Winter's Heart
Authors: Robert Jordan
Praise for
T
HE
W
HEEL OF
T
IME
®
“The battle scenes have the breathless urgency of firsthand experience, and the . . . evil laced into the forces of good, the dangers latent in any promised salvation, the sense of the unavoidable onslaught of unpredictable events bear the marks of American national experience during the last three decades.”
—
The New York Times
“His writing is distinguished . . . by the richness of its fabric, with all the charm and naiveté of the Brothers Grimm, and the social/moral commentary of Huxley’s
Brave New World
. With his well-fleshed-out characters, dark imagery, comic relief, vivid landscapes, and a fascinating sense of timelessness, Jordan has created a complex literature with a language and reality all its own.”
—Brewster Milton Robertson,
BookPage
“Throughout Jordan’s preeminent high-fantasy saga . . . the characters (minor as well as major), the world, and the source of powers have remained remarkably rich and consistent—no mean feat. . . . Amid all the Sturm and Drang, however, is a finely tuned comic strain that both leavens the story and adds to its development. A major fantasy epic.”
—
Booklist
“Truth is not only stranger, it’s richer than fiction, but Jordan’s fictional universe approaches the variety and complexity of the real. . . . Plotlines [are] strummed with resonating long-wave rhythms something like Beethoven’s
Eroica
.”
—Robert Knox, MPG Newspapers
“Adventure and mystery and dark things that move in the night—a combination of Robin Hood and Stephen King that is hard to resist. Furthermore, Jordan makes the reader put down the book regretting the wait for the next title in the series.”
—
Milwaukee Sentinel
“The Wheel of Time [is] rapidly becoming the definitive American fantasy saga. It is a fantasy tale seldom equaled and still less often surpassed in English.”
—
Chicago Sun-Times
“In the decades since J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was published, many fantasy writers have tried to capture the spirit of that seminal work. While many have been able to imitate the style, develop a similarly swift and complex plot, and create convincing characters, none had captured the spirit of small men and mighty, struggling against a force of overwhelming evil. Robert Jordan has.”
—
Ottawa Citizen
“Magic and pacing and detail and human involvement, with a certain subtlety of presentation and a grand central vision. Robert Jordan . . . is a lot of writer!”
—Piers Anthony
“Jordan has a powerful vision of good and evil—but what strikes me as most pleasureable . . . is all the fascinating people moving through a rich and interesting world.”
—Orson Scott Card
“Jordan can always be counted on to ground his dizzying intrigues in solid chunks of cultural detail, and here he rises to the occasion, with chapters as dense as Spenserian stanzas with symbols and rituals. . . . He manipulates the disorder of his narrative to credibly convey a sense of an embattled world on the verge of self-destruction, and he entertainingly juxtaposes the courtly civility of his villains with the precarious chaos they cause.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Jordan continues to utilize his towering imagination to construct plots of incredible ingenuity and develop themes hidden, sometimes quite deeply, in earlier installments. As ever, Jordan writes intelligently and lyrically—one of the most literary exponents of the genre.”
—
SFX
magazine
“Jordan’s bestselling high fantasy series carries on . . . colossal, dauntingly complex storytelling. . . . The narrative employs elements of realism rare in high fantasy.”
—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“Jordan’s characters [are] fleshed out with the strengths and weaknesses of real men and women. . . . Invokes the end-of-the-world milieu of Stephen King’s
The Stand
.”
—
The Post and Courier
(Charleston, SC)
“Jordan writes with the stark vision of light and darkness, and sometimes childlike sense of wonder, that permeates J. R. R. Tolkien’s works. His style is undebatably his own.”
—The Pittsburgh Press
“Jordan’s multivolume epic continues to live up to its high ambitions. Complex plotting, an array of strong characters, lavish detail, and a panoramic scope make this series a feast for fantasy aficionados. . . . Richly detailed and vividly imagined.”
—Library Journal
“Jordan’s writing is clear and his vision is fascinating, as are the philosophies which run his characters. And speaking of characters, a more interesting bunch I would be hard put to name.”
—Science Fiction Review
“The complex philosophy behind The Wheel of Time series is expounded so simply the reader often gives a start of surprise at returning to the real world. Rand’s adventures are not finished and neither is this thinking person’s fantasy series.”
—Brunswick Sentinel
(Australia)
“Robert Jordan can write one hell of a story. . . . [He] keeps the suspense acute and the surprises and invention beautifully paced. Compelling. An exhilarating experience.”
—Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine
“[The Wheel of Time is] a work of genuine and often stirring imagination.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“For those who like to keep themselves in a fantasy world, it’s hard to beat the complex, detailed world created here.”
—Locus
“Jordan has not merely put old wine into new bottles: he has clothed old bones with new flesh.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
T
HE
W
HEEL OF
T
IME
®
by Robert Jordan
The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords
The Path of Daggers
Winter’s Heart
Crossroads of Twilight
Knife of Dreams
by Robert Jordan
and Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
INTER’S
H
EART
ROBERT JORDAN
A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK
NEW YORK
The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied so that you can enjoy reading it on your personal devices. This e-book is for your personal use only. You may not print or post this e-book, or make this e-book publicly available in any way. You may not copy, reproduce or upload this e-book, other than to read it on one of your personal devices.
us.macmillanusa.com/piracy
.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
WINTER’S HEART
Copyright © 2000 by The Bandersnatch Group, Inc.
The phrases “The Wheel of Time
®
” and “The Dragon Reborn™,” and the snake-wheel symbol, are trademarks of Robert Jordan.
All rights reserved.
Frontispiece by TK
Maps by Ellisa Mitchell
Interior art by Matthew C. Nielsen and Ellisa Mitchell
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-1-4299-6068-7
First Edition: November 2000
First E-book Edition: June 2010
Manufactured in the United States of America
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Always for Harriet.
Always.
27 To Surprise Queens and Kings
The seals that hold back night shall weaken,
and in the heart of winter shall winter’s heart be born
amid the wailing of lamentations and the gnashing of teeth,
for winter’s heart shall ride a black horse,
and the name of it is Death.
—from
The Karaethon Cycle:
The Prophecies of the Dragon
