A man who trusts everyone is a fool and a man who trusts no one is a fool. We are all fools if we live long enough.

In my opinion, entirely too much of Winter's Heart if taken up by Perrin attempting to rescue Faile and Elayne solidifying her grip on the Lion Throne. Either is an interesting enough plot line to carry for a little while, but they just go on and on… I don’t think I’d mind if either was shortened significantly or even dropped entirely if/when the Wheel of Time goes to TV.

One pair of cool scenes we get though is Elayne and Aviendha becoming first sisters and then they plus Min all three bonding Rand . The entire relationship between the four of them is just strange and I’m not really sure what the point is it from a meta narrative perspective. But we do get a few interesting bits, such as this scene. Aviendha and Min feeling Elayne and Rand having sex through the bond though… oy. So very awkward.

The main redeeming trait of Winter’s Heart? The finale, where Rand and Nynaeve use the most powerful sa'angreal every made--the Choedan Kal --to cleanse saidin . Similar to the use of the Bowl of the Winds in The Path of Daggers , this is a truly epic use of magic. On top of that, we have a direct battle between channelers of the Light and the Dark, without all those pesky soldiers to get in the way. Pretty intense.

Mat finally learning who the Daughter of the Nine Moons is pretty cool too. Quite a way to introduce yourself to your future wife…