part of the healing that this world was going to go through because of our main characters.  I held out hope for this theory until the final book, even after she surrendered to the source at the bottom of that river.  But it didn’t happen.  I suppose, with the world continuing as it does, that this could be something that happened in the post-book era, but I think I have to accept that this wasn’t a part of Robert Jordan’s original plan.  And, if I’m honest, it is one of the very few things in The Wheel of Time that I’m disappointed with.    I’ve said before that I always assume good intent with Robert Jordan, and even in this area this still stands.  I think that it was his intent to show the value in both ‘sides’ of the coin, to show that men and women must work together, that equality and cooperation are goals worth striving for.  But gender essentialism is an inherently limiting philosophy.   And when there are strict lines drawn between two sides, it practically invites people to make judgements about which is better.    But with the show coming out, I think that there is a new opportunity to address this issue in the world of Wheel of Time in a way that doesn’t lock men and women into outdated stereotypes that were never universally true in the first place.  Obviously, I am attached to my personal theory about how this could be addressed; but regardless of how it is done, I think it would be in keeping with Robert Jordan’s vision of healing the divide between genders to not stick to the fundamentally flawed principle of gender essentialism.    But these, of course, are only my thoughts.  What are yours? How do you feel about the role gender essentialism plays in The Wheel of Time?

Our December special guest will be Wheel of Time author and bestseller Brandon Sanderson! This LIVE EVENT will be held on Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 6:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time.   Attendees will be able to chat directly with Brandon and ask questions!   About Brandon Brandon Sanderson is the bestselling author of twenty-six novels and dozens of novellas and short stories. He is a two-time HUGO award winner, including a win in 2013 for Best Novella (The Emperor's Soul). In 2007 he was chosen to complete the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga.    Also, anybody reading this knows who he is. 😉   About the Event This will be a LIVE virtual event, held over Zoom. All of our patreon supporters are the Heron-Marked ($10) level and higher are invited.     Click here to register.   If you are a not yet a Patreon supporter, or if you are a supporter at a lower tier, you are welcome to sign-up or "upgrade" to the Heron-Marked level for a single month to gain access to this event.   Servant of All ($25) and Chosen ($50) level patrons will get additional "early" time before the rest of the attendees will be allowed into the Zoom.    The event will begin with a moderated discussion with our guest, followed by an open Q&A where you can freely ask questions and chat.   This event will be recorded, but it will be different than our previous live chats. We're still working out the details but there's a chance this event will be available afterwards on Brandon's YouTube channel. If you attend and participate, you'll be seen via his channel. (If you would prefer not to be seen or heard in this more-public venue, you can provide questions to me in advance and I'll make sure they're asked on your behalf).    The Zoom link will be emailed to all eligible patrons 24 hours before the event.   Become a Dragonmount patron, support this website, get exclusive info about the franchise, and attend our monthly chat events. 

Amazon's official WoTonPrime social media accounts revealed today a brief video showcasing Tam al'Thor's iconic heron-marked sword. The video showed how the sword went through its design phase to becoming an actual prop seen in the show.       This is the first official glimpse of a notable prop seen in the show.    The sword seen here is almost certainly the heron-marked sword that's prominently featured in the books.   About Tam's sword (spoilers for books 1-2) In the Wheel of Time books, Tam al'Thor, Rand's adoptive father, received a heron-marked sword during his time as a soldier. Tam al'Thor is played by Game of Thrones alumni actor Michael McElhatton. (View all of the announced cast here.)   The heron marking on the blade indicates that he reached the rank of a blade master. At the beginning of the book series, which takes place approximately 20 years after he earned the sword, Tam has long retired the blade to his attic. He gives it to Rand on Winternight because he fears ominous danger lurking near their remote home. Rand keeps the sword for the duration of his adventures in the first two novels. The sword is ultimately destroyed during his battle with Ba'alzamon over the city of Falme.    The sword seen in this video is likely to feature a prominent role in season 1 of Amazon's Wheel of Time TV show.       

The following is a message from Wilson Grooms, Robert Jordan's cousin ("Brother/Cousin"). For those unfamiliar with Wilson, he plays an essential role in the family, most especially back in 2007 when he provided regular updates to fans regarding Robert Jordan's illness.    Wilson Grooms:   This tale began almost a year ago, thinking I might have a sinus issue. Wrong!  It took a while, but in February of 2020 it was determined that I have a cancer on the extreme rear of my tongue.  The cause, HPV, Human Papilloma Virus. You see Television ads urging you to get your kids inoculated against this. Do it please. There was no such vaccine back in the day.   The cancer was a squamous cell.  Doctors called it a “garden variety” and were all confident that with radiation and chemo they could render me cancer free. For the next seven weeks our daughter Marisa picked me up at 8 am Monday through Friday for radiation.  Chemotherapy was once a week for the same seven weeks. The doctors were honest that the treatments are intense. The last two weeks of treatments and the first two weeks of “healing” I spent curled up in a ball.   We had to wait months to repeat the tests that would let us know whether the bad actor had be eradicated. Waiting isn’t my strong suit.   In late August a PET scan indicated “something” was still there. Doctors were divided as to what it was. It could be residual cancer.  Most thought it to be inflammation as part of the healing process. But I wasn’t feeling better. In fact I had been suffering intense headaches which began in late June. The site was visually scoped (also not fun) frequently to monitor any changes. Nothing. So in November we repeated the biopsy.   It’s still there. Worse, it has compromised my tongue and larynx. And it has mutated. It is now a very rare and aggressive Sarcomatoid spindle cell tumor.  The only option offered was a drastic surgery to remove all the tongue and voice box. Before making that life altering decision a full Tumor Board of specialists reviewed my case.   Because of the type of cancer it has become, the drastic surgery proposed by my Surgical Oncologist is no longer a viable option.  Surgery would make day to day life difficult, would not reduce the pain I am dealing with and would not extend life.  Studies show that with a sarcomatoid cancer and this surgery, patients do not live beyond 12 months. And a painful 12 months at that.   The treatment deemed to give me the best chance is chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy. I will have my first infusion on the 30th of November. The regime is two weeks on, one week off for as long as the treatments are working. I am not certain as of now how often I will be taking the immunotherapy drug.   This specific treatment for this type of cancer has been only used for about four years. There are patients who were in the study when it began and are still doing well. Thus it has not been determined what an average life expectancy may be. If my cancer does not respond, I am looking at six months to perhaps a year. Please pray that I see positive results. Even if results are positive, this cancer will never be eradicated by the treatments.  The best I can hope for is that it goes into remission and that the treatments keep it there. But if God wants to work a miracle, I’m okay with that too. I know it’s selfish, but that’s what I pray for.   I ask for your prayers for my family that they have the strength to help me in this fight.   This is being posted by my daughter/cousin Melanie Murray. I have asked her to be my point of contact. I ask you please, do not contact any other family members. Melanie will post any updates as needed. But remember, no news is wonderful news.   Every day is a blessing. Make sure that those who are important in your life know it. Tell them. And set goals. One of mine is that I plan to see all of you at JordanCon in April. In lieu of that, I hope God will excuse Jim, aka RJ, of his storytelling duties so that we can go fishing.    Onward.   Wilson Brother/Cousin 4th of 3   Photo, from left to right: Elaine, Jonathan, Janet, Wilson, Major Miles Grooms,Marisa.