New Independent Reading

Okay, sorry for the confusion, but I changed my book choice for the independent reading. I could tell you why in detail, but suffice it to say i really don't like the book.

I am now reading The Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan, Book Thirteen in The Wheel of Time series. It's a very complex story and its pretty hard to explain, but i'll try. One of the themes in this book is good vs. evil. Basically, theres a Creator, and then theres the Dark One. Think of them like God and the Devil, if you will. There's is an age old struggle, the Dark One trying to destroy the world, the Creator trying to preserve it. Instead of fighting this battle directly with each other, they use humans to do so. This is the major struggle of the series.

The main character in this book is Rand Al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, He Who Comes With the Dawn, Car'a'carn, Coramoor, etc. Those are the majority of his titles, according to the different prophecies and cultures that have them. So, as you can see, though all these prophecies differ, they are all about one person. He is destined to save and destroy the world, and die doing so. As you can tell, he has a lot of responsibility. A Shienaren quote sums it up pretty well, "Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain." To a certain extent this book is also a coming of age story, though it focuses quite a lot on the struggle between good and evil.

The Wheel of Time refers to how they believe in a sort of cyclical pattern to everything, rather like Hinduism and Buddhism. They also believe in reincarnation, at least for certain people. Most of the time, the people who are reborn don't remember their past lives. Certain souls are generally only reborn for a purpose. Rand Al'Thor is an example of a reincarnation. He is the reincarnation of Lews Therin Telamon. He also has some memories of being Lews Therin.
There are channelers in this story, which vaguely resembles magic. I'll post a more detailed definition of it later. Basically, there are male and female channelers. Some are born with the ability to channel, and will do so no matter what. Others can learn. Men channel saidin, and women channel saidair. In the Age of Legends, thousands of years ago, Lews Therin attempted to reseal the Dark One in his prison (it did work) but in the process, the backlash tainted saidin. So now, any man who can channel will go insane, and their body will start to rot while they're still alive. A rather gruesome death, to say the least. Earlier in the series, though, he cleanses saidin, though any male channelers who were insane before it was cleansed will remain so.

Another theme of this book is stereotypes. Theres a stereotype that Two Rivers people are stubborn. It's true, but its still a stereotype. Duty is an important thing to all of these characters. Rand, for example, only accepted that he was the Dragon Reborn because he felt it was his duty and he knew no one else could do it. Another thing i found interesting about the characters was how they view themselves and how they view what they do. They don't think of themselves as heros, merely as people doing what must be done. Also, they aren't totally out of this world people, they are just like us. Granted, they live in an entirely different world, but their personalities are just like regular people. You can really relate to them, rather than being intimitated by their larger than life personas.